For Institutions · Implementation
Rollout playbook for universities & research offices
Institutions integrate CRediT into their CRIS by mapping the 14 NISO Z39.104-2022 roles onto contributor fields in Pure, Symplectic Elements, VIVO, DSpace-CRIS, Converis, or Worktribe, then ingesting the CASRAI Dictionary as a controlled vocabulary. This hub gives vendor-specific playbooks, library guidance, compliance mapping, training materials, and CC-BY 4.0 policy templates.
Implementation tiles
Pick the area you're rolling out
CRIS integration
Vendor-specific CRIS notes
Pure, Symplectic Elements, VIVO, DSpace-CRIS, Converis, Worktribe — implementation notes for ingesting CRediT and CASRAI vocabulary.
Learn moreLibrary
Library guidance
For research librarians supporting researchers with contributorship, narrative CVs, and PID adoption. CC-BY 4.0 LibGuides content.
Learn moreResearch office
Research-office workflows
Consume CRediT and dictionary data into your CRIS for reporting, evaluation, recognition, and tenure processes.
Learn moreCompliance
Compliance mapping
NSPM-33 (US research security), GDPR (EU data protection), IRB / REC review — mapped to dictionary vocabulary.
Learn moreTraining
Workshop materials
Slide decks, posters, FAQ packs, train-the-trainer kits for institutional rollout. CC-BY 4.0 — adapt to your context.
Learn moreCase studies
Implementation case studies
Real institutional rollout stories. What worked, what didn't, time-to-adoption, lessons for the next institution.
Learn moreTemplates
Sample policy templates
Word + PDF templates for institutional authorship policy, narrative-CV adoption, and CRediT mandate language.
Learn moreFeatured by topic
Eight high-traffic implementation routes
The most-asked institutional questions, grouped by area. CRIS vendor notes cover the four most-deployed systems on UK and EU campuses; the research-office routes cover REF/KEF reporting and tenure/promotion overhauls; compliance handles US research security and EU data protection.
CRIS
Pure (Elsevier)
Symplectic-style field mapping, dictionary import, CRediT capture on outputs. Native dictionary support roadmapped.
CRIS
Symplectic Elements
Custom-field strategy for CRediT roles, dictionary-aligned controlled vocabularies, REF reporting hooks.
CRIS
VIVO (open source)
Ontology-aligned ingestion using the JSON-LD dictionary export; Schema.org DefinedTerm pattern.
CRIS
DSpace-CRIS / Worktribe
Open-source and Worktribe-specific notes — field mappings, dictionary versioning, deprecation handling.
Workflow
REF / KEF reporting
How dictionary-aligned contribution data feeds REF outputs, KEF narrative, and unit-of-assessment summaries.
Workflow
Tenure & promotion
Narrative-CV adoption (R4RI), DORA/COARA-aligned panels, CRediT in promotion dossiers.
Compliance
NSPM-33 disclosure
US research-security policy: foreign-component disclosure, current and pending support, COI/COC.
Compliance
GDPR + DPIA
EU data-protection workflows for research data; DPIA templates aligned with the dictionary.
Vocabulary you will meet
Key dictionary terms for institutional rollouts
Twelve terms that show up in CRIS schemas, compliance binders, and tenure committees. Each links into the dictionary with the operational definition, examples, and relationships to adjacent terms.
Dictionary term
CRIS
Current Research Information System — the institutional source of truth for outputs, projects, people, and grants.
Dictionary term
ROR
Research Organization Registry — the open persistent identifier for research-performing organisations.
Dictionary term
IRB
Institutional Review Board — the human-subjects ethics committee; called REC in many jurisdictions.
Dictionary term
DPIA
Data Protection Impact Assessment — the GDPR-mandated process for high-risk data processing.
Dictionary term
NSPM-33
US National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 — research security disclosure for federal funding.
Dictionary term
Current & pending support
Federally-required disclosure of all current and pending grants and in-kind support.
Dictionary term
Indirect costs
F&A (facilities + administration) recovery — the institutional overhead on sponsored research.
Dictionary term
FAIR principles
Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable — the data-stewardship guidance for institutional repositories.
Dictionary term
LEAF
Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework — sustainability standard for research-laboratory operations.
Dictionary term
Narrative CV
Free-text CV format organised around contribution modules rather than publication counts; UKRI R4RI is the canonical instance.
Dictionary term
DORA
San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment — institutional commitment against JIF in evaluation.
Dictionary term
CoARA
Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment — pan-European reform initiative; signatory commitments map to dictionary vocabulary.
Related domains: research-info systems, compliance & regulatory, research security, responsible assessment.
Common questions from institutional rollouts
Quick answers
Do we need to license anything?+
No. CASRAI Dictionary content and CRediT (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022) are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. The only requirement is appropriate attribution to NISO (for CRediT) and CASRAI (for the Dictionary). There is no fee, no registration, and no separate commercial-use licence required for institutional deployments.
Which CRIS vendors already support CRediT?+
Most modern CRIS systems either support CRediT natively or expose extension points where CRediT can be wired in. The CASRAI vendor-specific guide at /for-institutions/cris covers Pure (Elsevier), Symplectic Elements, VIVO, DSpace-CRIS, Converis, and Worktribe with field mappings, dictionary ingestion notes, and the specific configuration toggles required per vendor.
How long does typical adoption take?+
Typical institutional adoption timelines split into two: policy and library guidance roll-out takes 4–6 weeks, while CRIS integration depth depends entirely on vendor and existing integration maturity. The case-studies index documents real examples ranging from one quarter (library-led campaigns) to a full academic year (deep Pure or Symplectic Elements integrations).
Is there a CASRAI institutional membership?+
Yes, but institutional membership is entirely optional. Membership funds CASRAI stewardship work and gives institutions a seat at working-group meetings; it does not gate any content. All guidance, the dictionary, CRediT, training kits, and policy templates remain free under CC-BY 4.0 regardless of membership status. See /about/members.
How does this relate to REF, KEF, or ERA?+
CASRAI vocabulary maps cleanly onto the major national research-assessment exercises: REF in the UK, KEF in the UK for knowledge exchange, ERA in Australia, and similar frameworks elsewhere. The Dictionary defines the canonical terms; the research-office tile covers mapping these terms into the specific submission templates each exercise requires.
Can we use the dictionary inside a closed-source CRIS deployment?+
Yes. The CC-BY 4.0 licence permits commercial reuse, vendor lock-in, internal mirrors, and bundling into closed-source pipelines — the only requirement is appropriate attribution to CASRAI in the relevant documentation or user interface. The dictionary download endpoint offers six formats (JSON-LD, CSV, OWL, RDF Turtle, BibTeX, XLSX).
Keep exploring
Related hubs
For authors
Researcher-facing guidance: CRediT statements, AI disclosure, narrative CVs, ORCID/ROR/RAiD.
Open hub →For publishers
The other side of the workflow: submission systems, JATS encoding, Crossref deposits.
Open hub →Implement (devs)
GraphQL, REST, MCP, JSON-LD — how your CRIS or repository pipeline talks to the dictionary.
Open hub →Standards
Citable versions of CRediT (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022) and the CASRAI Dictionary.
Open hub →Federation
Stewardship relationships with NISO, euroCRIS, CODATA, RDA, ORCID, Crossref, DataCite, ARDC.
Open hub →Resources
Posters, slide decks, bibliography, case studies, brand kit — everything reusable.
Open hub →
