PTCRIS (Portuguese CRIS) is a program aiming at the creation and sustained development of a national integrated information ecosystem, to support research management according to the best international standards and practices. This paper reports on the experience of designing and prototyping an ORCID based synchronization framework for PTCRIS. This framework embraces the “input once, re-use often” principle, and will enable a substantial reduction of the research output management burden, by allowing automatic information exchange between the various national systems. The design of the framework followed best practices in rigorous software engineering, namely well-established principles in the research field of consistency management, and relied on formal analysis techniques and tools for its validation and verification.

1. An ORCID based
synchronization framework for
a national CRIS ecosystem
João Mendes Moreira, Alcino Cunha, Nuno Macedo

2. Our problem
• Research outcomes scattered through various
services and data formats
• Heavy burden on researchers and managers
• Inconsistent information and impact assessment
2

3. Our goal
• Input once, reuse often!
• Automatic synchronization between services
3

4. PTCRIS in context
4

5. PTCRIS in context
CV
4

6. PTCRIS in context
CV
OA
aggregator
4

7. PTCRIS in context
CV
OA
aggregatorDSpace
4

8. PTCRIS in context
CV
OA
aggregatorDSpace
OJS
4

9. PTCRIS in context
CV
OA
aggregatorDSpace
OJS
4

10. PTCRIS in context
ORCID
CV
OA
aggregatorDSpace
OJS
4

11. PTCRIS in context
ORCID
CV
Researcher
ID
OA
aggregatorDSpace
OJS
4

12. PTCRIS in context
ORCID
CV
Researcher
ID
OA
aggregatorDSpace
OJS
Scopus
4

13. PTCRIS in context
ORCID
CV
Researcher
ID
OA
aggregatorDSpace
OJS
Scopus
4

14. A non solution
ORCID
CV
Researcher
ID
OA
aggregator
DSpace
OJSScopus
5

15. A non solution
ORCID
CV
Researcher
ID
OA
aggregator
DSpace
OJSScopus
5

16. A non solution
• Many synchronization procedures per service
• Implementation and maintainability nightmare
• No clear flow to achieve global consistency
6

17. Our solution
ORCID
CV
Researcher
ID
OA
aggregator
DSpace
OJSScopus
7

18. Our solution
ORCID
CV
Researcher
ID
OA
aggregator
DSpace
OJSScopus
7

19. Our solution
• One synchronization procedure per service
• Easier to implement and maintain
• Clear flow to achieve global consistency
8

20. Why ORCID?
• High coverage of predefined requirements
• High interoperability with external sources
• High coverage of the national research community
• Sustainable and open source
9

21. Modular synchronization
ORCID
10

22. Modular synchronization
ORCID
10

23. Modular synchronization
• IMPORT: harvest research outputs from ORCID
• EXPORT: feed research outputs to ORCID
ORCID
10

24. Main challenges
• Mismatch between data models
• ORCID may contain several versions of the same output
• They are grouped together based on UIDs
• (Fast evolving) API still does not reflect this data model
• Inconsistent, sometimes incorrect, meta-data
• (Still) no clear mechanism to determine the user preferred
version
11

25. Design methodology
• Focus on the what before the how
• What is the desired notion of consistency
between each service and ORCID?
• How can a synchronization procedure be
implemented to enforce such consistency?
12

26. Design methodology
• Use formal analysis methods and tools
• To verify desirable properties of all artifacts
• To generate scenarios for validation and testing
• “The first principle is that you must not fool
yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool”
Richard Feynman
13

27. Scenarios
Article1
doi0 handle0
Paper1
doi1 eid1 handle1
Work1
USER
doi0
Work2
SCOPUS
doi1 eid1
Work3
USER
eid1 handle1
14

28. Scenarios
Article1
doi0 handle0
Work1
USER
doi0
Work2
SCOPUS
doi1 eid1
Work3
USER
eid1 handle1
Paper1
doi1 eid1 handle1
doi0
14

29. Scenarios
Article1
doi0 handle0
Work1
USER
doi0
Work2
SCOPUS
doi1 eid1
Work3
USER
eid1 handle1
Paper1
doi1 eid1 handle1
doi0
Work4
PTCRIS
doi1 eid1 handle1 doi0
14

30. Scenarios
Work1
USER
doi0
Work2
SCOPUS
doi1 eid1
Work3
USER
eid1 handle1
Paper1
doi1 eid1 handle1
doi0
Work4
PTCRIS
doi1 eid1 handle1 doi0
Article1
doi0 handle0
doi1 eid1 handle1
14

31. Prototype
• Demoed at the FCCN community annual meeting in
February 2015
• Show compelling and real use cases
• Four PTCRIS services involved: CV, OA aggregator,
DSpace, and OJS
15

32. Prototype
16

33. What’s next?
• We expect to have certified implementations of this
specification in DeGóis (CV), RCAAP (OA aggregator),
SARI (DSpace), and two local CRIS systems by the
end of 2015
• Upgrade the specification to ORCID API 2.0
• Provide synchronization as a service?
• Automatic (model-based) testing from scenarios?
• H2020 proposal around this topic?
17