An institutional repository (IR) is a digital archive where an institution, typically a university, research center, or organization, stores, preserves, and disseminates its intellectual output. It is designed to provide open access to scholarly works, research papers, thesis, dissertations, datasets, and other academic materials.

### Key Features of an Institutional Repository: 1. Open Access – Provides unrestricted access to scholarly materials. 2. Long-term Preservation – Ensures digital preservation of institutional research. 3. Content Management – Organizes various types of academic content. 4. Metadata and Indexing – Enhances discoverability via search engines and academic databases. 5. Compliance – Helps institutions meet funding agencies' open-access mandates.

### Common Contents in an IR: - Research articles (published & preprints) - Theses and dissertations - Conference papers - Datasets and reports - Books and monographs - Multimedia and learning resources

### Popular Institutional Repository Platforms: - DSpace (widely used in academia) - EPrints (designed for open access) - Fedora Commons (flexible digital repository) - Zenodo (for research outputs)