Research Networking Systems: A data treasure trove for creating strategic research initiatives and analyses

Research Networking Systems (RNS) were primarily established to stimulate collaboration, which may cross disciplines, sectors, institutional or even national boundaries; and studies have shown that collaborations that cross such boundaries, may increase citation rates by as much as a two-fold factor. Within North America, a critical mass of institutions has been able to invigorate their research programs by implementing RNS. However, once implemented, how does the institution utilize the system and the data treasure trove it contains to facilitate impactful research initiatives? This session brings together the project leads from Duke University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, and REACH NC (a 20-institution, North Carolina state-wide RNS) who have implemented Pure Experts Portals, Elsevier’s RNS. They will share their perspective on how their organizations have utilized RNS, and in certain cases repurposed data to pursue further analysis and visualizations that address strategic and diverse organizational needs. What are their most impactful use cases, and how can data from RNS facilitate these use cases? We will present the use cases below and more: 

1. Using RNS to enhance and expand upon contextual data of other Northwestern sites – ex. Global Research and Undergraduate Research Opportunities, and graduate program sites 

2. Visualizing collaborations between the U of Minnesota’s College Biological Sciences (CBS) and College of Food Ag Natural Sciences (CFANS) 

3. Identifying expertise and forming partnerships to advise on collaborations between diverse sectors including academic researchers, the economic development community, the military and defense community, and private businesses in North Carolina using REACH NC. 

4. Provisioning publications for VIVO, for department websites, and for reporting and analytics at Duke University