Illinois Research Connections Researcher Information System Project

Rebecca Bryant, PhD rabryant@illinois.edu

http://go.illinois.edu/irc

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Project goals

Connect researchers with potential collaborators, and encourage interdisciplinary researchShowcase Illinois research to external stakeholders, industry partners, and collaborators at other academic institutionsAutomate publication data collection from reliable source(s)

Enable units and individuals to make timely updates to profiles

Goal 1 of the University of Illinois Strategic Plan proposes the development of a faculty profile-sharing database in order to promote scholarship, discovery & innovation. This system will:

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Project scope at a glance

Collaborative OVCR/Library initiative

Interdisciplinary• Illinois Research Connections will

include all disciplines, academic colleges and departments at Illinois. It will also include research-oriented centers and institutes.Comprehensive

• It will include up to 2500 individual researchers on the Illinois campus.

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Project scope at a glance

Data sources• Elsevier Pure platform pre-populates profiles with publication

information available in Scopus• Automatic weekly updates from Scopus data• Individuals and proxies will be able to maintain their own

records

Campus outreach & training• Steering & governance committees are providing

input• Training and ongoing support provided for

colleges, departments, individual researchers• We will partner with departments, libraries,

communication officers, and many others to engage internal and external audiences.

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Proposed Timeline for Phase I (Beta) Launch

• Late summer 2015• BETA launch: a working system with

Elsevier-delivered publications data for current STEM/SS tenure-line faculty, available to campus only

• Communications & training

• Fall/winter 2016• PUBLIC launch, expanding to include arts &

humanities faculty profiles• Widespread publicity effort• Late October: annual update process begins,

including college nominations