Integrating Quality and Impact Metrics in Digital Repositories: The HERA Module for DSpace.

Institutional repositories are undergoing a paradigm shift, evolving from passive digital archives into dynamic environments central to the Open Science ecosystem. Despite their growing importance, many platforms still lack integrated tools to visualize the multi-faceted impact of scientific production, often relying on limited or proprietary data sources. This paper addresses the technical and strategic challenges of incorporating diverse and verifiable metrics into repository interfaces. We introduce the HERA project (Herramienta para el Enriquecimiento de Recursos Académicos ), a centralized platform designed to automate the retrieval, normalization, and aggregation of indicators from heterogeneous sources such as OpenAlex, Scopus, and DOAJ. Specifically, we present a new DSpace module that operates as a client-side component, utilizing persistent identifiers (PIDs) to asynchronously fetch and render metrics via a standardized, non-intrusive widget. This architecture ensures system robustness by decoupling complex API interactions from the repository's main performance. By providing transparency in data provenance and highlighting discrepancies between open and commercial sources, HERA facilitates a more nuanced research assessment and enriches the user experience within institutional repositories.