Article Preview
TopIntroduction
The University is entrusted with two main tasks, teaching and research. In fact, the fundamental nucleus of its staff is defined as TRS or Teaching and Research Staff.
As non-profit organizations, universities play a key role in society. Specifically, and in relation to their research facet, the field to which this paper refers, they have almost the duty to be accountable to society by sharing with it the results of their research and scientific production. Its aim is to contribute to social and scientific progress and, in short, to the knowledge society. Within the university, university libraries should be considered as fundamental agents involved in the protection and dissemination of the research carried out in the institution. In fact, this work has been developed in the academic environment by a multidisciplinary team made up of staff from the library and technological fields within the University.
A CRIS (Current Research Information System), also called RIM (Research Information Management) if it is used the American denomination, is as its own acronym denotes, an information system that serves to collect and disseminate all the information related to the research activities of an institution (Abadal, 2019), the university in this case. Based on this definition and the purpose of the project, it is concluded that what has been designed is a CRIS system. However, the project goes further in its features in relation to a traditional CRIS, so it can be considered as a CRIS with advanced features, among others thanks to its use of semantic technologies.
In brief, the main objective of this work is the development of an information system that by integrating data from different sources and applying semantic technologies, allows to publish and share with society the scientific production generated in the university environment promoting its dissemination.
Background
CRIS is undoubtedly the best tool to help disseminate the university's research work. However, only a few universities have this type of system, although they should become a regular tool in the university environment and not only for their own interest and benefit, but also because they can become a system for transferring knowledge to society and justifying their activities to it (Bryant, et al., 2018). A CRIS system can facilitate the exchange of information, contact with colleagues working on related topics, internal support for decision making (Jeffery, 2006), or even for the comparison between universities and measurement of their research capacity and for the justification of their activity to the different administrations and society, to which the university must contribute with its knowledge. Therefore, there are many benefits (Ebert, 2014), but also for this reason, the quality and performance of the system implemented and of the agents involved in leading its management and development, are fundamental.