Presentation by Matthew Buys at SARIMA Workshop, 11 May 2015, in Johannesburg, SA.

1. Interoperability in
Research Management:
Why it Matters, Adoption
Continuum
ACU SARIMA Conference 2015
Matthew Buys

2. The Digital Ecosystem
Central Repositories - RIMS, in-house systems
Unique IDs - ORCID, ResearcherID, Scopus Preview, Google…
Data Models - in-house data models, VIVO...
Data Dictionary - none, CASRAI…
Web portals - IR, custom, open source

3. Silo Systems
RIMS Finance Institutional
Repository
HR,
Students
Interoperability???
Research
Portal

4. Global trends driving the needs for increased
professionalization of research management
Governments
● National research performance exercises (e.g. REF, ERA, SEP, …)
● Increased visibility for the country / region
Funders
● Complex application processes
● Reporting back on results from projects
● Mandating open access publishing
Universities
● Benchmarking externally and internally, SWOT, Internal performance reviews, Annual faculty
activity reports
● Accreditations, Controlling, Compliance (Ethics reviews, CoI, …)
● Visibility to attract talent and collaborations
● Efficiency
Researchers
● Less administration, more research.

5. Global challenges for effective & efficient
research management workflows
Pro-active
Research
Management
Attract talent
Increase collaborations
Produce high quality
publications
Make efficient and effective use of
available funding
Increase success rates,
and external research
funding
Generate more high impact,
innovative project ideas
Produce more patents
& license agreements
Generate more spin-outs,
products, expertise, services,
…

6. Breaking down the silo
Ins$tu$onal
Data
• People
|
Org
units|
Affilia3ons
|
Op3onal:
Publica3ons
• Sources:
Finance,
HR,
IR,
RIS,
DW,
…
RIMS
Jane
Doe
Dep.
of
Law
ORCID ID:
0000-0001-5442-5838
+
other
online
sources,
file
formats
and
manual
crea3on.

7. Importance of standards

8. Unique Identifiers
ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-based
effort to provide a registry of unique researcher
identifiers and a transparent method of linking
research activities and outputs to these identifiers.
ORCID is unique in its ability to reach across
disciplines, research sectors, and national
boundaries and its cooperation with other identifier
systems.

9. Workflow: Researchers
IDEAS PROPOSALS PROJECTS RESULTS EXPLOITATION

10. Workflow: Research Administrator
IDEAS PROPOSALS PROJECTS RESULTS EXPLOITATION

11. Interoperability

12. Digital Ecosystem of the future
…. enter data once and reuse this many times. Key functions:
● Compliant CVs
● Interoperable systems
● Public presence of research
● Embed unique identifiers into the workflow
● Compliance with standards
● Accurate reporting
Enabling innovation through functional information
management systems

13. Tracking the trends
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
South Africa
Namibia
Botswana
Mozambique
Malawi
Angola
Nigeria
Zimbabwe
Zambia
Tunisia
Kenya
Ethiopia
Tanzania
Rwanda
Ghana
Egypt
Registered ORCID users
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2012 2013 2014
Cumulative ORCID users
globally
18%
62%
7%
13%
ORCID members
Publisher Members
University Members
Funder Members
Assocation Members

14. Adoption Continuum

15. Challenges and insight
• Infrastructure
• Stakeholders
• Skills and capacity
• Budget
• Evolving needs
• Data integrity

16. Scalability for the future

17. Thank you
Contact
Matthew Buys
ORCID Regional Director, Africa & Middle East
m.buys@orcid.org
+27 83 588 3160
Renee Reagon
Thomson Reuters, Professional Services Manager
renee.reagon@thomsonreuters.com / ipsafrica@thomsonreuters.com
+27 83 789 5493