This page presents an attempt to document which platforms DSpace is often compared with and what particular strengths and weaknesses are.
DSpace is most known as a turnkey platform for building institutional repositories.
Examples of DSpace used as an Institutional Repository include:
In the open source realm DSpace is often compared with:
In the commercial realm DSpace is often compared with:
Features that make DSpace strong in this area:
External articles about DSpace in this area:
Without adhering to a particular definition, usage of DSpace as a digital collection management system is generally less document centric and can embody collections of all kinds of digital assets. In this use case, rich user interfaces and support to render particular types of content directly in the browser are important.
Examples of DSpace used as a Digital Collection Management System include:
In the open source realm DSpace is often compared with:
In the commercial realm DSpace is often compared with:
The overlap between DSpace and the realm of CRIS/RIMS systems comes from the fact that publications, usually stored in DSpace, are important objects in a CRIS system. The overall concept of a CRIS system is broader and encompasses rich objects for staff, projects, grants etc. DSpace-CRIS extends the data model of DSpace to manage entities and attributes, with their reciprocal links, that represent research information and populate the research domain according to the CERIF standard.
Examples of DSpace-CRIS used as a CRIS + Institutional repository include:
In the open source realm DSpace is often compared with:
In the commercial realm DSpace is often compared with:
Features that make DSpace-CRIS strong in this area:
External articles about DSpace-CRIS in this area:
In recent years, DSpace is increasingly being used to store research data.
Examples of DSpace as a data repository:
In the open source realm DSpace is often compared with:
Features that make DSpace strong in this area:
External articles about DSpace in this area:
Examples of DSpace as a Learning Object Repository:
External articles about DSpace in this area:
Features that make DSpace strong in this area:
Digital preservation systems intend to safeguard assets for the long term.
Commercial Digital Preservation systems
Features that make DSpace strong in this area:
Wait? DSpace is not a CMS, right? Because of its user interfaces and pages for collections, communities, in combination with good search and browse functionality, DSpace has been preferred in some usecases compared to more traditional CMS systems. Another reason to include web content management systems here is because some users contemplate building repository functionality and specific metadata support into their WCMS platforms.
Open Source content management systems
Commercial web content management systems
Features that make DSpace strong in this area: