The University of Minho and the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança share the need of establishing a CRIS and Research Portal, as a tool to support and strengthen their affirmation in research and development and their commitment to open science.

It is due to common needs and challenges that UMinho and IPB identified the opportunity of working together in this project. Considering these common needs and strategies, sharing the effort and investment required for the definition, development and implementation of a CRIS and Research Portal in each institution seems to be a very suitable and efficient solution for both institutions. The Research Portal, among other things, aims to allow users to manage their scientific production by registering and/or importing information about their publications, communications and other scientific and academic results.

Each author will have their own public profile where they can manage public information such as contacts, external links, curricular information, academic qualifications, teaching activities, guidelines, scientific production and collaboration networks.

The portal will also provide access to scientific production statistics of all participating institutions and their internal units, such as research units, schools and departments. Each author will be able to compare their work with the work of the average researcher in different units of the institution, also having access to citations and data on the journals of their publications.

To respond to these permissions the institutions have chosen to install VIVO.

VIVO is an open source software, supported by the Lyrasis Community, to represent academic activity. Supports recording, editing, searching, browsing, and visualization of academic activity. It encourages academic registration, research and the assessment of its impact and is easily adapted to support additional areas of scholarly activity.

In practice, VIVO is an academic information management system. Which has as its main functions:

  • Online access:
    • VIVO provides an online portal where it is possible to consult the Academic Community, its work and its interconnections.
  • Data collection:
    • making certain data available according to the permissions assigned to the different participants
  • Access control system:
    • possibility of authentication through Shibboleth or password-based
  • Detailed information at:

https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/VIVODOC112x/VIVO+1.12.x+Documentation

https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/VIVODOC111x/Installing+VIVO#InstallingVIVO-Overview

What does VIVO allow?

  • all open source components and the institution owns/controls its data
  • easy installation and/or hosting solution (software as a service)
  • simplified profiles that collect data from an unlimited number of sources
  • optimised user interface for greater accessibility
  • improved profile editor
  • support the re-use and/or communication of data