A first-class object in a CRIS data model — typically Person, Project, Publication, Organisation Unit, Funding, Equipment, or Activity — that has its own identifier, metadata schema, and relationships to other entities, and that can be managed and reported on independently.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 10 Jul 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
The Person entity in CERIF, with linked entities binding it to OrgUnits (as employee) and Projects (as participant).
Is an instance
The Publication entity in Pure, with linked Person, OrgUnit, Project, and Funding relationships.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A free-text 'biography' field on a researcher's webpage is not a CRIS entity.
Not an instance
A standalone PDF document on a desktop is not a CRIS entity.

Editorial commentary

CRIS systems are entity-relationship systems by design, in contrast to bibliographic or repository systems where the single ‘item’ dominates. The research-entity model lets a CRIS answer questions such as ‘which Persons in this OrgUnit are PI on Projects funded by Funder X with Publications since 2020’. CERIF formalises this entity layer; each CRIS product implements it with extensions and constraints. Persistent identifiers (ORCID for Person, ROR for OrgUnit, DOI for Publication, RAiD for Project) are increasingly used as the cross-CRIS join keys for these entities.

References

euroCRIS, 'CERIF Data Model' (eurocris.org/cerif).

Also known as

CRIS entity

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Research entity (CRIS)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-entity-cris" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-entity-cris",
  "name": "Research entity (CRIS)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-entity-cris",
  "description": "A first-class object in a CRIS data model — typically Person, Project, Publication, Organisation Unit, Funding, Equipment, or Activity — that has its own identifier, metadata schema, and relationships to other entities, and that can be managed and reported on independently.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-info-systems#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-entity-cris",
  "sameAs": [
    "CRIS entity"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-07-10T02:06:20",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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