Support OpenCitations
OpenCitations provides open access to fundamental factual information by charging nothing for such access or for related services. This sets us apart from many other OpenScience infrastructures, but also means that OpenCitations’ activities generate no income to sustain our operations. OpenCitations relies on guidance and support from the scholarly community to maintain and increase its technical infrastructure and to sustain its team. You can help ensure a strong and stable future for OpenCitations by providing your support either in two ways: membership and donation.
Looking for the reasons why to support OpenCitations? Read our FAQs.
Want to undertake the supporting process? Contact us at membership@opencitations.net for membership, donations@opencitations.net for donations.
Become a member
Legal entities may apply to become Members of OpenCitations. The steps to undertake are:
- Read the Memorandum of Understanding, and the two additional documents describing the Rules of Membership and the Organizational Bodies and Finances of OpenCitations.
- Send a written request to the Directors of OpenCitations, at the email address membership@opencitations.net, in which the candidate declares:
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- its details, legal nature, legal address, and legal representative
- its wish to become a Member of and to collaborate with OpenCitations
- its commitment to the principles of Open Science
- its commitment to contribute financially (specifying the amount of the contribution) to the operating costs of OpenCitations and to assist in the implementation of its goals, according to the level of membership participation (Supporting Membership, Development Membership, Strategic Membership) briefly outlined below
- the conflicts of interests of the legal representative (please use the CoI module and attach it to the email), in which he/she documents any interests that compete with the purposes of OpenCitations (if any)
- After a positive decision by the Directors of OpenCitations returned by written communication via email, the legal representative of the candidate signs the Memorandum of Understanding and sends it back to the Directors of OpenCitations, at the email address membership@opencitations.net
- After the Memorandum of Understanding has been signed also by OpenCitations, it is returned by email to the candidate, which formally becomes a new member of OpenCitations. Information to submit the agreed financial contribution is provided as well
- Upon receiving the financial contribution, OpenCitations delivers appropriate receipts to the new member
OpenCitations membership has an annual duration and offers different benefits, depending on the membership level.
The three levels of OpenCitations membership are:
Financial contribution of at least € 500 and no more than € 8,000 per year at the start of each membership year. Such contributions vary according to the size and type of the Party, as set out in the Rules of Membership. A Supporting Member shall:
- have voting rights on the OpenCitations Council
- have voting rights to elect candidates to serve on the International Advisory Board for OpenCitations
- have its name and membership level displayed on the OpenCitations website
- have access to a yearly webinar giving updates of OpenCitations activities and plans for the future
- receive the biannual reports summarizing the progress and status of OpenCitations
- have access to general information from OpenCitations, including the annual financial reports
Financial contribution of more than € 8,000 and less than € 30,000 per year at the start of each membership year. A Development Member shall:
- have all of the above-mentioned rights of Supporting Membership
- participate in an annual survey and share feedback on the OpenCitations infrastructure and services
- have its name, membership level and logo displayed on the OpenCitations website
- have the right for one representative to participate without registration fee in the biennial Workshop on Open Citations and Open Scholarly Metadata organized by OpenCitations
- have the right to contribute a blog post about itself and its use of OpenCitations services and data, to be published on the OpenCitations blog
Financial contribution of at least € 30,000 per year at the start of each membership year. A Strategic Member shall:
- have all of the above-mentioned rights of Development Membership
- be entitled to a single seat with voting rights on the International Advisory Board for OpenCitations
Submit your donation
If it is not possible for your institution to apply for a membership, you can help now by committing to fund the OpenCitations infrastructure via a donation. We recommend that organisations pledge an annual donation as shown in the Rules of Membership, in which we suggest funding levels vary according to the size and type of the organisation.