Karolinska Institutet (KI), one of the world’s leading medical universities, is advancing its research visibility and open science initiatives through an integrated research information management system powered by Symplectic Elements and Figshare. By implementing these solutions, KI has streamlined how research information is managed, presented, and accessed, enhancing both internal efficiency and external collaboration.

• Unified Research Information Management: Discover how KI integrated Symplectic Elements as its Research Information Management System (RIMS) and Figshare as its open repository, creating a seamless and accessible research ecosystem.
• Enhanced Research Discoverability: Learn how KI RIMS ensures that up-to-date information on researchers and research groups is easily accessible, both internally and externally, with automatic updates reflected on KI’s public website.
• Advancing Open Science: See how KI Open Archive (powered by Figshare) facilitates the sharing of research outputs, aligning with the FAIR principles to make research more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
• Streamlined Workflows & Automation: Explore how automated integrations with HR, publications, and grants data have significantly reduced manual administrative burdens, allowing researchers to focus on their work.

The post Whitepaper: Karolinska Institutet: Transforming Research Visibility and Accessibility with Symplectic Elements and Figshare appeared first on Digital Science.

Discover how research information management systems (RIMS) and public profiling tools are transforming the way universities connect with industry, maximize resource visibility, and drive economic growth.

This new whitepaper explores the evolving role of industry partnerships in research institutions and how RIMS help universities and research organizations showcase their full potential – from faculty expertise to specialized equipment. With case studies from the University of Toronto and the Ohio Innovation Exchange (OIEx), this whitepaper offers best practices and practical insights for fostering collaboration and innovation.

• Maximizing Research Visibility: How universities can increase visibility of their assets, equipment and expertise, making them accessible for potential collaborators.
• Driving Economic Growth: Learn how tech transfer and strategic partnerships accelerate innovation and create new revenue opportunities.
• Real-World Success Stories: Case studies from DiscoverResearch at the University of Toronto and the Ohio Innovation Exchange, showcasing impactful partnerships.
• Best Practices for Profiling Tools: Strategies for implementing and promoting profile portals to engage both internal and external stakeholders.

Who Should Read This Whitepaper

This whitepaper is designed for research managers, tech transfer leaders, university administrators, and anyone interested in advancing industry-academic partnerships.

The post Whitepaper: Catalyzing Collaboration: How Research Information Management Systems Drive Academic-Industry Partnerships appeared first on Digital Science.

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence raises important questions across the defense sector, but one area of defense stands to gain from AI immediately: research and development.

That’s according to Simon Porter, vice president of research futures with technology company Digital Science, who says “responsible AI” tools that help make R&D quicker and easier are already available.

Porter says he foresees a near future in which AI will become ubiquitous in R&D.

“For defense, just as in all areas of society, there is significant potential to narrow the gap between research and actionable insights,” Porter remarked.

It’s Not About AI

“The world is moving towards AI not just as a standalone tool or product but as a fully integrated part of services, products and experiences,” Porter asserted.

“For example, Apple has recently announced that AI — or ‘Apple Intelligence’ — will be front and center across its entire suite of products and services. Apple’s strategy is not to make AI a product in itself but an enhancement that makes its products work better, and does so seamlessly,” he continued.

Apple has now partnered with OpenAI (home of ChatGPT) to improve its Siri voice interface, so that if Siri receives an input from a user it cannot help with, ChatGPT can deliver a more appropriate response.

“The U.S. defense sector is always evolving. As AI adoption becomes more prevalent, the integration of comprehensive research tools will become increasingly crucial across all areas of research, particularly in those areas that seek to command or maintain strategic advantage,” Porter said.

On the research side, Dimensions from Digital Science provides a robust suite of tools designed to streamline and enhance research processes across various domains. For defense companies and research organizations, this means access to a vast repository of scientific publications, patents, clinical trials and funding data, all integrated into a single platform.

“The ability to navigate this wealth of information efficiently is critical for researchers tasked with developing new technologies, improving existing systems, and understanding emerging threats,” Porter said.

“Like Apple, Digital Science has been working to embed AI into tools like Dimensions where the user experience is enhanced and optimized by AI, but not driven by it.”

A Compelling Case for Defense R&D

“Technologically advanced products such as Dimensions can be transformative, offering unparalleled access to research insights and data analytics. This is particularly important for areas like defense, which must evolve rapidly in response to a dynamically changing environment,” Porter said.

“By integrating Dimensions into their research processes, defense firms can enhance their technological advancements, support strategic decision-making, and maintain operational efficiency. As the U.S. defense sector continues to evolve, the adoption of platforms like Dimensions will be instrumental in driving innovation and ensuring national security,” he added.

Use cases include:

R&D optimization: Defense companies invest heavily in R&D to create advanced weaponry, cybersecurity systems and communication networks. Dimensions allows researchers to track the latest scientific advancements and technological trends by providing real-time access to millions of research articles and patents. For instance, a defense contractor developing next-generation drones can use Dimensions to identify breakthroughs in drone technology, materials science and AI algorithms, ensuring their projects are built on the latest innovations.

Competitive intelligence: Understanding the activities and capabilities of potential adversaries is vital for national security. Dimensions offers detailed analytics on global research trends and funding patterns, helping defense companies anticipate technological developments in other countries. By analyzing international patents and research collaborations, defense firms can gain insights into emerging technologies that may pose a threat or present opportunities for collaboration.

Collaboration and partnerships: Innovation in the defense sector increasingly relies on collaboration between academia, industry and government in pursuit of technological advancement. Dimensions facilitates these partnerships by mapping out the research ecosystem, highlighting key players, and identifying potential collaborators based on their research outputs and expertise.

Monitoring technological progress: Keeping track of technological progress is essential for maintaining a competitive edge. Dimensions offers tools for monitoring citations, tracking influential publications, and analyzing the impact of research. Defense companies can use these features to gauge the significance of new technologies and their adoption rates within the industry. This insight helps prioritize research investments and strategic initiatives, ensuring that resources are allocated to the most promising areas.

Find out more about Dimensions or contact the Dimensions team for a demo.

This is an updated version of an original article published by Executive Biz: https://executivebiz.com/2024/09/digital-science-responsible-ai-predictions-rd/

The post Digital Science Predicts Responsible AI Will Become Ever-present in US Defense R&D appeared first on Digital Science.

Is China strategically important to the west? How you answer that question might depend on how old you are. A recent survey showed that 36% of US residents under the age of 30 ranked China over the UK as America’s most valuable strategic partner, however just 4% of respondents over the age of 70 felt the same way. While the disparity may be surprising, the fact that the younger generation feel China is more important for the US strategically is perhaps not. But what does this mean for the world of research, with so many of these young people entering higher education and research programs in the US?

A new report published by the Center for Research Security & Integrity offers some sobering thoughts on problems faced by US researchers and others when engaging with their counterparts in China. The report – Transparency and Integrity Risks in China’s Research Ecosystem: A Primer and Call to Action – is a comprehensive analysis identifying and mitigating transparency and integrity risks posed by Chinese research programs, focusing on practices that contradict the norms of some liberal democracies. 

The report, summarized below, delivers key findings and recommendations for countries such as the US in dealing with the potential threat these international research collaborations might pose. The findings around risk elements such as transparency and integrity ultimately show the importance of trusted partners like Digital Science in the research ecosystem, including its products Dimensions Research Security and Dimensions Research Integrity.Among the co-authors of the report is Digital Science’s VP of Research Integrity, Dr Leslie McIntosh.

Transparency risks

The report emphasizes a range of transparency issues present in China’s research ecosystem. These risks include:

• Denial of Access: Institutions like the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center (CARDC) obfuscate their ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), while their websites are inaccessible to foreign viewers.
• Website Discrepancies: The English-language websites of Chinese research institutions often omit critical details, such as departmental structures or research affiliations. For example, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics shows significant differences between its English and Chinese websites, with key research information missing from the English version.
• Use of Alternative Names: Certain entities, such as the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation’s 13th Research Institute, operate under alternative names, potentially masking any defense affiliations.

Integrity concerns

The report also investigates integrity issues, which can be broader and more challenging to detect. China accounts for a significant portion of retracted scientific publications due to nefarious practices, including:

• Deceptive Authorship: Researchers have been found to add foreign coauthors to publications to bolster credibility, while others use pseudonyms to avoid scrutiny.
• Fraudulent Publications: The proliferation of “paper mills” that produce fake scientific papers is also regarded as a significant issue, particularly in medical and health sciences.

National security concerns

Many transparency and integrity concerns overlap with national security risks. The report shows:

• Several Chinese research institutions have ties to the PLA and other defense entities, but these affiliations are often concealed in international collaborations.
• Research institutions in liberal democracies may unwittingly collaborate with Chinese entities involved in military research.

Recommendations

Given these concerns, the report provides some timely ways forward in the following recommendations:

Collaboration on exposing transparency and integrity issues

Think tanks, NGOs and academic institutions in liberal democracies should work together to expand on the issues highlighted. The report calls for the creation of a China Transparency & Integrity Tracker, a tool to catalog PRC entities that violate transparency and integrity norms.

Government-led initiatives

Governments should take the lead in identifying and cataloging research misconduct. For instance, US government agencies should sponsor the development of large-scale monitoring systems for questionable publications, using techniques like forensic scientometrics. Governments should also share information on PRC entities and programs acting in bad faith, to assist research institutions in conducting due diligence.

Risk mitigation

Research institutions should develop policies that consider transparency and integrity when deciding whether to collaborate with PRC entities. This includes providing mechanisms for reporting problematic behaviors by Chinese partners. Institutions should also ensure that coauthors verify the integrity of the research they are involved in to prevent deceptive practices.

Public disclosure

Governments and research organizations should create public repositories of information on PRC institutions that have engaged in deceptive practices. These databases would allow informed decision-making when considering collaborations with Chinese research institutions.

Conclusion

Transparency and Integrity Risks in China’s Research Ecosystem: A Primer and Call to Action emphasizes the need for liberal democracies to take a more proactive approach in scrutinizing the transparency and integrity of research collaborations with China – actions that can be supported through the use of tools such as Dimensions Research Security. The risks posed by Chinese research institutions are substantial, and addressing these challenges requires collective action from governments, academic institutions, and civil society organizations. In other words, it’s time to act.

To learn more about how Digital Science and its Dimensions Research Security product can help your organization, click here to arrange a call with one of our experts.

The post Mission-critical: risks and repercussions presented by China’s research programs appeared first on Digital Science.

Meet the challenges of information overload

One of the ironies of modern universities is that they suffer from the one thing that in the past was always lacking. Data – in the form of journal articles and books, citations and downloads, spreadsheets and databases – have always been the holy grails for institutions seeking to collect as many information sources as possible to feed their voracious researchers. But now data is available in abundance, they face new challenges in order for them research strategies to be properly supported: how to find the right data sources, identify what they need from it, and understand its relevance. 

Looking out… and in

Understanding the nature of these challenges can only be developed by looking both outwards at the research landscape, and also inwards at an institution’s own capabilities and achievements. With over 145 million publications, 160 million patents and seven million grants, Dimensions can be the perfect place to start this process. Its wide range of filters and linked database can help research managers see their institutions’ strengths and opportunities. For example, Dimensions Perspectives & Insights can:

• Identify your organization’s specific strengths
• Scan your research ecosystem for potential risks, and spot any pockets of non-compliance
• Win more funding for your organization
• Find new collaborators with complementary areas of expertise
• Help you hire and retain the best talent
• Communicate the value of your organization’s research portfolio. 

For a global perspective, Dimensions Perspectives & Insights delivers comprehensive insights for your benchmarking exercises to support strategy development, how impact is assessed at your institution or where collaboration with other universities might be beneficial. This can enable a speedy transition to internal competencies and how they match up with target institutions.

Looking more inwardly, Symplectic Elements is the ideal solution for curating all the required information in a single hub to allow assessment of details such as publications, grants, contracts and professional services. In turn, this shows how any strategic direction can be reached, starting with a full appraisal of past and existing research outputs and how they are trending into the future.

Building funding opportunities – along with reputation

For many Research Leaders  understanding the wider impact of their research is mission critical to securing research funding in the future – especially if this impact is outside the confines of traditional outputs such as books and journals.

In addition to the well-known metrics around these outputs, many universities also need to see patent applications that have been made, clinical trials researchers have been involved in, as well as work that has been referenced in policy documents or appeared in reports from major global bodies. 
These can be identified with the help of Dimensions Perspectives & Insights.

So, despite the increasing waves of information hitting our devices every day, there are some ways to understand what is most relevant to developing institutional strategy. With the right tools and data, the wood from the trees and view a path of where to go next.

The post How to… maximize your research strategy appeared first on Digital Science.

US defense agencies need to invest heavily in AI-embedded solutions to keep pace with China, according to leading AI technology firm Digital Science, emphasizing the urgent need for strategic partnerships with AI solution providers to ensure the US does not fall behind in the AI race.

Digital Science President Stephen Leicht highlights the rapid advancement and multifaceted uses of AI technology, underscoring the necessity for the US to act swiftly. “AI technology is advancing at a blistering pace. For US agencies, the key is to collaborate with AI providers to drive progress. Otherwise, we risk being left behind,” Leicht warns.

Leicht underlines this by pointing out a dramatic shift in global research outputs: “If I run an analysis of AI-related research outputs in 2023 or 2024 on Dimensions – whether it’s artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles or related technologies – China consistently comes out on top. Ten years ago, this analysis always showed the US leading.”

“China is outpacing the world in AI output. US decision-makers should operate under the assumption that strategic competitors, especially China, may be doing these things better, investing more, and are currently ahead,” Leicht asserts.

For example, Fig. 1 shows global publication outputs in 2014 concerning artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles according to Dimensions, with the US way out in front when you look at the network of publications on this topic, and China a distant third. However, fast forward 10 years and if you run the exact same analysis on 2024 (Fig. 2), China has more than double the number of publications of the US, and double the citations as well.

To assist governments, funders, and other stakeholders in the research space, Digital Science uses Dimensions—the world’s largest linked research database of publications, grants, clinical trials, and patents – which also offers private or custom instances that address special client needs such as security requirements and private data integration. The company excels in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), building large language models (LLMs), and utilizing LLMs for predictive analytics on client, internal and external data holdings. This comprehensive expertise in research intelligence positions Digital Science as a crucial partner for US defense agencies. A leader in the AI space, the company launched Dimensions Research GPT in February 2024.

“AI has vast applications, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. When responsibly applied, these technologies can significantly enhance capabilities, streamline workflows, and mobilize knowledge more effectively,” says Leicht.

“Common concerns about AI use in defense include practical issues like over-reliance, knowledge gaps, in-built biases, and potential job losses. Strategic and tactical concerns, such as the potential for deception or weaponization, are also significant.  And there are real challenges in the pace of AI adoption and technological development by the US, especially as China’s research output has risen to be the global leader.”

Leicht believes autonomous systems, including AI-driven vehicles and drones, will fundamentally change military reconnaissance, surveillance, and combat operations. He adds: “Cybersecurity is another critical area. The great challenge lies in integration—our vast and powerful military infrastructure includes many legacy systems, making seamless integration a significant hurdle.”

It is clear that the US defense sector must prioritize AI investments and partnerships to remain competitive. As such, Digital Science stands ready to support these efforts with cutting-edge tools like Dimensions Research GPT and its extensive expertise in RAG, LLMs, predictive analytics, and research intelligence, driving forward the capabilities and efficiencies of tomorrow’s defense technologies.

(This is an updated version of an original article published by Executive Biz: https://executivebiz.com/2024/07/digital-science-president-stephen-leicht-dod-must-boost-ai-investments-to-compete-with-china/) 

The post Racing Ahead: Why US Defense Must Boost AI Investments to Compete with China appeared first on Digital Science.

A US research collaboration resulting in potentially dangerous drone technology being developed with an Iranian university could’ve been easily prevented with an unclassified  research security check, says an expert from technology company Digital Science.

Sergeant Major (ret.) D.J. Gile, a twenty-four year Army veteran of special operations and intelligence and now Vice President of National Security at Digital Science, said government agencies and research institutions could take some important lessons from the case, which was exposed by The Guardian newspaper.

Reporters found that academic institutions  from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia had collaborated with researchers affiliated with a financially-sanctioned Iranian university known for its close ties to the military. The research was described as having direct military applications.

“With significant national security consequences – and lives at stake – research institutions and agencies should ensure they have the right information to enable decision-making and compliance with national security policies,” Gile said.

“The unintentional collaboration with Iran is a key example of where having the right information available could save everyone from making a mistake they might later regret.”

“This research was funded and performed by Five Eyes countries despite claims that the researchers in question had no ties to Iran. These research collaborations could have been flagged and avoided with the use of Dimensions Research Security to check important details such as affiliations, collaborations, and funding sources,” he said.

More government and industry-backed research institutions in Five Eyes nations are turning to technological solutions to help safeguard their research against foreign influence and theft. A Digital Science solution, Dimensions Research Security enables compliance with policies and security requirements aimed at safeguarding against key threats, such as:

• Foreign influence and interference
• Conflicts of interest
• Undeclared research collaborations
• Intellectual property theft

With the world’s largest collection of linked research data, Dimensions Research Security can quickly and easily collate, link, and cross-reference patents, publications, funding sources, and even institutions’ research activities and the activities of individual researchers, and their colleagues and collaborators.

“Gaining valuable insights into such data means having a greater awareness of risks associated with individuals, their collaborators and funding sources. This can help with due diligence checks, verifying disclosures, and strategic decision-making,” Gile said.

“Researchers may be unaware they’re involved in collaborations that put themselves, their research, and their institutions at risk. The information provided by Dimensions Research Security could be instrumental in speaking with researchers about risk and compliance, helping to avoid foreign influence, and intellectual property theft – and helping to safeguard the nation’s interests,” he said.

Government agencies and academic  institutions in Five Eyes nations – including those conducting defense and cyber security research – are already depending on Dimensions Research Security to protect their organizations. For more information, click the link below:

Find out more about Dimensions Research Security and request a demo today.

(This is an updated version of an original article published by Executive Biz:  https://executivebiz.com/2024/06/digital-science-proposes-more-secure-pathway-for-government-research/) 

The post US Funds Supported Iranian Military Drone Tech – Here’s How It Could’ve Been Prevented appeared first on Digital Science.

Recognising the growing need to articulate and evaluate the impact of its research, UTS launched the Distilling Research Impact initiative in 2018, which seeks to embed research impact assessment into the fabric of UTS’ research lifecycle. This case study explores UTS’ approach to embedding and demonstrating research impact through the initiative, and its use of Symplectic Elements and other Digital Science tools to support its data collation processes and embed a culture of impact into daily workflows.

This case study covers:

• How UTS is building and utilising ongoing impact case studies to demonstrate the tangible outcomes of its research endeavours.
• Reflections on how to culturally embed the importance of impact throughout the research lifecycle, and how to engage researchers and faculty in the ongoing collation of data.
• Preparations for the next Engagement and Impact Assessment following the Australian Universities Accord.
• UTS’ long-time strategic partnership with Digital Science.

The post Case Study: University of Technology, Sydney appeared first on Digital Science.

Digital Science exists at the intersection of publicly and privately funded research, by serving universities, funders and governments on the one hand, and commercial research organizations on the other. While we aim for a world in which research can make the biggest difference to all, these principles help to contextualize the work that Digital Science does to support the publicly funded, open research ecosystem.

1.    Community ownership: We believe that research outcomes are owned by the global community and should be available to all.

We believe that research is the single most powerful transformative force for the positive development of humanity, and as such, knowledge and research outcomes should be shared for common good. Only by making research, and the metadata that describes research, available to all can society derive maximal benefit. Leading innovation is based on knowledge and research – being able to organize, locate, access and share research is critical as a basis for sustainable innovation.  We acknowledge that not all research can be made available straight away due to ethical or practical considerations, but we believe that, consistent with reasonable expectations, the outputs of publicly funded research should be available to all.

At Digital Science, we provide advanced technologies to all that help to locate the right research and provide mechanisms for the community to make research available to the broadest possible audience so that they can discover more and better innovate.

Altmetric and Dimensions are built on a mix of open and licensed data. Dimensions’ free edition and Altmetric free researcher tools ensure that the whole community can benefit from analyses using open and licensed data. Figshare and Symplectic are both key systems for research organizations to collect, enhance and share data from and about their research. Digital Science never asserts ownership of the data added to these systems and always ensures that the community is able to extract their own data from them without friction. Overleaf is a platform for collaborative writing, allowing researchers to express and develop their ideas together, and Writefull brings down barriers between researchers by improving communication through enhancement of language, together helping the community to share and innovate.

2.    Participating in open infrastructure: We commit to support the use of open standards and to build, contribute to, and extend open infrastructures.

Research only works if we can collectively contribute and build – that requires shared trust. The adoption of open standards ensures the most efficient flow of data and information to allow the possibility of maximal benefit from data. The use of well-maintained, stakeholder-led, open infrastructures ensures transparency and clarity of provenance, which provides the trust framework to allow the crystallization of benefit.

At Digital Science, we build on open formats, open standards, open data, and include open identifiers in all our products wherever possible. We enhance data to add value to stakeholders across a diverse, global research landscape, while making the open data on which our products are built available back to the community that created it.

Digital Science has been at the forefront of innovation in research infrastructure since its inception.  We created GRID, the Global Research Identifier Database, and then made these data available to the community in 2015. We made the licence more permissive (changed to CC0) in 2016 to allow the Research Organization Registry (ROR) to be seeded with these data. The ROR dataset now forms a key part of OpenAlex’s infrastructure, and GRID (with a mapping to ROR) continues to power Dimensions.

The next generation of technologies that develop around the scholarly record will ensure that research is both human- and machine-readable. The infrastructures in which we invest must be open and neutral, allowing both human and machine readability.

3.    Stakeholders’ primacy: We believe that stakeholder benefits should be at the forefront.

The aspiration of the global research community has always been the pursuit and sharing of knowledge, with the aim to operate beyond politics and beyond borders. In recent years, it has become clear that, even when global relationships are more strained politically, research relationships transcend artificial barriers.

At Digital Science, we believe that engaging our stakeholders and ensuring that their opinions are represented in our work is critical to creating value as we view research as an ecosystem rather than a “sector” or a “market”. We believe that we can participate positively in the research ecosystem by being innovative and helping stakeholders experiment and increase their level of innovation. Digital Science’s core values:

• Brave in the pursuit of better;
• Always open-minded;
• Collaborative and inclusive;
• From and for the community

are a key articulation of this belief. They are at the centre of everything that we do.

In addition to our ongoing product-feedback processes, regular user days, participation in industry conferences, and direct engagement with the wider research and scientometrics community, Digital Science will be launching a senior advisory board of representatives from different parts of the research ecosystem to help ensure that we continue to listen to, and align with, the goals of the community that we serve.

4.    Establishing trust: We believe that a trusted stakeholder in the research ecosystem must be responsible, transparent and sustainable.

In research, as in our increasingly complex world, context is everything. Understanding the provenance of data, understanding the nature of the processing applied to it, as well as its origin, is critical. Transparency is also important in gaining a shared understanding of the resilience and impact of stakeholders in the research ecosystem.

At Digital Science, we have worked to increase the transparency of data provenance through our publication of research that we carry out. In the spirit of always stretching ourselves, we will start publishing an annual report that increases transparency for Digital Science’s stakeholders.

We also carry our research into prospective ways in which we can help the research community – our recent work on the use of machine learning for research classification was shared as a preprint and published through an open access journal; further work on research integrity and papermill detection has been shared through the same approach.

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The post Open Principles appeared first on Digital Science.

Tracking Sustainable Development Goals using Symplectic Elements

During Symplectic’s 2023 North American User Day, Alexandra Hiniker (Director of the Sustainability Initiative) and Jason Glenn (Program Director for Research Information Management Services) presented on CMU’s Sustainability Initiative and how they have been utilising Elements to help track their researchers’ engagement with and outputs related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, a set of global objectives agreed to by all countries the United Nations as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The post Case Study: Carnegie Mellon University appeared first on Digital Science.