Research Information Management: Making Sense of it All

Jonathan Breeze, Symplectic CEO

Boston Library Consortium Workshop

November 2014

Research  Informa.on  Management:  Making  Sense  of  it  All  -­‐  The  crea.on  of  an  authorita.ve  ins.tu.onal  data  source  requires  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  subject  area,  the  adop.on  of  effec.ve  processes,  strong  stakeholder  communica.on  and  a  comprehensive  apprecia.on  of  available  sources  of  suppor.ng  data.      Faced  with  growing  compe..on  for  future  funding  and  increased  calls  to  both  disseminate  and  demonstrate  the  impact  resul.ng  from  research  ac.vity  carried  out  by  their  researchers,  many  research  intensive  ins.tu.ons  are  now  implemen.ng  Research  Informa.on  Management  Systems  (RIMs)  to  help  collate  the  oIen  fragmented  sets  of  data  maintained  across  an  ins.tu.on  and  to  blend  these  with  external  data  sources  in  a  bid  to  reduce  the  administra.ve  burden  historically  associated  with  capturing  and  managing  data  about  an  ins.tu.on’s  research  ac.vity.    In  this  session,  the  presenter  will  reflect  on  the  emergence  of  research  informa.on  management  systems,  their  key  func.ons,  the  types  of  data  they  can  capture;  the  intersec.on  of  RIMs  with  other  ins.tu.onal  systems  (e.g.  Ins.tu.onal  Repositories  and  Profile  Systems)  and  the  resul.ng  benefit  afforded  to  ins.tu.ons  that  deploy  ins.tu.on-­‐wide  RIM  systems.    Based  on  both  his  own  experience  of  implemen.ng  a  RIM  at  Imperial  College  London  and  having  worked  with  many  other  leading  research  ins.tu.ons  whilst  at  Symplec.c,  the  presenter  will  also  discuss  how  research  libraries  and  librarians  are  oIen  uniquely  placed  to  promote  and  support  the  adop.on  of  RIMs  by  Faculty  and  how  they  also  oIen  go  on  to  play  a  more  central  role  in  the  planning  of  future  ins.tu.onal  research  informa.on  data  collec.on.    

•  We serve research institutions and researchers alike •  Our key features are developed in partnership with

our client-base •  We remain vendor and data source agnostic •  We are part of the vibrant Digital Science community

About  Symplec.c  

–  The emergence of Research Information Management systems (RIMs) •  What are they •  Where did they come from inc. drivers behind early RIM development •  Primary use cases for adoption

–  How do RIMs differ to traditional management information databases? •  Automated data capture •  Disambiguation •  Joining the dots •  Focus on reuse

–  The role of the Librarian •  Operational support •  Quality control •  Advocacy and advice •  Taking a lead

Overview

Any system dedicated to supporting the capture, linking and dissemination of information associated with the research lifecycle; usually with an institutional focus. Classic data model includes:

– Person data (inc. positions, skills, cv) – Research Outputs and Datasets – Patents – Grants and projects – Professional & teaching activities – Org Units (e.g. research groups) – Equipment and facilities

What is a RIM system?

•  Key Drivers: –  internal research assessment –  national research

assessment exercises (UK, Aus, Denmark, Netherlands)

–  increased competition for funding

–  calls to reduce administrative burden placed on researchers

–  support discoverability of institutional research

Drivers behind development of early RIMs

•  Collecting and managing publication information

•  Carrying out government assessment/returns

•  Growing institutional repositories •  Populating public researcher profiles

with up-to-date information •  Supporting the generation of

researcher CV’s and other internal reports

•  Evaluating institutional research activity •  Responding to funder requests

Key use cases

“This software allowed me to turn a 1 hour annual task into a 6 hour task (and this was after probably 2 hours of work by the college), and it also allowed me to turn an 'excellent' annual evaluation into a 'good' evaluation. “ 

A move away from ‘form filling’: yikes!

Unhappy  researcher    

Far greater focus on the user experience

Automated data capture

System Integrations

Both internal and external systems

Searched by DOI

Profile/Expertise Systems

SymplecticElements

VIVO Scival

Researcher Identifier Systems

ORCiD Researcher ID

Bibliographic Aggregators*

Scopus Web of Science

Disciplinary Article Repositories

PubMed arXiv

E-PMC

Datasets

figshare

CINii

RePEc DBLP

Academic (or their proxy)

selects external data sources

most relevant to them

SymplecticReporting Database

Funding DataBibliometrics

altmetric

TR Impact Factors

Media DataReference Data

Org IDs

Sherpa FundRefSSRN

CVCV & Biosketch

Data Warehouse /

BI Tool

ETLResearch Output Sources

Open Access Repository

Profile and external research

output data

CMS / Profile Tool (e.g. VIVO or Profiles RNS)

RefMgrBibTeX

Teaching DatabaseHR Award

Mgnt

Institutional Systems of Record

Equipment

Other Data Sources

API

API

Funder and Govt Systems

XML

APIAPI

LegendSymplectic Digital ScienceOpen DataInstitution

Journal dataCrossRef

Patent Data

DOAJ

Awards Data

API

.doc & pdf

Google Books

Dimensions

Leverage  benefits  of  unique  and  persistent  IDs  

Automatic Disambiguation

Data  captured  from  7  different  sources  to  make  this  single  

record  

Cita.ons  counts  from  the  major    cita.ons  engines  in  the  same  place  

Integra.on  with  Altmetric  

Ar.cle  associated    with  3  authors    

within  the  ins.tu.on  

Journal-­‐level  metrics  

Direct  integra.on  with  digital  research  repository  

Rela.onships  to  grants,  equipment  

used,  etc.  

Result = richer contextualized data

Open Access Policy Support

Repository Integration

•  Elements supports the population of institutional digital repositories. The automatic detection of files elsewhere on the web helps reduce the burden placed on academics.

•  RIMs help institutions visualize individual and institutional research networks in public facing profiles

VIVO:  Co-­‐author  Network    Profiles  RNS:  Author  Concepts  Timeline  

Data used in research networking tools

The fun bit: Analytics

•  High visibility scholarly communication tool –  Supports discoverability

•  Support –  Advice (e.g. copyright

policies, publishing strategies)

–  Advocacy (open access adoption)

–  Understanding research impact (inc. altmetrics)

The role of the Library

Complementary Tools

New Services

Thompson,  NA  (2013).  Australasian  Research  Management  Conference,  Adelaide,  Australia,  11  Sep  2013  -­‐  13  Sep  2013.    

New Services

Thompson,  NA  (2013).  Australasian  Research  Management  Conference,  Adelaide,  Australia,  11  Sep  2013  -­‐  13  Sep  2013.    

New Services

Thompson,  NA  (2013).  Australasian  Research  Management  Conference,  Adelaide,  Australia,  11  Sep  2013  -­‐  13  Sep  2013.    

•  Understanding of data curation and preservation techniques

•  Bibliographic data •  Other metadata

The role of the Library

DCC  Cura.on  Lifecyle  Model  h\p://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/cura.on-­‐lifecycle-­‐model  

Use Case: HERDC Process

Institutional Impact

Thank You! Symplectic.info

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