By Valentina De Col (ICARDA) & Asma Jeitani (ICARDA)
Benefits of being in AGRIS
Q: IWMI has shared its knowledge products with AGRIS and plans to do so more. What benefits do you see in being part of AGRIS?
Chandima: Since we began contributing to AGRIS in 2005, we have seen significant benefits. Our submissions to AGRIS have increased requests for IWMI publications from a diverse global audience, including academics, students and grassroots researchers. This reflects how AGRIS enhances the visibility and accessibility of our work, aligning with the principles of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and Open Access.
Importance for CGIAR to share research outputs via AGRIS
Q: On a broader scale, why is it important for CGIAR to share its research outputs with a global audience through AGRIS?
Chandima: Disseminating CGIAR research through AGRIS is crucial for extending its global reach and impact while affirming CGIAR’s commitment to transparency and knowledge sharing. As technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and text mining advance, AGRIS has the potential to become even more intuitive and accessible for diverse audiences, including donors, stakeholders and researchers. Further enhancements to AGRIS in line with these technological developments would be highly beneficial.
The knowledge content from IWMI: types of content and subjects
Q: Can you describe the types of knowledge content IWMI produces and the research areas covered?
Chandima: IWMI’s collection in CGSpace primarily features publications related to food and ecosystems, climate change and resilience, water security, environmental sustainability, ecosystem services, nature-based solutions and groundwater management. Our repository encompasses a diverse range of content, including journal articles, research reports, working papers and conference proceedings. Our audience is equally diverse, from policymakers and donors to college students, academics and grassroots communities.
Importance of AGRIS for agricultural research institutions such as CGIAR
Q: How crucial is it for agricultural research institutions, such as CGIAR, to have access to a comprehensive bibliographic database like AGRIS?
Chandima: A database like AGRIS is invaluable for agricultural research institutions, supporting literature searches, project formulation, reviews, and paper writing. Alongside well-known academic databases like Scopus and Web of Science, AGRIS offers an extensive resource of over 13 million records. However, there is potential for further improvement. For instance, implementing advanced search options and export features compatible with reference management software could enhance the user-friendliness of AGRIS. Such updates would be particularly advantageous for younger researchers and have the potential to foster increased utilization of AGRIS within this demographic.
Enhancing findability and interoperability through AGROVOC
Q: CGIAR contributes to and uses AGROVOC as a common vocabulary. How does this collaboration impact the findability and interoperability of your data?
Rasika: As a member of the AGROVOC Curation Team, we have contributed terms to AGROVOC and relied on it for indexing IWMI publications. This collaboration has notably improved the findability and interoperability of our data across various platforms and systems.
Chandima: Complementing Rasika’s point, our collaboration with AGROVOC has streamlined our indexing process. To further enhance efficiency and coverage of our research areas, integrating terms from additional thesauri, such as CABI, would be beneficial. Additionally, employing AI to automatically extract and align keywords from abstracts with AGROVOC could reduce manual searches and enhance automation.
This conversation underscored the substantial benefits of AGRIS in boosting the visibility and accessibility of IWMI’s publications. Continued collaboration with AGRIS and AGROVOC, alongside exploring innovative technologies like AI, could further amplify the impact and utility of AGRIS for the global agricultural research community.
For more info on the CGIAR and FAO collaboration:
Report: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/116236