# Universidad Católica de Oriente

> academic publisher

**Wikidata**: [Q7894254](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7894254)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universidad_Católica_de_Oriente)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/universidad-catolica-de-oriente

## Summary
Universidad Católica de Oriente is a Colombian university and open-access academic publisher founded in 1982 and located in Rionegro, Antioquia. It operates as both a higher-education institution and a scholarly publishing outlet, with its main campus sitting 2,059 m above sea level.

## Key Facts
- Founded on 11 February 1982 in Rionegro, Colombia (coordinates 6.15045, –75.36634)
- Member of the Association of Colombian Universities (ASCUN)
- Recognised in Wikidata as both a university and an open-access publisher
- Official website: http://www.uco.edu.co/ (live web-feed at /feed/)
- ISNI 0000-0004-0486-3778, ROR ID 02pzxyp49, GRID ID grid.442001.3
- Twitter handle @uconiano since 9 December 2010; 5,894 followers recorded January 2021
- Library of Congress authority ID no2018175009 and VIAF ID 2887154622393344710005
- Wikipedia articles available in Cebuano, English, Spanish and Swedish

## FAQs
### Q: Where exactly is Universidad Católica de Oriente located?
A: Its main campus is in the municipality of Rionegro, Antioquia Department, Colombia, at an elevation of 2,059 metres in the eastern Andes.

### Q: Is it only a university or also a publisher?
A: It functions as both: a degree-granting university and an open-access academic publisher disseminating research outputs.

### Q: When was the university established?
A: It was legally created and began operations on 11 February 1982.

### Q: Is the university part of any national bodies?
A: Yes, it is an affiliated member of the Association of Colombian Universities (ASCUN).

## Why It Matters
As one of the few dual-role institutions in Colombia, Universidad Católica de Oriente plays a two-fold role in the national knowledge ecosystem. First, it widens access to higher education for the eastern Antioquia region, historically underserved by major urban universities. Second, by operating as an open-access publisher, it immediately releases locally generated research without paywalls, increasing Colombian visibility in global citation indexes. Membership in ASCUN gives the small institution a national lobbying voice, while adoption of standard global identifiers (GRID, ROR, ISNI, VIAF) ensures its research outputs are automatically harvested by scholarly search engines, helping Colombian science punch above its weight.

## Notable For
- Dual identity: simultaneously classified as a university and an open-access publisher in major knowledge bases
- High-altitude campus: sits above 2,000 m, among the highest university locations in Colombia
- Persistent identifier coverage: carries ISNI, ROR, GRID, VIAF and Library of Congress authority records, rare for a small Colombian university
- Continuous social-media presence: official Twitter account active since late 2010, steadily growing followers
- Regional focus: the name "Católica de Oriente" signals its founding mission to serve eastern Antioquia

## Body
### Founding & Location
Universidad Católica de Oriente was established on 11 February 1982 in Rionegro, a municipality 30 km southeast of Medellín. The campus lies at 6.15045° N, 75.36634° W and 2,059 m elevation, making it one of Colombia's highest permanent university sites.

### Academic & Publishing Role
Wikidata and Microsoft Academic classify the institution as both a university and an open-access publisher. This dual role means faculty and regional researchers can publish scholarly articles, journals and conference proceedings under the university's imprint without subscription barriers.

### Identifiers & Metadata
The university is catalogued under ISNI 0000-0004-0486-3778, ROR 02pzxyp49, GRID grid.442001.3, VIAF 2887154622393344710005 and Library of Congress no2018175009, ensuring its metadata feeds into global scholarly profiles.

### National Networks
It joined the Association of Colombian Universities (ASCUN), giving it access to national accreditation discussions, shared research platforms and joint advocacy for higher-education funding.

### Online Presence
The institutional website http://www.uco.edu.co/ offers an RSS feed at /feed/. The Twitter account @uconiano, created 9 December 2010, had 5,894 followers as of 4 January 2021, serving as the primary social-media news channel.

## References

1. Directory of Open Access Journals
2. Virtual International Authority File
3. [Source](https://web.archive.org/web/20191222091657/https://www.ascun.org.co/organizacion/index/universidades-asociadas)
4. [Source](http://www.uco.edu.co/)
5. GRID Release 2016-05-31
6. Quora
7. Aligned ISNI and Ringgold identifiers for institutions
8. Microsoft Academic Knowledge Graph