Exploring the boundaries of CRIS systems

Abstract

In a joint euroCRIS/EARMA session held in Feb 2021, the Research Information Management (RIM) community explored to what extent there was a dichotomy between the RIM and the RMA domains (Research Management and Administration). The conclusion of the session was that there was no such dichotomy but that these were complementary areas that could benefit from shared research information management workflows. In fact, CRIS systems are increasingly serving the whole project lifecycle from the process for putting together a project proposal to the collection of the references for the latest projects outputs and the assessment of its research impact. These systems usually have a modular architecture where some modules – usually those dealing with Open Science – are openly available while others remain closed and for internal use-only at institutions.

The question these workflows covering the whole project lifecycle raise is whether or not CRIS systems can be considered to have boundaries. For instance: if an institution is operating just one of such "RMA modules", say a post-award module, and this is run in a closed mode, i.e. not visible from the outside or even referenced on the institutional website on research, can this be considered to be a CRIS if there is no openly available research portal associated with it or any trace of it on any institutional webpage?