Transcript ISS PowerPoint Template - Repositories Support Project

Readiness for REF
Dr Mark Cox
Research and Learning Development Manager,
King’s College London
[email protected]
3
REF
• Research Excellence Framework
• Successor to RAE 2008
• Three major factors
– Research Outputs
– Environment
– Impact (new to REF)
• Use of bibliometric data still under discussion
4
RAE 2008 submission
• Some use of repositories to gather information on
research outputs
• Some use of Research Information Systems (CRISes)
• Large amounts of manual entry
• Most CRISes at the time were bespoke developments
• CRISes usually held information on publications
• Little consistency across different institutions (and
sometimes within institutions!)
5
Towards the REF
• Most institutions now have an Institutional Repository, usually
managed by library staff
• Some institutions have in-house built CRISes, sometimes integrated
with other systems
• A few institutions have purchased commercial CRIS systems
• As the requirement for data relating to research increases, many
institutions are looking for a more co-ordinated approach to
research information management
• A growing appreciation that collaboration and harmonization will
provide greater value for money, both for institutions and for UK
research in general
6
CERIF
• Common European Research Information Format
• International-standard data model which describes
Research Entities and their relationships
• Developed originally with the support of the European
Commission
• Development now under the custody of euroCRIS
• CERIF is neutral to architecture
7
Benefits of using CERIF
• Institutions do not have the resources to develop a completely
new UK data model
• CERIF has been successfully used as the basis for a number of
national systems across Europe
• CERIF has evolved over ten years via the experience of
developers across Europe
• euroCRIS, as the custodians of the CERIF standard, form an
active and enthusiastic community which encourages
participation in the development of the model
8
Readiness for REF (R4R)
• The R4R Project between King’s and Southampton is examining
CERIF as a the basis of a mechanism for delivering data to the
REF
• At the core of this will be a “lightweight “ data schema based
on the CERIF model, adapted to the needs of data collection
for the REF – “CERIF4REF”
• The desired outcome is that the CERIF data model will:
– form the “glue” that will hold disparate information systems together
– deliver repository and CRIS interoperability for the REF
– allow for interoperability and exchange of data within and across
institutions, including external systems
9
R4R work streams
•
•
•
•
•
•
Carry out an analysis of current practice in UK institutions
From REF requirements, develop the CERIF4REF data
schema
Evaluate CERIF4REF schema applicability
Examine mapping this data model to external sources
Create “plug-ins” for the three most common types of
repository (ePrints, DSpace, Fedora)
Demonstrate data exchange between systems at King’s and
Southampton
10
CERIF4REF
• REF data requirements not yet finalised
• Documentation suggests considerable overlap with
RAE requirements
• Initial mapping exercise was carried out to map RAE
2008 data fields to CERIF elements
• Data fields taken from RAE forms
–
–
–
–
RA1: Person data
RA2: Research Outputs
RA3a/b: Students and Studentships
RA4: Research Awards
11
CERIF4REF
• Involved an iterative mapping exercise, reviewed and
refined by euroCRIS developers
• Vast majority of RAE data fields could be mapped to
CERIF elements
• Missing DoB element was incorporated into latest
version of CERIF
• Certain RAE data fields (especially in RA3 and RA4
forms) required aggregation of lower-level CERIF
elements
12
CERIF4REF schema
• To aid with defining elements, an XML schema (.xsd)
has been created for CERIF4REF, accompanied by a
data dictionary
• This describes the underlying elements that are
required to generate RAE/REF summary data, such
as RA3 and RA4 forms
• Stylesheets (.xsl) have also been generated which
can be used to transform CERIF4REF data into pure
CERIF format, or into RAE forms.
13
Research Information systems at King’s
RG Academic
Interface
HRMS
Name, job title, start date, etc
Manual entry:
Qualifications
Esteem Factors
Publications not in
WoK feed
Feedback workflow
RG Admin
Interface
Web
interfaces
Manual entry:
Qualifications
Esteem Factors
Publications not in
WoK feed
Feedback workflow
School/College Managers
– Research Strategy
Feed automatic, overnight
School web pages
(potential)
SITS
PG(R) details
Feed automatic, overnight
APTOS
Grant monthly expenditure
Feed automatic, overnight
Res. Grants & Contracts
Awards, amounts, dates
Feed manual, 2 weeks
IoP Res. Grants
Awards, amounts, dates
Feed manual, 1 month
Web of Knowledge
Publications in journals
Feed automatic, 1 week
Experts database
(potential)
Research
Gateway
Database
Staff Profiles
(Web pages)
RAE/REF outputs
Direct link
AKORD Repository
Full text of publications,
publication metadata
AKORD publications
database (web interface)
InCites -bibliometric
information
14
Repositories and CRISes
• Two general ways of using repositories in research
information management
• Use a CRIS for gathering all research related
information, including research output, and feed/link
to repository
• Or…
• Expand repository to be able to cover a wider range
of research related information
15
CERIF4REF in practice
• Full CERIF Oracle database created by using SQL
scripts developed by euroCRIS
• CERIF4REF model also used to create separate
Oracle database
• Data mapping to existing King’s CRIS (Research
Gateway) carried out
• CERIF4REF database successfully populated from
King’s Research Gateway system
16
Evaluating the CERIF4REF schema
• CERIF4REF model being used to inform development of
local ePrints repository at Southampton
• Case studies carried out with a number of other
institutions to determine if CERIF4REF elements could be
populated from existing systems
• Institutions chosen by size and existence (or absence) of
a repository
• Agreement that CERIF4REF covered a majority of areas
17
External Sources
• Publication data (Thomson Reuters)
– Tool developed at Southampton to allow population of
repositories from Web of Science (WoS) basic API via the
SWORD protocol
– This may circumvent the need to map this data to CERIF
• UK Research Councils
– RCUK are developing a new system to collect research output
from institutions
– Discussions have been held with members of this project team to
determine the overlap of the requirements with the R4R
developments
18
Repository plug-ins
• Development of plug-ins for ePrints (Southampton),
DSpace (Edinburgh) and Fedora (King’s)
• Tools will generate xml in CERIF4REF format to allow
import into other repositories or CRISes
• Work is ongoing to refine the applications
• Focus currently is on research outputs
• Southampton are developing an expanded ePrints
system
19
Data exchange
• Once plug-ins are completed, we will be testing the
exchange of data between King’s and Southampton’s
systems
• CERIF4REF xml output from plug-in will also be used
to import data to King’s CERIF4REF Oracle system
• Eventually hope to use a real test case, where an
academic staff member has actually moved between
the two institutions
20
R4R: Conclusions so far
• In the UK, there is much greater awareness of, and
interest in, the CERIF model and the role of
repositories and CRISes in research management
• CERIF being increasingly viewed as the best solution
for data harmonization within the UK
• CERIF4REF model has potential to provide a step
towards greater CERIF uptake in UK institutions
21
Related Developments
• JISC research information management (RIM) group
– following up recommendations of EXRI report that
CERIF should form a common research information
exchange format for the UK
• REF submission system likely to include some form of
CERIF upload capability
• MICE project – follow-up to R4R to investigate
mapping impact to CERIF
22
Finally – thanks to…
• JISC
• King’s team
– Sheila Anderson
– Richard Gartner
– Sudden Martes
• Ex-King’s
– Mary Davies
– Stephen Grace
• Southampton team
– Tim Brody
– Les Carr
• euroCRIS
– Keith Jefferies
– Brigitte Joerg
– Geert van Grootel
And many others – apologies to anyone I’ve missed!
23
Questions?
24