National Research information system (NRIS) is a state information system, which collects data about scientific activity in Latvia from various stakeholders.

All scientific institutions (universities, institutes etc.) registered in Latvia report information about their staff, science projects where they participate, and the results of their research (scientific publications, intellectual property and conferences attended), including references to scientific publications available in Open Access.

Science funders publish information about new calls for proposals. The Ministry of Education and Science collects statistical data and, using various indicators, calculates public funding which is allocated to scientific institutions based on their staff size, quality and research performance criteria.
Scientists submit project applications and apply for expert rights, which are confirmed by Latvian Council of Science. Students and members of the public can use the NRIS as platform where information is collected about the fields of science in which institutions and research groups specialize (except specific personal data and commercial data). This data is publicly available.

Although several modules of the system are still under construction, the Latvian scientific community already sees it as a useful tool. NRIS is defined in the Law of Scientific activity, approved by the Parliament of Latvia in December 2016.

https://sciencelatvia.lv/#/pub/home

• Latvia

The National Research information system (NRIS) is replicable as it was built according to Common European Research Information Format (CERIF) standard. The system has multi-language support, which, with minimal interaction from software developers, can be enabled in as many languages as necessary. The data structures are defined in the system documentation. As software developers for each stage of the system development were chosen through a public procurement procedure, it is proven that there are possibilities of transforming NRIS even to other technologies if necessary.

NRIS is sustainable as it is created using open source coding and various software designers have confirmed that there are possibilities of technology change if necessary. NRIS is designed as configurable as possible, which means that the system administrator can change almost all system parameters (except data fields, but including labels of data fields) if there is such a requirement. It is possible to configure NRIS according to various user roles which might have access (for reading, but usually for editing) at different information levels. User roles can be defined by the system administrators. Almost all classifiers are defined by system administrators. All this means that there is almost no need for software developers to maintain system in its current status.

The National Research information system (NRIS) supports the role of science in the development of the Information Society and it shows commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life. NRIS supports the idea that education, knowledge, information and communication are at the core of human progress, endeavour and well-being. Further, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have an immense impact on virtually all aspects of our lives. The rapid progress of these technologies opens completely new opportunities to attain higher levels of development. The capacity of these technologies to reduce many traditional obstacles, especially those of time and distance.