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RCAAP (Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal) is Portugal’s national open-access repository service. Its central component collects, aggregates and indexes open-access scientific content from the repositories and journals of Portuguese higher-education institutions and other organisations. This guide explains how the service is organised, who joins it, what an institution has to prepare, and where it sits next to the researcher-level system CIÊNCIAVITAE.
What RCAAP is
RCAAP is the Portuguese name for the open-access repository project; the English reading is “Open Access Scientific Repositories of Portugal”. The project site describes it as the central component of the national service of open-access scientific repositories. The project is run by three promoters named on its site: the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), the Universidade do Minho and Ciência Aberta.
The Portal aggregates resources through their OAI-PMH interface and offers the result through one search point. That makes it an aggregator on top of institutional repositories and journals, not a replacement for them.
The four services, and who uses which
The project site presents these services under exact labels. The right one depends on what the institution already runs.
| Service (official label) | What it is | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Portal RCAAP | A single search point for scientific and academic documents from the integrated resources | Readers and researchers searching; repositories and journals asking to be included |
| Repositório Individual (menu: “Alojamento de Repositório”) | A hosted repository with the institution’s own corporate identity | Institutions that want their own branded repository |
| Repositório Comum (menu: “Alojamento em Repositório Partilhado”) | A shared repository that hosts several institutions | Institutions that cannot provide a repository of their own |
| Validador RCAAP (menu: “Validador de Repositório”) | A tool that checks a repository or scientific journal against the project’s requirements | Repository and journal managers checking conformity before applying |
Its calls to action map onto the table: “Integre já o Portal RCAAP”, “Adira ao Repositório Comum” and “Valide o seu repositório ou revista”.
Who should register
Registration is done by the resource, not by an individual author: the repository or journal asks to be aggregated into the Portal. In practice that means the repository manager or journal editor at an institution. An individual researcher normally interacts with RCAAP indirectly, through the institutional repository where their work is deposited. If your institution has no repository, the Repositório Comum is the route the project offers for that situation.
The project recommends two platforms, both of which already include the OAI-PMH interface the Portal relies on: DSpace for repositories and OJS (Open Journal Systems) for journals. For a neutral look at repository software, see DSpace vs. EPrints vs. Digital Commons vs. Fedora.
How to get a repository or journal into the Portal
The conditions for aggregation rest on the resource’s OAI-PMH interface and on how its content metadata is described, following international guidelines. The official steps are short:
- Check conformity. Verify that the resource meets the aggregation conditions. The Validador RCAAP is the tool for this (see below).
- Send the request. Email [email protected] with the resource name; the name, phone number and email of the person responsible; a description in Portuguese; a description in English; the web address; the OAI-PMH address; the resource’s own email; and a logo of 200 px by 100 px.
- Wait for tests and validation. If nothing more is needed after the tests, the resource is integrated.
After integration, each resource gets a profile page showing the information submitted plus some statistics, and its content is updated daily in the Portal.
How to search
The Portal RCAAP is the project’s single search point for scientific and academic documents from the repositories and journals it aggregates. Searching the Portal covers documents from many repositories and journals at once. Repository copies of this kind are often called green open access.
What the Portal record contains and how it is used
Aggregation rests on the metadata a resource exposes over OAI-PMH. The Validador’s checks show which fields the project treats as essential: a date, a language, the document type, a link (URI) back to the record, and the full text. Records with no title or description, or with no access type indicated, are flagged as warnings. RCAAP’s role is discovery and aggregation, with the resource profile and statistics showing what each repository or journal contributes.
RCAAP and researcher identifiers (ORCID, CIÊNCIAVITAE)
RCAAP is a document-level service: it aggregates records of papers and journal content from repositories. Researcher identity in Portugal is handled elsewhere. CIÊNCIAVITAE is the national researcher CV and identifier platform; read the CIÊNCIAVITAE guide for how that platform connects to ORCID. For the wider picture of identifiers across systems, see the persistent identifiers and research information systems hub.
Common problems: reading the Validador report
The Validador RCAAP is a two-step form. Step 1 asks for the resource name, its URL, its OAI-PMH endpoint, the platform (for example DSpace or OJS) and an email for the report. Step 2 asks you to select the collection and a validation profile. The result arrives by email. The project checks conformity with the DRIVER Guidelines 2.0, which it has applied since 2008. The report separates errors from warnings:
| Label in the report | Type | Plain-English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Idioma desconhecido | Error | The record’s language is unknown |
| Registo sem data | Error | The record has no date |
| Texto integral inexistente | Error | No full text is available for the record |
| Ausência de ligação ao registo (URI) | Error | The record carries no link back to itself |
| Tipo de documento não conforme | Error | The document type does not conform to the accepted values |
| Registo sem título ou descrição | Warning | The record has no title or description |
| Ausência de indicação do tipo de acesso | Warning | The record does not say what kind of access applies |
Fix the errors in the repository’s metadata first and run the validation again before sending the integration request. The warnings are recommended fixes rather than blockers.
FAQ
What does RCAAP stand for?
Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal, or Open Access Scientific Repositories of Portugal.
Is RCAAP a repository where I can upload my paper?
Not directly. The Portal aggregates content from repositories and journals. Authors deposit through their institution’s repository; institutions without one can look at the shared Repositório Comum.
Who runs RCAAP?
The project site names three promoters: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Universidade do Minho and Ciência Aberta.
How does a journal join the Portal?
Through the same steps as a repository: validate it, email the request to [email protected] with the required details, and wait for the tests. OJS is the platform the project recommends for journals.
Are there deadlines or fees?
The integration page lists no fees or deadlines. Check the official site for current terms before you apply.
Sources
- RCAAP project site, home page: https://projeto.rcaap.pt/ (checked 29 October 2026)
- RCAAP, “Integrar o Portal RCAAP”: https://projeto.rcaap.pt/apoio/portal-rcaap/integrar-o-portal-rcaap/ (checked 29 October 2026)
- RCAAP, “Valide um repositório ou revista”: https://projeto.rcaap.pt/apoio/validador/valide-um-repositorio-ou-revista/ (checked 29 October 2026)
