IRUS has played an important role in helping institutions understand the usage of their repositories. The move to OpenAIRE PROVIDE will continue to offer the same functionality as IRUS. At Jisc we will work closely with OpenAIRE to continue to support you and provide a smooth transition over to the new service.
Following the announcement of the changes, the team shares some answers to queries from users, and how you will be supported. If you have any questions about the changes, contact us at help@jisc.ac.uk, using IRUS in the subject line.
Why is IRUS being retired?
After an extensive review process, we have decided to retire IRUS as part of our ongoing efforts to innovate and improve our product offerings. This decision was based on several factors including the significant investment that would be required to address the existing technical debt and put the service on a sustainable footing. The decision was taken to concentrate on enhancement of JUSP as this is a business-critical service for Jisc members.
Consultation Process
Prior to deciding the change, we consulted with UKCORR, SCONUL, and COUNTER in the UK, as well as international partners. We also confirmed with OpenAIRE that their usage statistics service is open to non-European organisations wishing to join.
Are there any recommended alternatives or replacements?
Almost all IRUS functionality is also available via OpenAIRE PROVIDE. We have been working with OpenAIRE to ensure a smooth transition for IRUS users.
When will the service be retired?
We aim for IRUS to be switched off at the end of April 2026.
Will the transition to OpenAIRE PROVIDE cost any money?
There are no costs for using OpenAIRE PROVIDE.
What do we need to do?
Look out for the announcement for the Jisc-OpenAIRE webinar that will provide more information about onboarding onto OpenAIRE Provide.
In the meantime please look at the OpenAIRE documentation about steps to become a data provider https://www.openaire.eu/validator-registration-guide and how the usage statistics service works https://usagecounts.openaire.eu/#why
Your repository OAI-PMH feed will need to be compliant with OpenAIRE standards to use the service, so take a look at the OpenAIRE documentation to evaluate whether you need to make any changes https://guidelines.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#
Our repository has IRUS stats integrated into the repository, will the repository provider be able to replace/continue these?
Unfortunately, OpenAIRE PROVIDE does not have the functionality to embed download statistics (for individual items or repositories), so existing widgets will need to be removed from your repository.
Will there be support for us to get hold of our data?
We understand the importance of your data and are pleased to inform you that we will download the data for all institutions using IRUS and make those reports available via an open repository.
How long will we have access to my data after the service is retired?
The data will be made available via an open repository in perpetuity.
Who do we contact for more information?
You can email help@jisc.ac.uk including IRUS in the subject line.