COUPERIN.ORG

Name

COUPERIN.ORG

Legal name

Couperin, Consortium unifié des établissements universitaires et de recherche pour l'accès aux publications numériques

Website

https://couperin.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Aubervilliers

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Couperin is a non-profit membership consortium that negotiates collective access and licensing agreements for digital scientific publications and open-science resources on behalf of French higher-education and research institutions. It also operates shared services for consortium administration, electronic-resource usage statistics, APC expenditure tracking, surveys, and perpetual archiving.

Product overview

COUPERIN is a non-profit consortium representing French higher education and research institutions, functioning as a coordinated purchasing and negotiation body rather than a traditional software product company. Its offering consists of a suite of services, platforms, and surveys designed to facilitate collective access to digital scientific publications. The core platform is Consortia Manager, which manages subscriptions and negotiations. Supporting services include ezMESURE and ReadMetrics for usage statistics visualization, ezPAARSE for statistics processing, BivOAC for APC data management, and PANIST for long-term digital archiving. The consortium also conducts regular surveys including the annual Enquête ERE (electronic resources expenditure) and Enquête APC (open access publication costs), with results visualized through Lodex.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Consortia Manager Web-based platform through which consortium members manage subscriptions, access negotiation data, review usage statistics, and coordinate collective purchasing of digital resources.
• ezMESURE and ReadMetrics National repository and visualization service that centralizes usage data for online resources and provides dynamic mapping, metrics analysis, and national, regional, and institutional indicators for French higher-education and research organizations.
• ezPAARSE Open-source tool for processing and analyzing electronic-resource usage statistics so libraries can understand how their digital resources are accessed.
• BivOAC (Base Pivot pour le suivi des APC et de l'Open Access Couperin) Data hub that centralizes Article Processing Charge survey results and related publisher data files, with dashboards for expenditure visualization and custom indicators.
• PANIST (Plateforme d'Archivage National IST) National archiving platform that preserves subscribed digital content and maintains access rights for former subscribers, supporting perpetual access to archived documentation.
• Lodex Enquête APC Visualization and exploration platform for APC survey data collected from French research institutions.
• Enquête ERE (Enquête sur les Ressources Électroniques) Annual survey of electronic-resource expenditure across French higher-education and research institutions; the 2022 survey covered nearly 300 establishments and more than €125 million in spending.
• Enquête APC National survey tracking open-access Article Processing Charge expenditure and providing French research institutions with data and analysis of publication costs.

Quantifiable outcome

• 125+ million euros in electronic resource spending managed through consortium negotiations
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TSOSI (Tracking Science Open Infrastructure)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 June 2026Partnership to strengthen the visibility of support for open science. The collaboration involves sharing data related to financing open science infrastructures and improving visibility and transparency of these contributions through the TSOSI platform.
• Inist-CNRScoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerInist-CNRS provides hosting services for the Couperin website and manages the PANIST national archiving platform. Also involved in implementing archiving and permanent access solutions.
• ABES (Agence bibliographique de l'enseignement supérieur)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerABES is the French bibliographic agency for higher education. Coordinates the national procurement (groupement de commandes) for some publisher agreements (e.g., Wiley) and maintains the BACON knowledge base.
• ORCIDcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCouperin hosts the French ORCID consortium (Communauté française ORCID) with 51 member institutions as of 2023. Promotes use of ORCID identifiers in publisher negotiations.
• ICOLC (International Coalition of Library Consortia)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerInternational coalition of approximately 200 library consortia worldwide. Couperin participates in ICOLC conferences and events.
• SPARC EuropeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEuropean office of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. Partners on open science advocacy and initiatives.
• DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerDOAJ is an online directory that indexes open access journals. Couperin supports DOAJ through its open science infrastructure campaigns.
• BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench National Library. Partnership on national information infrastructure and archiving.
• ADBU (Association française des directeurs et personnels de direction des bibliothèques universitaires et de la documentation)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerFrench association of university library directors. Collaborates on professional issues and information sharing.
• Ouvrir la science!minorGTM or Marketing PartnerFrench national initiative for open research. Coordinates on open science policy and advocacy.
• EpristminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAssociation of managers of scientific and technical information in French public research organizations.
• CDEFI (Conférence des Directeurs des Écoles Françaises d'Ingénieurs)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerConference of directors of French engineering schools. Partnership for engaging grandes écoles in consortium activities.
• Consortia ManagercoreTechnology or IntegrationThe Consortia Manager platform is a key operational tool for the consortium, used for managing member institutions, negotiations, subscriptions, and consortium coordination activities.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• JISC: UK's national digital, data and technology agency for higher education and research. Directly comparable to Couperin as it negotiates national publisher agreements and provides shared digital infrastructure for UK universities and research institutions serving a similar constituency.
• LIBER: European association of research libraries. Comparable to Couperin in coordinating library consortium activities and advocating for open science, though operating pan-European rather than at national level.
• FinELib: Finnish national consortium for electronic resources managed by the National Library of Finland. Comparable to Couperin in negotiating national licenses for universities and research institutions, with similar open science policy alignment and national-coverage mandate.
• BIBSAM (National Library of Sweden): Swedish national library consortium that negotiates electronic resource licenses for Swedish universities and research institutions. Directly comparable to Couperin in model—single-country national consortium negotiating with major publishers for academic/research institutions.

Emerging players

• DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals supported by Couperin through its open science infrastructure campaigns. Comparable in supporting open science infrastructure but focused on journal discovery/quality rather than negotiation.
• SCOAP3: CERN-led international consortium for open access publishing in particle physics. Comparable to Couperin in representing collective action on scholarly publishing, but focused on a single discipline and a fully open access model rather than negotiated licenses.
• OpenAIRE: European open science infrastructure supporting research information systems. Comparable to Couperin in promoting open access and open science policy, with technical infrastructure for research data and publications—couperin is a formal partner.

Others

• ABES: French bibliographic agency for higher education. Closely related partner of Couperin rather than a competitor—coordinates national procurement for some publisher agreements and maintains the BACON knowledge base. Comparable as a national infrastructure provider for French higher education.

Broad incumbents

• ICOLC: International Coalition of Library Consortia comprising ~200 consortia worldwide. Couperin participates in ICOLC; comparable as a coordinating body for library consortia but operates globally rather than within a single country.
• SPARC Europe: European office of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. Comparable to Couperin in open science advocacy and the same partnership network, but functions as an advocacy and education organization rather than a direct negotiating body.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/couperin

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles23 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about COUPERIN.ORG