RIAN.ie – Ireland’s new Research Publications Portal was launched today by Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills Mary Coughlan T.D. The launch is the highlight of Ireland’s contribution to ‘International Open Access Week’. Open access is an international movement to increase the global knowledge base. Research knows no borders and it is critical for Irish research to be easily accessible and feature prominently on the global research landscape. RIAN will significantly enhance the profile of Irish research and the innovation system by making our research findings widely available to the global research community.
Speaking at the launch the Tánaiste said, ““Growth through innovation and research is at the heart of our ‘smart economy’ strategy. Our research output is a key building block in achieving its aims. Ireland already has an above EU-15 average rate of scientific citations and publications and this is growing rapidly. RIAN.ie will help grow it faster.”
RIAN.ie is a web-based portal that will harvest and display the content of the repositories of the seven universities and the DIT. It is among the first wave of national open access portals in the world, placing Ireland at the forefront of the movement. The portal will demonstrate the impact of research to potential investors and funders, who recognise the value of wider research dissemination.
The portal went live in July and has received 540,000 visits to the site accessing the 12,343 items in RIAN from all participating institutions. Even at this early stage, Item views have grown steadily from 27,940 in July to 108,484 in September and page views have grown by 46% to 475,676.
This is important because the value of a research paper or journal article is often measured by its ‘impact factor’, i.e. how often it is cited by the worldwide community of researchers. Research into citation impact has demonstrated that authors whose papers are made Open Access are cited significantly more than authors whose articles are available only to subscribers. RIAN will significantly increase the visibility and impact of Irish research and is a resource that will grow over time as our research efforts expand.
RIAN.ie is the result of a HEA funded Strategic Innovation Fund project which began in 2007 and was completed on time and within budget this year. The project has operated under the auspices of the IUA and its Librarian’s Group which has driven the project to its successful completion. IUA Chair and President of NUI Maynooth, Professor Tom Collins, commended the project “Open Access to the research output of the seven universities and DIT is one of the most exciting collaborative projects across the Irish university sector. It offers all countries – rich and poor – free access to information which has tremendous potential to aid both national and international development”.
The Taoiseach’s Innovation Taskforce recommended that Ireland develop an “innovation ecosystem” where a synergistic combination of public and private sector efforts create an environment that promotes the growth of knowledge and its translation into new ideas and new businesses. Rian is an important building block of the innovation ecosystem and will help put the “innovation island” on the map as a beacon for Irish research.
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For more information contact:
Lia O’Sullivan, Communications Manager, Irish Universities Association, Lia.osullivan@iua.ie
01 6764948 085 7141414
Additional Notes:
- ‘Rian’ is the Irish for pathway
- Open access to publications is complementary to the drive to commercialise outcomes from Irish research. As Ireland’s research output has grown there has also been a significant increase in university commercialisation activity in terms of industrial collaborations, patents, licences and spinouts.
“The project provides an international window on Irish Research output and NUI Galway is delighted to be part of this.”
Dr James J. Browne, Uachtarán – President, National University of Ireland, Galway.
“The objective of RIAN is to make knowledge and research publications available to the widest possible audience. Already the level of interest, demonstrated by the number of publications downloaded, is very significant and no doubt will continue to grow with awareness of this wonderful resource.”
Professor Brian Norton, President, DIT.
“Increasing access to Irish published research is in the national interest; it will enhance thestrategic impact of research publications and help to develop a knowledge society.”
Professor Brian MacCraith, President, Dublin City University
“The mission of the University includes knowledge generation and knowledge transfer. Open access is critical to the delivery of both. RIAN will help us to showcase the great achievements of the Irish research community and to increase the worldwide impact of the knowledge we generate.”
Dr John Hegarty, Provost, Trinity College Dublin.
“The National Research Portal will increase the international profile of individual researchers and of Irish universities and will thereby enhance the national research endeavour”.
Professor Don Barry, President, University of Limerick.
“UCD welcomes the development of global access to Irish university research outputs which will contribute to the social, economic and cultural objectives of a knowledge society”.
Dr Hugh Brady, President, UCD
“RIAN offers the world a single “shop-window” to the creativity of the entire Irish university system. It is an important sectoral contribution to enhancing Ireland’s national brand as “The Innovation Island”.
Dr Michael Murphy, President, University College Cork.