ORBi adaptations to the FWB Open Access decree
The year 2025 marked a key milestone for ORBi with its adaptation to the requirements of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation's Open Access decree. As a reminder, only open access references on ORBi will be taken into account in publication reports dedicated to the evaluation of our researchers, for all articles accepted for publication or published since 2018.
This gradual transition is spread over 7 phases, from September 2025 to June 2028, and currently concerns articles published since 2023.
We are already seeing clear progress: nearly 82% of scientific articles from 2025 are deposited in Open Access.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to our researchers for this essential collective effort.
The ORBi team remains at your disposal to assist you with this transition.
Consult the Open Access Decree FAQ
Artificial intelligence: a new challenge for repositories
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is profoundly reshaping the web environment.
Like many institutional repositories worldwide, ORBi is facing a sharp increase in traffic generated by AI-driven bots, which are more intrusive than traditional search engines or indexing tools.
These activities may cause slowdowns, service disruptions, and affect view and download statistics. Blockades have already been put in place and longer-term solutions are being considered.
Our priority remains clear: to protect our resources and our authors, while maintaining the visibility of their research outputs.
2025 at a glance
- 11,236 references added
- 8,522 full-text references, 83% of which are Open Access
- 45% Open Access across all references
- 7,309,743 downloads*
* AI bots have a partial impact on these statistics.
A constantly evolving tool
Since the deployment of version 2.0, ORBi has continued to evolve and improve in order to better meet the needs of the academic community.
In 2025, 8 release notes were published, out of a total of 62 since 2022.
Supporting researchers every day
ORBi is also about day-to-day support: more than 500 help and information requests were handled in 2025.
In addition to email support, researchers can book appointments with the ORBi team, either via Teams or in person.
PeriScops: one gateway to FWB scientific publications
Launched in 2025, PeriScops is a platform funded and coordinated by the FNRS.
Its goal is to provide a single point of access to all scientific publications from the institutional repositories of universities in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.
The platform automatically harvests data from the five participating universities on a daily basis. It was developed by ULiège Library, selected through a public procurement process for its recognised expertise in managing scientific repositories.
Meanwhile, collaborations with the University of Mons and the University of Luxembourg are actively continuing around ORBiMons and ORBiLu.
Looking ahead to 2026: avoiding the hybrid journal trap
Open Access offers outstanding visibility for authors, often with low or no publication fees. Many high-quality journals now provide genuine Open Access publishing options.
By contrast, hybrid journals, which combine subscription fees with Open Access publication charges, or unfair gold journals with exorbitant publication fees (the two models most commonly found among major publishers), represent a costly and inefficient model for institutions and researchers alike.
ULiège remains fully committed to promoting fair and sustainable Open Access, ensuring that research outputs shine while preserving funding for services and laboratories.
Need help publishing in Open Access? Tools and guidance are available.
