The role of CRIS’s in the research life cycle. A case study on implementing a FAIR RDM policy at Radboud University, the Netherlands

Abstract

In 2016, Radboud University (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) started a project to extend its CRIS (METIS) with a functionality that allows researchers to register (metadata) and archive (uploading files) their research data (through the CRIS) while at the same time making the data available for reuse in a FAIR way (via national Dutch data archive DANS).

The new functionality was integrated with already existing functions in the CRIS, thus offering a "one stop shop" interface to researchers in which registration and archiving of data is combined with registration of publications, the uploading of full text to the university's repository, the linking of datasets and publications and the creation of researcher's profile (CV) pages. Apart from the functional extension of the CRIS, the project also included an organizational element: the establishment of support and management structures and workflows, including data curation processes, in order to assure the quality of the data registration process and to foster the FAIRness of the research data.