cerif cris-uk-landscape-eurocris-may2013

A centre of expertise in digital information management

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UKOLN is supported by:

CERIF CRIS UK landscape study: work in progress report

euroCRIS membership meeting Bonn, 13-14 May 2013

Rosemary Russell, UKOLN, University of Bath


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Jisc Innovation Support Centreat UKOLN (until July 2013)• Includes support for Jisc Research

Information Management (RIM) Programme eg – CERIF resources– project syntheses– ‘landscape’ studies

• CERIF support project (Brigitte Jörg)


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Wider UK CERIF landscape (by Brigitte Jörg)


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CERIF CRIS UK landscape study aims

• document the adoption and current use of CERIF CRIS in UK HE institutions

• update March 2012 report – compare progress/ reveal how far things have

moved on/ identify common issues…– inform future Jisc planning…


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CRIS used in UK (provisional %)


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CRIS adoption in UK HE• Symplectic ‘publications’ product launched in 2005

– CERIF compliant data model in 2009• 1st UK Pure system - mid 2009 (St Andrews/Aberdeen)• 1st UK CONVERIS system - beginning 2010 (Cranfield)

• Intensive CRIS procurement in 2011, slowed down since…– eg between May and October 2011 UK Pure users grew from 7 to 17– 2 new Pure users since March 2012

• Now 57 CERIF CRIS users in UK = 33.7% adoption of CERIF in higher education institutions (was 30.7% in March 2012)

• Although eg in Russell Group – large majority have CRIS

• Also - Research in View (TR), Dspace CRIS...


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Study progress to date• 13 interviews carried out (20 institutions in

2011/2012)– 7 Pure, 3 CONVERIS, 3 Symplectic Elements– plus 2/3 newer implementations

• contrast to earlier institutional experiences (eg development of UK data model)

• Interviewee – ‘CRIS project manager’ or similar, based in:– Research Office (7) – Library/Info Services (5) – IT Department (1) RH– [Some changeover when implementation project ends]


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[Coverage]

• Management/implementation/functionality• Developing services eg MRD, benchmarking• Data exchange• CRIS benefits• Community buy-in• CERIF experiences• User group activity

• Will just highlight here a few of the key issues emerging…


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REF is painful!

Research Excellence Framework = UK research assessment system, used to allocate funding…•Biggest research information management issue for institutions •Key driver for CRIS adoption•Majority agreed CRIS functionality to support REF met key requirements

• although impossible to meet every single requirement• two said vendor late in providing REF functionality• one underestimated implementation time needed, so CRIS only being

used partially – rest in spreadsheets… • most reported gripes from individuals• using CRIS saved time


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Managing research data• Next most immediate issue

– under discussion but many putting off decisions until after REF

• Difficult to address – large, disparate datasets for different subject areas

– “don’t know what to do”– “too many variations in research data for a single template”– “academics using range of external data archives”

• Pure user group drafting list of required fields• Some concern whether CERIF is keeping up with demands• Bath developing standalone pilot data registry in EPrints – to link

with Pure in longer term (Strathclyde also considering EPrints, with Pure as catalogue)

• Another looking at Dspace


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Replacing IR with CRIS?

• Ongoing discussion at many institutions• Most continuing with both repository and CRIS

– CRIS populates IR (one user interface)– Integration works well for most

• Exceptions:– 1 of interviewees using CRIS to provide IR

functionality already– 1 on verge… ‘fairly sure will go ahead’


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CERIF views/engagement• Not much change

• most have basic understanding only • no time/staff resources to take further• most still rely on external expertise: vendor/user group• “as a manager, I’m happy to be protected!”

• some had planned to get involved in CERIF after implementation – not happened – other priorities eg REF…

• “There still isn’t a really clear business driver for CERIF effort”• “Fair bit of hype about CERIF a few years ago – but no longer

talked about so much”

• One user with CERIF expertise had changed view: “Suppliers have won the CERIF battle for us, now we don’t have to worry”


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Publication end of June

•http://isc.ukoln.ac.uk/work/rim/

•euroCRIS Newsflash

cerif cris-uk-landscape-eurocris-may2013

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