This research presents an exploratory and descriptive study on the use of knowledge organization processes and systems in the context of repositories, published in journals indexed in databases between 2015 and 2020. The authors of these papers do not necessarily publish in specific events and journals in the Knowledge Organization area, but rather in the Library and Information Science arena. The study has been carried out in four steps: 1. Search, retrieval and selection of articles; 2. Development of a data codebook; 3. Identification and codification of topics; and, 4. Analysis of the data extracted. A final sample of 33 articles was defined. The methodology applied to determine the theme of journal articles is presented in detail, including the use of the Classification System for Knowledge Organization Literature (CSKOL). The illustrative data of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity present in the articles object of this study are shown and discussed, regarding the predominance of certain ranges of CSKOL and regarding the diversity of the representative themes of the contents. It is possible to conclude that the use of CSKOL proves to be a suitable lens for analysing and understanding the literature on the field of knowledge organization in institutional repositories. It is shown that, in these 33 articles the themes of knowledge organization are combined with interdisciplinary themes from other areas of knowledge. In our opinion, this enriches and improves theoretical support for research development.