Shared vocabularies for research administration.

CASRAI is a community-stewarded standards organisation, founded in 2006, that develops open vocabularies for research administration. Its flagship outputs are the CASRAI Dictionary (1,610 terms across 24 domains) and the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT, ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022), federated with NISO, euroCRIS, CODATA, and RDA — freely reusable under CC-BY 4.0.

Explore the Dictionary, the 14 CRediT contributor roles, our standards & releases programme, or the standards CASRAI's work interoperates with.

Explore the Dictionary Read the 14 CRediT roles What is CASRAI? →

v2026.1 releasedCC-BY 4.0Originated ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022 (CRediT)

Browse the site by audience

Research-world adoption

Referenced across the research world

The CRediT taxonomy — now ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022, originated by CASRAI — is referenced in guidance published by these research institutions and infrastructure organisations. The pages below link to each institution’s own guidance.

A non-exhaustive sample. See CRediT adoption worldwide for the full picture.

Federated with

Dictionary entries: 1,610
Thematic domains: 24
CRediT roles: 14
Founded: 2006
Open licence: CC-BY

What you'll find on this site

Dictionary, hubs, editorial — one architecture

The Dictionary is the canonical foundation. Audience hubs translate it into actionable guidance. The editorial layer carries the conversation.

Layer 1 · Foundation

The CASRAI Dictionary

1,610 entries across 24 thematic domains. Stable URIs, structured definitions, picklists, Schema.org DefinedTerm markup. Free to reuse.

v2026.1 · 7 download formats

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Layer 2 · Hubs

Audience-specific guidance

The same standards, translated for the people who use them: authors, institutions, publishers, integrators. Worked examples, templates, FAQs.

4 audience hubs · 7 verticals

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Layer 3 · Editorial

News, perspectives, working groups

What's changing in research-administration standards — and how to operate inside that change. Annual reports + monthly bulletin.

State of CRediT 2026 just published

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Browse by research cluster

Nine topical clusters

Every guide, comparison, and definition on the site belongs to one of nine research-administration clusters. Each cluster pillar is the hub for its sub-topics and worked guidance.

CRediT & Authorship Attribution

Contributor roles, authorship criteria and order, integrity and disputes.

Research Data Management

DMPs, repositories, FAIR data, metadata standards, and reproducibility.

Persistent Identifiers & CRIS

ORCID, DOI, ROR, research-information systems, and bibliometrics.

Research Integrity & Compliance

Misconduct oversight, research security, export control, and ethics.

Scholarly Publishing

Open access, transformative agreements, research assessment, and metadata.

Scholarly Writing

Manuscript conventions, proposal craft, and reviewer-response writing.

Grants Management & Funding

The funding lifecycle, agencies and foundations, and award compliance.

Technology Transfer & Innovation

University IP, licensing mechanics, spinouts, and startup formation.

Clinical Research Administration

Trial operations, regulatory pathways, and billing compliance.

Flagship standard

The Contributor Roles Taxonomy

Fourteen standardised roles for attributing contributions to scholarly research outputs. Originated 2012; CASRAI-stewarded from 2014; formalised as ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022. Used by 50+ publishers across thousands of journals.

Conceptualization
Data curation
Formal analysis
Funding acquisition
Investigation
Methodology
Project administration
Resources
Software
Supervision
Validation
Visualization
Writing — original draft
Writing — review & editing

All 14 roles in detail →Statement builder ↗

Featured this release

Selected dictionary entries

A taste of what's inside v2026.1 — pull any entry to see its definition, picklists, related terms, and citation form.

Browse all 1,610 entries →

Dictionary termProposed

NIH AI Policy

NIH AI policy is not one document but three separate NIH Guide notices, each governing a different actor at a different stage of the grant lifecycle: NOT-OD-23-149 (June 2023) prohibits NIH scientific peer reviewers from using generative AI tools to analyze applications or draft critiques, on confidentiality grounds; NOT-OD-25-132 (July 2025) tells applicants that NIH will not treat an application substantially developed by AI as an original idea, and caps any PI to six new/renewal/resubmission/revision applications per calendar year; and a May 2026 Extramural Nexus notice extends the standard federal research-misconduct definition (fabrication, falsification, plagiarism) to AI-related lapses in the conduct and reporting of already-funded research. Which rule applies to a given situation depends on which lifecycle stage - review, application, or funded-research conduct - it falls into.

Generative AI use and disclosure· Contribution→

Dictionary termProposed

Sale-Leaseback (Equipment)

An equipment sale-leaseback is a two-part transaction, executed together, in which an institution that already owns a piece of equipment (1) sells it to a buyer-lessor at fair market value and (2) immediately leases the same equipment back for continued operational use. It qualifies as a distinct instance of this concept only when both legs occur as part of the same arrangement and the seller retains uninterrupted physical use of the asset; a disposal followed by acquiring different, replacement equipment is not a sale-leaseback, and a loan collateralized by owned equipment (with no transfer of title) is not a sale-leaseback either.

Compliance and regulatory· Compliance→

Dictionary termProposed

Ancillary Materials in Cell Therapy Manufacturing

A raw material used during the manufacture of a cell, gene, or tissue-engineered product that contacts the cells or construct during processing but is not intended to remain in the final product administered to the patient (e.g., growth factors, cytokines, enzymes, selection reagents, culture media additives) -- as distinct from a 'component,' which is a raw material deliberately carried through into the finished product. Qualification rigor is risk-tiered per USP General Chapter <1043>, based on the material's existing quality pedigree (cGMP manufacturing history, prior regulatory approval) versus weaker documentation such as research-use-only labeling.

clinical-research· Contribution→

Dictionary termProposed

Temperature Monitoring Alarm

A temperature monitoring alarm is the notification component of a temperature monitoring system: the function that detects a monitored storage condition moving outside its defined safe range and actively alerts a responsible person, rather than simply recording the excursion for later review. A monitoring setup only has a functioning alarm -- as distinct from a data logger that merely stores readings -- when three things are true together: (1) a defined threshold (high, low, or both, and often a duration threshold to filter brief door-opening events from real excursions) triggers the notification automatically, without a person having to check a screen or download a log; (2) the notification reaches a specific accountable person or on-call rotation through a channel independent of a single point of failure, typically an escalation sequence -- local audible/visual alarm, then app push or email, then SMS or automated phone call, then a secondary contact or central monitoring station if the first contact does not acknowledge within a defined window; and (3) the alarm's own function (power supply, connectivity, and trigger logic) is itself periodically tested and that testing is documented, since an alarm that has never been verified to actually fire is not meaningfully different from having no alarm.

Compliance and regulatory· Compliance→

Dictionary termProposed

21 CFR Part 11 Temperature Monitoring

A temperature-monitoring system (freezer, refrigerator, incubator, or cold-room monitor) is accurately called "21 CFR Part 11 compliant" only when its electronic records -- and any electronic signatures applied to them -- meet 21 CFR Part 11 Subpart B/C requirements as actually configured, validated, and used at a specific site: a secure audit trail, unique attributable user accounts, documented system validation (IQ/OQ/PQ), retrievable retention, access controls, and (if used) compliant electronic signatures. It is a property of site-level configuration and validation, not a certificate a vendor sells.

Compliance and regulatory· Compliance→

Dictionary termProposed

Thermal Cycler Specifications

<p>Thermal cycler specifications are the documented set of performance parameters — block format and sample capacity, ramp rate, temperature accuracy and uniformity, gradient range, lid control, and connectivity/data-logging features — that a manufacturer publishes for a PCR instrument and that a buyer uses to compare models against a specific assay's requirements. In a procurement context, a spec sheet is not a marketing document to skim; it is the primary evidence a lab manager or procurement officer can hold a vendor to, and it is what should be cross-checked against method validation records, accreditation requirements, and service contracts before an order is placed. A thermal cycler that is technically capable of amplifying DNA does not necessarily meet the documented performance a regulated or accredited lab needs for a specific application — that gap is exactly what a specifications comparison is meant to close.</p>

Life sciences and biology· Contribution→

Twenty-four domains · Five tracks

The full domain map

The Dictionary is organised into 24 thematic domains across 5 tracks — from contribution and identifiers to compliance, methods, and assessment reform. Each domain is stewarded by a working group.

Track AContribution5 domains

GDGenerative AI use and disclosure CECRediT extensions and adjacent contribution vocabularies MCSMentorship, training, and career stages ROResearch outputs (expanded)PScholarly publishing

Track BIdentifiers3 domains

PIThe persistent identifier ecosystem RISResearch-information systems and integration DIResearch data infrastructure

Track CData & methods3 domains

MADMachine-actionable data management plans RReproducibility and computational research AMROAI and ML research outputs

Track DCompliance5 domains

RIResearch integrity and misconduct CRCompliance and regulatory RSResearch security IDCIndigenous data governance — CARE principles CRClinical research and clinical trials

Track EAssessment8 domains

RAResponsible research assessment KEKnowledge equity, diversity, global-south inclusion EISEngagement, impact, and SDG alignment SRSustainable research and laboratory operations FFFunding lifecycle and financial vocabulary GMGrants management and sponsor compliance RLResearch lifecycle stages and project metadata TTTechnology transfer and commercialization

All 24 domains in detail →

The PID ecosystem

Five identifiers, one research artefact

Modern research administration runs on persistent identifiers. ORCID for the researcher, ROR for the institution, RAiD (ISO 23527:2022) for the project, DOI for the output, and IGSN / PIDINST for samples and instruments.

ORCID — Person — required by most funders + publishers
ROR — Organisation — replacing GRID
RAiD — Project — formal ISO standard since 2022
DOI — Outputs — Crossref + DataCite + mEDRA
IGSN / PIDINST — Samples and instruments — DataCite-stewarded

→ PID stack for researchers → ORCID vs ROR vs RAiD comparison

Built to interoperate, not duplicate

Our work, alongside other standards bodies

CASRAI does not re-derive what NISO, euroCRIS, CODATA, RDA, ORCID, Crossref, DataCite, and ARDC already steward — several trace to CASRAI assets transferred to them in 2020. We cross-walk and incubate against their standards — see our standards & releases catalogue for the full list of normative outputs, and regional hubs for adoption status by country.

See how our standards align →

Interactive · Free · CC-BY 4.0

Three tools, all browser-native

No signup. No backend dependency. Everything runs locally in your browser.

All six tools →

Tool · CRediT

Statement builder

Paste authors → tick roles → export plaintext / Markdown / JATS XML with canonical NISO URIs.

Open the tool

Tool · AI disclosure

AI disclosure helper

Pick your target publisher (10 policies built in) → tool used + uses → publisher-aligned disclosure block.

Open the tool

Tool · Citations

Citation generator

Paste a CASRAI URL → get APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, BibTeX, RIS, CSL JSON, JATS XML, or JSON-LD.

Open the tool

Pick your hub

The same standards, for the people who use them

Researchers, institutions, publishers, and integrators get different views of the same dictionary.

For Authors

ORCID, CRediT, narrative CVs

Get an ORCID iD, write a CRediT statement, structure a narrative CV, navigate AI-disclosure expectations.

Learn more

For Institutions

CRIS, compliance, library practice

Plug the dictionary into your CRIS. Train your research office. Templates for adoption policies.

Learn more

For Publishers

Submission, JATS, scorecard

Adopt CRediT in your submission system. JATS implementation guide. Public implementation scorecard.

Learn more

Implement

GraphQL, REST, MCP, JATS

GraphQL endpoint. REST API. Model Context Protocol server for AI agents. JATS / JSON-LD encoding.

Learn more

Each hub is its own deep library — visit the author guidance hub, the publisher implementation hub, the institutional guidance hub, or the developer & integrator docs. For background and history, read about CASRAI.

Verified Contributor Directory

Claim your verified author identity

A public, ORCID-verified author profile on the domain that stewards CRediT — your roles, your journals, editorially reviewed. Sign in free with ORCID; membership is free.

Become a member →Sign in with ORCID

Twenty years of standards

From CASRAI 1.0 to Dictionary v2026.1

The major milestones along the way — CASRAI 1.0 in 2006, CRediT becoming an ANSI/NISO standard in 2022, RAiD becoming an ISO standard, and this dictionary release.

Read the full history →

How industry should implement CRediT

CRediT isn't only for journals — it's how any expert publisher should credit its authors

The taxonomy was written for scholarly articles, but the same pattern applies wherever named experts produce content: attribute a real author, declare their contributor roles, and resolve each role to its canonical CASRAI URI. Here is what that looks like done right outside academia.

Worked example · HealthcareAdoption beyond journals

LAC Health applies the CRediT taxonomy to its clinical reference content

LAC Health, a US medical-supply distributor, is a clean example of the pattern done correctly: every reference article carries a named author, that author’s declared CRediT contributor roles (Conceptualization, Writing, Validation…), and Schema.org markup whose roleName values resolve to the canonical casrai.org/credit role URIs. That is exactly what CRediT is for: a reader — and a search engine — can see who did what, and verify it against the standard.

It is the blueprint we recommend to any organisation publishing expert content. Look at how LAC structures its editorial standards and contributor attribution, then use the CRediT hub and our implementation tooling to do the same.

See the implementation at lac.us

A common vocabulary is the difference between a federated research-information ecosystem and twelve walled gardens that almost-but-not-quite agree. The CASRAI Dictionary is what we point at when we mean the same thing.

Editorial Board · CASRAI · Preface to Dictionary v2026.1

News & perspectives

From the editorial layer

Working-group reports, federation updates, and commentary on what's changing in research-administration standards.

All posts →

Editorial

DOJ Bulk Data Rule and International Research Collaboration

DOJ’s Data Security Program restricts bulk sensitive-data transfers to countries of concern and reaches university data-sharing and vendor agreements.

Read post →

Editorial

NSF postdoctoral fellowships in 2026: what’s open, what’s paused

PRFB remains open under NSF 26-504 (deadline September 29, 2026), but MPS-Ascend is archived and SPRF (including its Broadening Participation track) is paused pending a new solicitation as of early 2026 — a status check for applicants and research administrators.

Read post →

Editorial

NIH T32 Training Grants: What Changed for FY2026 Stipends and Budgets

NIH’s NOT-OD-26-044 sets FY2026 Kirschstein-NRSA stipend levels for T32 institutional training grants: a flat $29,364 predoctoral rate and tiered postdoctoral rates from $63,480 to $77,076. Tuition/fee allowances are unchanged — here’s what T32 program administrators need to update, and what hasn’t moved.

Read post →

Citable · Downloadable · Federated

Built for academic use, not just casual reading

Every dictionary entry has a stable URI, Schema.org DefinedTerm markup, and JATS / JSON-LD encoding. The full dataset ships in seven open formats: JSON-LD, JSON, CSV, XLSX, OWL, RDF Turtle, BibTeX.

GraphQL →Bulk downloads →MCP server →

Organizational management

Who operates CASRAI

CASRAI is operated as a charitable program of The Health Initiative, a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and is funded and governed through the organization’s charitable fund. That stewardship is what keeps the CASRAI Dictionary, the CRediT taxonomy work, and the Verified Contributor Directory running as public-good infrastructure rather than a commercial product — membership and program revenue are directed back into maintaining the standards and the directory’s editorial review.

The Health Initiative is a registered U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Its governance, financials, and charitable status are public — you can verify every detail below directly with the charity regulators.

The Health Initiative →Charity Navigator profile →[email protected]

One email a month · The only mailing we send

The CASRAI Bulletin

A six-minute editorial digest of what actually changed in research-administration standards — and what is about to.

Public-comment windows on release candidates — hard deadlines, easy to miss anywhere else.
The dictionary changelog: new, revised, deprecated and renamed entries, each with a permalink.
One perspective essay from a working-group chair, plus what NISO, euroCRIS and CODATA published.

Standards CASRAI builds on, contributes to, and federates with