Research Portal of Catalonia (PRC)

The gateway to knowledge 

The Research Portal of Catalonia (PRC) is the single point from which we give visibility and disseminate in open access the research outcomes produced in Catalonia. 

The PRC collects information on researchers, publications, theses, groups and research projects to improve their impact and visibility among the international scientific community, companies, funding organizations and the general public. In the long term, PRC's goal is to simplify management processes and give support to the evaluation processes. 

The benefits of PRC

• Gives visibility to the potential of the Catalan system as a whole. 
• Strenghtens and simplifies unified management processes of research data. 
• Increases the access and visibility of the work done by researchers in Catalonia. 

In an open science context, research information has increased in importance, which has consequently changed the way this information is handled: from an internal attention by research management systems to externally display the research outcomes of institutions. And we do so through research portals such as the PRC. 

When we drew the first sketches of the PRC, the only European reference for a similar project was in The Netherlands with NARCIS. In recent years, however, several data integration projects have been launched in Europe in the field of research and innovation. Some of the most distinguished projects are:  

• CRIStin (Norway)
• Research.fi (Finland)
• FRIS Research portal (Belgium - Flanders)
• Gateway to Research (United Kingdom) 
• SwePub, Academic Publications at Swedish Universities (Sweden)  

Link of the research system of Catalonia

With the premise of facilitating access to the research carried out in Catalonia, the PRC aggregates infromation from several sources and institutions, encouraging data reuse and, therefore, the transfer of knowledge, becoming a pioneering tool of this characteristics in the South of Europe. 

The PRC database is fed by data collected by universities and research centres of Catalonia in their research management systems (CRIS), bodies that collect and disseminate all the information related to the research activities of an institution. Thanks to the PRC, institutions improve the management of information through agreements reached jointly in reference to the provision of data, the capture of information using standard formats (CERIF) and interoperability protocols, the use of persistent digital identifiers (ORCID for researchers), and promoting open access to scientific production and the use of institutional repositories. 

Users can find in the PRC data of different tipology: articles published in scientific journals, doctoral theses, books, research projects and the profile of those researchers that are doing research in Catalonia. 

In addition to researchers, the PRC can also be a useful tool for students, journalists and anyone working in educational institutions or the business sector. 

In light of the growing importance of showing to everyone and in open access the results of the research produced in universities, research centres and insitutions, the PRC started its firts steps in 2012. The General Directorate of Research of the government of Catalonia made CSUC responsible for the development of the project, a task that was assumed together with a working committee with members of the Catalan universities and research centres. After a period of restricted access, the PRC was opened to the general public in 2016.