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Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes (RCIN) was established and is being developed mainly as an outcome of two projects acquired and jointly accomplished by a group of Polish scientific institutes.

Project I

Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes (RCIN)

Implementation period: 2010.03.02 - 2014.09.30

Financing institution: European Union - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and state budget

The main objective of the project was to establish a supra-regional and multidisciplinary Digital Repository composed of digitized archival materials, scientific publications, research documentation and cultural heritage manuscripts selected from collections of 16 Polish scientific institutes and their libraries forming the Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes Consortium.

The main tasks assumed in the Project primarily consisted of consolidation and modernization of research and IT infrastructure within scientific institutes being part of the Consortium, securing their current scientific achievements and enabling access to publications for specialized research groups. Facilitating access to contemporary and historical materials collected by the Consortium Institutes contributes to enhancing promotion of the Polish science, history and culture worldwide. Furthermore, the Project fosters education and awareness in the field of searching for digitized scientific literature. The RCIN has resulted in increasing the electronic resources of the global Internet with the Polish scientific research published by members of the Consortium, which in turn has greatly affected dissemination of substantial findings and increased citation of works being accessed.

The Project was financed by means of the Operational Programme Innovative Economy, Priority Axis 2: R&D infrastructure, Measure 2.3 Investments connected with development of IT infrastructure of science, Sub-measure 2.3.2.:Projects in regard of development of digitalized information resources for science (creation and maintenance of databases on scientific results as well as providing access to scientific publications). The RCIN was conducted from 02/03/2010 to 30/09/2014. The co-financing was PLN 36 347 949,15.

The RCIN Consortium consisted of the following Institutes:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology PAS;
Institute of Literary Research PAS;
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS;
Mammal Research Institute PAS;
Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS;
Institute of Organic Chemistry PAS;
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology PAS;
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization PAS;
Institute of History PAS;
Institute of Polish Language PAS;
Institute of Mathematics PAS;
Mossakowski Medical Research Institute PAS;
Institute of Fundamental Technological Research PAS;
Institute of Slavic Studies PAS;
Institute of Electronic Materials Technology;
Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS;
Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry PAS (joined after accomplishing the project).
L.&A. Birkenmajer Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Currently, the RCIN results are being maintained by means of the Consortium members’ own funds. In addition, its continuation is the new OZwRCIN Project implemented under the Operational Programme Digital Poland 2014-2020

Publications concerning the RCIN Project:

Projekt 'Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych'
Potencjał informacyjny Platformy RCIN
Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych : stan na 24.10.2014 r.

Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych, RCIN. MiIZ PAN : Warszawa, 2014 112 s.

Project II

Open Resources in the Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes (OZwRCIN)

Implementation period: 2018-08-01 - 2021-07-31

Financing institution: European Union - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and state budget

Project number: Nr POPC.02.03.01-00-0029/17

A three-year project entitled Open Resources in the Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes (OZwRCIN) is carried out as part of the third competition under the Operational Programme Digital Poland for 2014-2020, Priority Axis II: E-administration and open government, Measure 2.3 Digital accessibility and usability of public sector information, Sub-measure 2.3.1 Digital access to public sector information from administrative and scientific resources. The total budget of the project is PLN 34 684 818 25, of which PLN 29 353 761,68 is co-financed by the EU budget.

The Project sets out several objectives that can be reduced to a general statement about sharing, archiving and disseminating public sector information from science resources collected by 16 Project partners. The OZwRCIN specifically aims at providing new items on the Internet containing scientific content and data with a complete set of metadata, which until now were only available to a very inconsiderable group of researchers visiting the partners' premises. These facilities document prior trends in disciplines represented by the Consortium members and serve further development of research.

Currently, provided data sharing service is being upgraded in order to become more user-friendly and meet modern requirements, i.e., by removing technical inconveniences of the prior RCIN platform. In particular, it is significant to improve the searching mechanism in the database and presentation of results, as well as to adapt provided services to other identified users’ needs and persons with disabilities.

At present, scientific content and data digitized by 16 OZwRCIN Project partners are made available openly, under free license, free of charge and with minimal barriers for their re-use, taking into account the needs of disabled users, enabling interoperability with domestic and foreign ICT systems.

In the course of Project’s duration it is intended to digitize 145 992 objects and provide online metadata and content of 146 107 objects sought (previously unavailable on the Internet).

The Project Open Resources in the Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes (OZwRCIN) is conducted by 16 Partners based upon Partnership Agreement, these are the following:

Institute of Mathematics PAS – Lead Partner;
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology PAS;
Institute of Literary Research PAS;
Systems Research Institute PAS;
Forest Research Institute;
Institute of Dendrology PAS;
Institute of Nature Conservation PAS;
Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals;
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS;
W. Szafer Institute of Botany PAS;
Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry PAS;
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology PAS ;
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization PAS;
Mossakowski Medical Research Institute PAS;
Institute of Fundamental Technological Research PAS;
Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS.

Technical work carried out as part of the Project is focused on adapting and extending the IT solutions previously implemented within the RCIN. Heretofore, there was a central RCIN website and 17 individual webpages of institutes cooperating within the RCIN Consortium. The new OZwRCIN site provides materials of all 23 institutes involved in expanding the RCIN offer (17 prior Consortium members and 6 new OZwRCIN Project Partners). At the same time, institutes’ websites provide materials related to activity of given scientific entities. Materials made available as part of the Consortium members’ websites and the OZwRCIN central database are physically the same data, being simultaneously visible by means of two independent Internet sites, therefore there is no need of copying them.

The entire process of digitizing and sharing data in the OZwRCIN is operated by DInGO software ((https://docs.psnc.pl/display/DLI6, https://docs.psnc.pl/display/DLAB/Home), being continuously upgraded in the course of the Project. It enables monitoring and controlling tasks related to: digitization, long-term data storage and providing online access to digitized materials. By means of such a refined software, the process of digitization is handled in line with international good practice guides, e.g. by archiving data according to the OAIS Reference Model, featuring the self-archiving function corresponding to green Open Access path. Moreover, DInGO software launches mechanisms allowing for automatic verification of data quality (e.g. technical parameters of entered data ). Compliance with international standards and good practice is crucial in the context of providing users with access to data made available via the RCIN website in the long term perspective.

As part of the Project, there has been a series of training planned for both technical staff and end users. Training of the latter is designed to familiarize beneficiaries with the subject of the database, its functionality and serve to increase awareness concerning advantages of using the resources at the RCIN platform.

Promotional activity scheduled in the Project shall contribute to enhancing dissemination of knowledge regarding potential of open data collected at the RCIN platform by the Project Partners and benefits of opening science resources, as well as the role of the European Union funds in this matter.

To conclude, objects made available as part of the OZwRCINProject on the Internet document current trends in the development of disciplines represented by the Project Partners and have already been successively used as part of scientific research or will be exploited in future. Ultimately, the Project is intended to make accessible scientific resources that the Consortium members have recognized significant for a given filed of science or having meaningful potential for their re-use. These include textual and graphical resources as well as research data - evidence data.

Publications related to the OZwRCIN Project:

Articles

Brykała Dariusz, Podgórski Zbigniew: Evolution of landscapes influenced by watermills, based on examples from Northern Poland. - Landscape and Urban Planning 2020, 198 - s. 103798.
Brykała Dariusz, Prarat Maciej: Reconstructing the distribution of boat mills in Northern Poland in the early 19th century. - International Molinology 2020, 101 - s. 22-29.
Mosakowski Zachariasz, Brykała Dariusz, Prarat Maciej, Jagiełło Daria, Podgórski Zbigniew, Lamparski Piotr: Watermills and windmills as monuments in Poland - protection of cultural heritage in situ and in open-air museums. - Muzeológia a kultúrne dedičstvo 2020, 8, 3 - s. 41-62.
Mosakowski Zachariasz, Brykała Dariusz: Types of watermills on Polish rivers - assumptions in the CeBaDoM database. - World Scientific News 2019, 131 - s. 75-87.
Brykała Dariusz, Prarat Maciej: Rekonstrukcja rozmieszczenia młynów łodnych na Drwęcy i pomorskim odcinku Wisły w pierwszej połowie XIX wieku. - Prace Komisji Krajobrazu Kulturowego 2018, 40 - s. 71-89.