In Algeria, the digital repository ecosystem has diversified significantly, with a current total of 71 institutional repositories. It is beneficial for the research community in Algeria to discuss the roles and connections of various repositories and to explore opportunities for improving national coordination. Despite the widespread adoption of repositories in Algeria, many encounter challenges like low visibility within the research community, outdated software platforms, and insufficient staffing. The importance of a national aggregator project is obvious in its ability to showcase the scientific and academic contributions of Algerian universities on national and international stages through a centralized national portal, which promotes access to open digital resources and improves the interoperability of Algerian digital repositories. The study aims to suggest a project to establish a national aggregator for open access repositories to enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and visibility of Algerian scholarly output.

This presentation challenges the premise that technical openness alone guarantees universal access, arguing that meaningful openness requires active policies to reduce inequalities. It analyzes the case of the Brazilian Network of Digital Repositories (RBRD), coordinated by Ibict, which adopts a decentralized governance model structured around five regional sub-networks to address historical asymmetries between Brazil’s South–Southeast axis and the North, Northeast, and Central-West regions. Drawing on the concept of “Informational Justice,” the analysis demonstrates how Brazilian repositories operate not only as digital platforms but as “citizenship infrastructures,” promoting informational sovereignty and returning publicly funded knowledge to society under an ethic of care.