About the Repository

The ICOMOS Open Archive: Eprints on Cultural Heritage is a subject and institutional repository in the field of heritage conservation (historic monuments, landscapes and sites); This open archive takes the form of an institutional repository where all the scientific documentation produced by ICOMOS will be deposited and centralised. It also serves as a subject archive open to the international scientific community in the field of cultural heritage conservation. The ICOMOS Open Archive is open to all international, national, regional organizations, institutions, universities, etc from the cultural heritage field as well as to any individual professionals interested in depositing their articles and publications in the archive.

The ICOMOS Open Archive project has been developed by the ICOMOS Documentation Centre which is part of the ICOMOS International Secretariat in Paris.

Content and characteristics of the Archive

The ICOMOS Open Archive accepts any scientific or technical document, in any language, published or unpublished, on topics related to the field of conservation and restoration of historic monuments, sites and landscapes.

The criteria for acceptance are:

• documents are relevant to research in the heritage conservation field
• documents have been peer reviewed (for example, an article in a scientific journal, a paper presented in a scientific conference, etc.)
• documents have the form of a finished document that is ready to be entered into a process of communication.

Searching and archiving in the ICOMOS Open Archive is totally free of charge for any user.

This archive is an institutional archive with the aim of storing all the scientific documentation produced by ICOMOS. This repository will hold all the documents published by the Organisation in the past. In addition, all future publications and proceedings organised by ICOMOS will be held in the repository.

It is also a subject archive open to the rest of the international scientific community in the field of historic heritage conservation. Research institutes, organizations, universities and individual researchers involved in the conservation of cultural heritage and related fields, whether members of ICOMOS or not, are encouraged to make use of and contribute to the archive.

It is a ”self-archive”, an archive where authors and institutions retaining copyright of their material must register themselves into the system, deposit the documents into the archive and input metadata for each publication.

The goal is to create a great worldwide archive specialised in the conservation, restoration, management and enhancement of cultural heritage, facilitating the dissemination and exchange of technical specialised information within the scientific community.

About ICOMOS

ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is the only global non-government organisation dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage. Among the objectives of the Organization, as stated in the Statutes, it is « to gather, study and disseminate information concerning principles, techniques and policies for the conservation, protection, rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, groups of buildings and sites ».

ICOMOS is a network of experts that benefits from the interdisciplinary exchange of its members, among which are architects, historians, archaeologists, art historians, geographers, anthropologists, engineers and town planners. The network is formed of national committees (120) and international scientific committees (28).

For more information about ICOMOS and how to become a member, please look at the ICOMOS website.

Contact Information

Any correspondence concerning this specific repository should be sent to documentation[at]icomos.org