JISC RIM2 project synthesis: innovation using CERIF

In addition to a more traditional synthesis report on the technical outcomes of the second phase of JISC Research Information Management (RIM) Programme, UKOLN will also use this blog to highlight some common themes across the projects. A series of posts will appear over the next month. Firstly looking at the theme of innovation using CERIF also serves an introductory purpose.

JISC funded four projects in RIM2: BRUCE, CERIFy, IRIOS-1 and MICE, which ran from February to July 2011, with some extensions until the Autumn allowing for the short timescale. As a departure from RIM1 (which had a broader remit), all projects were based on CERIF at the core and aimed to:

All the projects have helped to move CERIF use forward at a technical level in various ways. The BRUCE project for example developed an open source CERIF-based reporting tool. While the reporting element may not be innovative in itself, mapping data to CERIF has allowed Brunel University to perform analysis on research information which was not previously possible. The open source tool could be used by other smaller HEIs without a ‘full’ CERIF CRIS.

The CERIFy project also worked with institutions which did not have a CERIF CRIS at the time. It carried out business process mapping for common RIM activities (which revealed many similarities across institutions). The project successfully tested the export and re-import of CERIF-compliant institutional data from the CERIFy CRIS to Thomson Reuters InCites.  This was innovative in that it demonstrated data exchange rather than one-way import/export, which is the most common process, given the lack of mature CERIF compliant systems which are capable of exchange and the absence of business demand to date.

However the IRIOS projects (1 and now 2) have been working with the Research Councils, and therefore helping to drive forward the CERIF agenda outside HEIs; the business need may grow in future. IRIOS developed a CERIF-based demonstrator ‘interrogation’ tool for Research Council-funded projects and outputs.

The MICE project was driven by the fact that CERIF did not fully address impact issues, thus limiting its applicability to the UK Research Excellence Framework. The project worked closely with euroCRIS and succeeded in extending CERIF to incorporate impact indicators and measures into the model’s architecture. However further work is needed to agree a taxonomy of indicators and measures within the community.