An open repository or open-access repository is a digital platform that holds research output and provides free, immediate and permanent access to research results for anyone to use, download and distribute.
Search engines harvest the content of open access repositories, constructing a database of worldwide, free of charge available research.
[1][2][3] Data repositories are the cornerstone for FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) data practices and are used expeditiously within the scientific community.
This is sometimes referred to as the self-archiving or "green" route to open access.
[6] Other examples are arXiv, bioRxiv, Dryad, Figshare, Open Science Framework, Samvera, Ubiquity Repositories and invenio (solution used by Zenodo).