Current Status of Research Information Management in Peru

Abstract

Nowadays, there is full consensus that the promotion of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) has a positive impact on the economic growth of a country. In Peru, the National System of STI doesn’t have enough information for decision-making, because it doesn’t have an information system to manage (collect, systematize, store and communicate) the data generated during execution of each activity carried out. In this context, CONCYTEC (public body in charge of the development of policies, regulations and promotion of activities related to the STI) is planning to build a tool to cover this need, project that has financial support from the World Bank.

To fulfill this task in order to cover the needs of all the actors involved in STI in the country, a study was carried out at a national level to know the current state of the processes and the computer supports of the research centers, research institutes and universities of the country to know their needs, and be able to pursue a common goal. We visited 20 public universities, 23 private universities and 10 research institutes. Through these visits, it was possible to know their needs, institutional objectives, type of decisions they make, the level of implementation of their current management systems of research activities and what kind of systems are being used (open-source products, commercial products or in-house systems) and how these systems interoperate with other ones, the type of content they store, and the type of indicators they need to generate as part of their management activities, as well as their degree of satisfaction with respect to the they have for decision making. The information collected was compared with the benefits of different CRIS alternatives existing in the market in order to establish the path we will follow as a country. The decision taken is aligned with the needs of the institutions visited, with the needs that we have as a State, and with the project "Improvement and Expansion of the Services of the National System of Science, Technology and Innovation" financed by the World Bank.