NEWS AND ANALYSIS
previous approaches, the RIOXX Metadata Application Profile and associated software improvements really needed to be pragmatic and implementable across the board. The first step in the process was to focus on applying consistency on two key sets of metadata fields, namely project ID (grant number) and funder name. Reliably linking funding information with research
outputs will benefit anyone
needing to track research across scholarly systems.
An increasing number of universities are installing current research information systems (CRIS), which provide a richer (and inevitably more complex) picture of how research funding, projects, people and outputs are related to each other. CRIS often use the Common European Research Information Format (CERIF). There are a number of UK projects that are based on its adoption and implementation. For example the CERIF in Action (CiA) project is developing plug-ins for CRISs to allow import and export of CERIF compliant metadata. An
‘Better research
information management and resource discovery require robust, accurate metadata’
example of a European CERIF implementation is the Current Research Information System In Norway (CRIStin) initiative. With the emergence of CRISs there has been a need for effective data exchange between systems. How institutions have set up their repositories and CRISs varies. The majority have set their repository to co-exist with their CRIS. However, others have set up the repository as a backend system to hold their documents with the metadata being held via the CRIS. The repository and CRIS configurations may change over time, but the important aspect to focus on is the integration and interoperability between systems however they are set up. The European OpenAIRE repository infrastructure initiative recently announced that it will support the use of CERIF-XML for interoperability.
Given an expected slow migration to CERIF as a basis for interoperability, the RIOXX guidelines are seen as an interim, yet vital, measure. Nevertheless, interoperability work is expected to be ongoing beyond these interim guidelines to ensure that repositories can meet user needs, for example by linking to publisher
www.researchinformation.info @researchinfo
versions of papers via their Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
Metadata schemas are all very well but, without a common understanding of the terms used in them, the information is not truly shared. One answer is to develop common vocabularies, and the UK Open Access Implementation Group (OAIG) is working with the Jisc Publishers and Libraries Metadata and Interoperability Group to agree some of these. The Vocabularies for Open Access (V4OA) project will work with a wide variety of stakeholders such as National Information Standards Organisation (NISO), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), Society of College and National University Libraries (SCONUL) and United Kingdom Council of Research Repositories (UKCoRR) to try and achieve a consensus on key vocabularies related to open access. The intention is that they will be incorporated into the RIOXX application profile and the guidelines will be updated accordingly. They will also be relevant to the implementation of CERIF.
RIOXX and V4OA are timely interventions as they support the Research Councils’ revised policy on OA, which comes into force from April 2013. The policy mandates that the funder and grant number of research papers be declared when these papers are made available, which will make it easier for everyone to monitor compliance with the
policy, and
will help repositories report to the Councils’ Research Outcomes Service (ROS). Better research information management and resource discovery require robust, accurate metadata. It is not glamorous, but it’s essential for improving interoperability between local, national and international services. For example, it is bizarre that in the UK we are unable to say accurately how many research outputs were produced by universities, and who funded them. Furthermore, there is increasing demand on academic services within universities to be efficient but, as the retail sector knows, business intelligence is only as good as the information you have. The initiatives above are starting to support universities in their need to provide services that meet growing institutional requirements for better metrics, and more efficient research and reporting, all of which should serve, rather than drive, research, teaching, and business and community engagement.
Balviar Notay is programme manager and Neil Jacobs is programme director of digital infrastructure at Jisc
News in Brief
Wiley books benefit developing countries through Research4Life Some 12,200 online books from Wiley will be made available through the Research4Life initiatives, which will benefit research and academic communities in 80 low- and middle- income countries. The addition of Wiley’s online books brings the total number of peer-reviewed scientific journals, books and databases now available through the public-private Research4life partnership to almost 30,000.
De Gruyter buys two German academic publishers: Oldenbourg and Akademie
De Gruyter has acquired two academic publishers: Akademie Verlag, based in Berlin, and Oldenburg Wissenschaftsverlag, based in Munich. Both companies were acquired from Franz Cornelsen Bildungsgruppe. Together, Akademie and Oldenbourg published 44 professional journals and 400 books in 2012, including the Complete Works of Marx and Engels, the Collected Letters of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, several recognised classics in business economics, and the renowned Tusculum Collection.
NPG invests in Swiss open- access publisher Frontiers Nature Publishing Group (NPG) has made a majority investment in the Swiss open-access (OA) publisher Frontiers, which was founded by scientists from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2007. Working with NPG should enable the journal series ‘Frontiers in’ to expand significantly in 2013-2014. In addition, the deal will bring bilateral links between the two publisher sites, making OA articles from the two companies visible on both.
RLUK and OCLC pilot solution for electronic resource metadata management
OCLC is working with several members of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) to pilot a service that brings improvements to the way libraries manage electronic resources and to users’ access of these collections. Powered by the WorldCat knowledge base, OCLC WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager delivers records for electronic materials automatically to libraries and ensures the metadata and access URLs for these collections are continually updated, streamlining the processes of managing eResources.
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