Thematic area: Digital and Infrastructure. Sector: Responsible Digitalisation

From international structured research information standards to indicators

Partners:    Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology  /    EU Delegation in Brazil.  

Year: 2017

Project Overview:

The information systems resulting from structured research information in its various subsystems (design, researcher, results, organisations and others) are called CRIS – Current Research Information Systems. The importance of CRIS systems stems from their ability to integrate and allow joint access to different information modules to systematise research from its inception (i.e., a project that bears fruit once it has been funded) as well as to the data on institutions and researchers that comprise the collective research assets that are indispensable for research. 

The goal of this project is to develop a pilot CRIS project by a financing institution (FAPEAL – Alagoas Research Support Foundation), which implements CERIF (Common European Research Information Format) and uses terminology from CASRAI (Consortia Advancing Standards in Research Administration Information). Then the goal is to replicate the experience of the pilot project at a national scale. This is expected to internationalise the Brazilian research system by promoting increasing interaction with the European Union's counterpart system. 

Activities in this project include three studies to help establish a CERIF model for Brazil using a local institution – FAPEAL – as a pilot. This model requires international guidelines to support the interoperability of CRIS systems, namely by implementing OpenAIRE guidelines for CRIS systems. 

In addition to the studies a technical mission will be fielded to gain in-depth insight into CERIF. Its focal point will be the University of Minho, in Braga, Portugal, which houses a group of experts in its specification and operation. This group is in charge of designing the data model and communication tool for the European Community’s CRIS System – OpenAIRE.

Development of a CRIS for Brazil requires additional measures in the near future to establish a true single market for knowledge, research and innovation, to be called Brazilian Research Area (BRA), as in the European ERA.

Annexes:

• Publication