euroCRISCERIF is a comprehensive information model for the domain of scientific research, intended to support interchange of research information between and with Current Research Information Systems (CRIS). Endorsed by the European Commission as a recommendation for member states' research information infrastructure, CERIF has become the de facto standard for interoperability between national and institutional research information systems across Europe and beyond.
Background
CERIF originated from EU-funded projects beginning in 1991, making it one of the longest-established metadata standards for research information. It has evolved through multiple versions to keep pace with changing research information management needs. The model is maintained and developed by the CERIF and CRIS Architectures Task Group of euroCRIS (formerly the CERIF Task Group until end of 2016), led by Jan Dvorak since 2013, with deputy leaders Dragan Ivanovic and Andrea Bollini.
Purpose and Scope
CERIF provides a standardized way to represent the full scope of research-related entities:
- Persons: Researchers, administrators, and other participants
- Organizations: Institutions, departments, funding bodies
- Projects: Research activities with timelines and funding
- Publications: Journal articles, books, conference papers
- Patents: Intellectual property outputs
- Products: Software, datasets, and other research outputs
- Facilities: Equipment, laboratories, and infrastructure
- Funding: Grants, awards, and financial support
The model uses an entity-relationship architecture that captures not just the entities themselves but the temporal and typed relationships between them.
Technical Resources
CERIF is developed and made available on GitHub:
- CERIF-DataModel: The data model itself with full documentation. An RDF representation is available from
https://w3id.org/cerif/model, with a browsable HTML representation also available. - CERIF-Vocabularies: Semantic vocabularies associated with CERIF, with RDF representations under the
https://w3id.org/cerif/vocab/directory prefix. - CERIF-TG-Tools: Tools supporting work with the CERIF model.
A CERIF API 1.0 specification is also available. An upcoming refactoring project is currently running, managed by the euroCRIS Technical Committee for Interoperability and Standards (TCIS).
Serializations
CERIF is available in XML (CERIF-XML, the traditional exchange format) and RDF. The RDF representation enables integration with the linked data ecosystem.
Governance and Maintenance
Maintained by the CERIF and CRIS Architectures Task Group of euroCRIS. The TCIS will set the roadmap and strategy for the evolution of CERIF and its alignment with other relevant technologies, models, and standards.
Notable Implementations
CERIF underpins the OpenAIRE Guidelines for CRIS Managers, which define how institutional CRIS systems expose their metadata for aggregation into the European research information infrastructure. Multiple national CRIS systems across Europe are built on or compatible with CERIF.
Related Standards
- DataCite Metadata Schema (datacite-metadata-schema): Used alongside CERIF for research output identification