LA Referencia has joined the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information as Adherent, strengthening shared efforts to promote open and interoperable research information infrastructures between regions.

This step reflects a growing international consensus around a key priority: ensuring that research information (metadata) and research information systems remain transparent, reliable and reusable for the public good; enabling better search, analysis and decision-making across the research ecosystem.

LA Referencia brings a consolidated track record of regional leadership in infrastructure and repository coordination, and its incorporation as an adherent of the Barcelona Declaration comes at a particularly opportune time. With the recent award of the IOI Network Adoption Fund, LA Referencia is advancing work on metadata enrichment, preservation and identification, areas that closely align with discussions within the Barcelona Declaration community.

Bianca Kramer, Executive Director of the Barcelona Declaration:

“LA Referencia’s support of the Barcelona Declaration highlights the strategic value of open research information and the importance of interregional collaboration in terms of infrastructure. As a key and strategic partner in Latin America, LA Referencia’s perspective brings valuable momentum to the work of the Declaration community. In addition, LA Referencia brings a strong emphasis on repositories within the open research information ecosystem.”

Robinson Zapata Pino, President of LA Referencia:

“LA Referencia is a regional Open Science infrastructure that, for more than twelve years, has linked the countries of Latin America and Spain to guarantee access, interoperability and reuse of research information associated with scientific production financed with public funds. In line with the founding mandate of LA Referencia, we understand this information as a regional public good, sustained through cooperation between States and shared governance. The accession of LA Referencia to the Barcelona Declaration reaffirms this approach and deepens a path that we have been building since our beginnings: strengthening “open and reliable sources of research information, supported by open and non-commercial academic infrastructures. For Latin America and Spain, moving in this direction is key to reducing asymmetries, improving decision-making in science and technology and consolidating a regional ecosystem of Open Science at the service of the public interest.”

This joint work is already beginning to be consolidated, thanks to the participation of LA Referencia in the discussions of the Barcelona Declaration working groups. There is strong potential to deepen this link, especially in those areas where the realities of regional infrastructure can help guide shared approaches to moving towards open research information.

Looking ahead, there is potential for LA Referencia to explore closer alignment with the organization around metadata enrichment, preservation and identification, including possible work related to ARK-linked metadata, as well as broader efforts to improve infrastructure interoperability and connectivity in Latin America and with open research information systems globally.