The Role of Research Information Management in Capacity Building

Abstract

The presentation makes the case for the value of research information management and its associated systems to collect a more detailed snapshot of the research activities conducted at an institutional or at a national level. An example is provided from a highly collaborative international research area – wheat improvement under ongoing climate change – in which the input from India is very significant. However, due to the low availability of tools to map the local research activity, it's difficult to obtain information in key aspects like research funding.

The presentation also addresses the findings of the recent survey on research information management practices jointly carried out by euroCRIS and OCLC. The gradual emergence of systems like IRINS will allow institutions in India to provide a much more significant input into any future iterations of this survey. A number of possible improvements are finally listed as an opportunity for local IRINS managers at institutions to consider, among then enriching the snapshot for the institutional research activity in areas like non-English language publications and funded projects.