The paper provides an overview of institutional repository (IR) initiatives taken in several European countries along with key declarations, statements, and projects for its development in Europe. The purpose of this article is to take a broad look at the current state of deployment of IRs in several European countries and to explore how national policies and strategies are shaping this deployment. The second objective is to design a set of parameters for the evaluation of IRs taking into

more »

... eration global recommendations and best practice guidelines. Thirdly, a comparative study of selected IRs has been performed on the basis of framed criteria or parameters. Finally key findings have been identified.