A narrative-style CV template originally developed by the Royal Society in 2019 that captures a researcher's contributions across four modules rather than relying on a list of publications and metrics.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A grant applicant uses R4RI modules to describe contributions to mentoring and community-building, not just publications.
Is an instance
A funder accepts only R4RI-formatted CVs to reduce reliance on publication lists.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
Pasting a traditional list of publications into the four R4RI modules without narrative content.
Not an instance
Using R4RI as cover text while reviewers continue to rank by JIF and h-index.

Editorial commentary

The Resume for Researchers (R4RI), also called the Royal Society narrative CV, structures researcher self-description around four modules: how the individual has contributed to (1) the generation of knowledge, (2) the development of individuals, (3) the wider research community, and (4) broader society. Each module is a short free-text narrative supplied by the researcher. The template was developed in collaboration with funders, learned societies and the Royal Society of Edinburgh as a practical alternative to publication-list-driven CVs. R4RI has been adopted, adapted and extended by funders including UKRI and NIHR.

References

Royal Society Resume for Researchers (royalsociety.org). UKRI Funding Service narrative CV documentation.

Also known as

R4RI · Royal Society narrative CV · Resume for Researchers

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="R4RI (Resume for Researchers / Royal Society narrative CV)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/r4ri-resume-for-researchers" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/r4ri-resume-for-researchers",
  "name": "R4RI (Resume for Researchers / Royal Society narrative CV)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/r4ri-resume-for-researchers",
  "description": "A narrative-style CV template originally developed by the Royal Society in 2019 that captures a researcher's contributions across four modules rather than relying on a list of publications and metrics.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/responsible-assessment#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/r4ri-resume-for-researchers",
  "sameAs": [
    "R4RI",
    "Royal Society narrative CV",
    "Resume for Researchers"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:55",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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