Reshaping the CRIS role in the context of AI, open infrastructures, open source, and research evaluation
The 17th CRIS Conference on Current Research Information Systems will be held next Spring (May 20-22, 2026) as an on-site-only event at the University of the Azores in Ponta Delgada, Portugal. The event website is currently under construction and will be released very soon.
In order to collect proposals for presentations, papers and other contributions to this conference, euroCRIS is putting out the following call for proposals.
Conference Theme and Topics
Programme committee
Conference Contributions: Types and Structure
Submission of Papers and Review Process
Key Conference Dates
Publication of the Accepted Papers
Specific Activities: Posters, Tutorials, Panels, Workshops and Exhibition and Business Session
Theme: Reshaping the CRIS role in the context of new trends like AI, Open Source and research evaluation
Deadline for submissions: Feb 7th, 2026
The CRIS 2026 Conference will explore recent developments in the role, value, and use of Current Research Information Systems (CRIS), with a focus on their potential for research information exchange and aggregation across institutions, regions, countries, and stakeholders (e.g. between research organisations and funders).
The conference will bring together researchers, managers of research-performing and funding organisations, evaluators, librarians, research administrators, ICT experts, and policymakers to share insights and best practices in research information management. euroCRIS supports the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information, and open data and infrastructures will be among the hot topics of the event.
Under the theme “Reshaping the CRIS Role in the context of AI, open infrastructures, open source, and research evaluation”, the CRIS2026 conference will highlight collaborative initiatives - such as the AI4RIS and the CRISCROS Working Groups - and showcase how different national and institutional approaches can inform each other. The goal is to strengthen interoperability and promote more effective mechanisms for research information sharing, supporting activities from open science implementation to research assessment and business intelligence.
CRIS play a pivotal role in this effort, connecting extensive metadata on all aspects of research. However, differences in system design and data models remain. Contributions that address harmonisation and best practices are particularly welcome.
Building on discussions from recent CRIS conferences in Dubrovnik and Vienna, we invite submissions that present ideas, solutions, and experiences related to the conference theme and the broader role and evolution of CRIS at local, national, or international levels.
Conference topics include but are not limited to:
- The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in research information management
- Semantic approaches, data mining, and profiling in the interpretation of research information
- The use and implementation of standards in CRIS: identifiers, formats, semantics, vocabularies
- CRIS in the ecosystem of open infrastructures
- The development of open-source solutions for research information management
- The impact and the application of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information
- Sustainability and governance of CRIS
- The significance of CRIS for the promotion and realisation of FAIR and Open Science
- Use cases in the application of CERIF
- Output and performance: trends in research assessment, rankings, and benchmarking
- The role of CRIS in support of the responsible use of research metrics: analytics and quantitative measurement in research information systems
- The (worldwide) uptake of CRIS Systems by various stakeholders
Programme
Details about the conference programme will be announced later.
| Name | Affiliation |
| Joachim Schöpfel [Chair] | University of Lille, France |
| Aurelia Andrés | Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), Madrid, Spain |
| Otmane Azeroual | FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany |
| Sophie Biesenbender | Commission for Research Information in Germany (KFiD), Berlin, Germany |
| Ils de Bal | Department for Work, Economy, Science, Innovation and Social Economy (WEWIS) of the Flemish Government, Flanders, Belgium |
| Pablo de Castro | University of Strathclyde Glasgow, United Kingdom |
| João Dias | Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal |
| Jan Dvořák | Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic |
| Eiken Friedrichsen | University of Kiel, Germany |
| Michael Greil | University of Vienna, Austria |
| Tiago Guedes | NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal |
| Anna Guillaumet | SIGMA AIE, Barcelona, Spain |
| Sebastian Herwig | University of Münster, Germany |
| Dragan Ivanović | University of Novi Sad, Serbia |
| Keith Jeffery | Keith G Jeffery Consultants, United Kingdom |
| Kristoffer Lindell | University of Umeå, Sweden |
| António Luís Lopes | University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal |
| Michele Mennielli | Lyrasis, United States |
| Sabine Neff-Kolassa | TU Wien, Austria |
| Joonas Nikkanen | CSC Center for Science, Espoo, Finland |
| Ognjen Orel | University Computing Centre, Zagreb, Croatia |
| Hanna-Mari Puuska | CSC Center for Science, Espoo, Finland |
| Augusto Ribeiro | University of Porto, Portugal |
| Steve Reding | Medical University of Vienna, Austria |
| José Francisco Salm Junior | Santa Catarina State University, Brazil |
| Danica Zendulková | Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CVTI SR), Bratislava, Slovakia |
Conference Contributions: Types and Structure
We invite the CRIS community and all other interested parties to submit their findings and experiences as contributions of different kinds. This includes full or short research papers, review papers and articles describing case studies, experiences or proposals of novel pieces of technology, processes or models.
Contributions to CRIS 2026 will be organized around three main thematic tracks:
I. Artificial Intelligence
This track welcomes contributions showcasing best practices, technologies, and case studies on the use of AI within CRIS infrastructures at institutional, national, or international levels. Topics may include AI-driven data quality enhancement, intelligent metadata enrichment, advanced analytics for decision support, workflow automation, and the ethical and responsible use of AI in research information management.
II. Open infrastructures, open source
This track invites papers and case studies on the adoption, co-development, and governance of open-source CRIS solutions, especially in the context of the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information. Emphasis will be placed on sustainability models, community collaboration, interoperability, and customization of open infrastructures to meet diverse institutional and national needs. Contributions that highlight cross-institutional partnerships or innovative implementation strategies are especially encouraged.
III. Research evaluation
This track focuses on emerging trends in research assessment and their implications for CRIS design and functionality. Relevant topics include improving the quality, accessibility, and interoperability of research information through enhanced data models, processes, and user interfaces, as well as the integration of new indicators, responsible metrics, and cloud-based technologies to support evolving evaluation practices.
Submissions that do not fit neatly into these categories but align with the overall theme and scope of the conference will be considered under a general track.
Submission of Papers and Review Process
To present a paper at the conference, the first step is to send in a 2-5 page extended abstract for the contribution. Based on these abstracts, the Programme Committee will assess the suitability of the papers for the event.
Please submit your extended abstract to the following easyChair account: https://easychair.org/my2/conference?conf=cris2026
Guidelines for writing extended abstracts
An extended abstract is not simply a long abstract. An extended abstract should contain some references, comparisons to related previous work, cases, descriptions and findings and other details expected in a full paper but not in an abstract. The typical length of the extended abstract is 2-5 pages. The abstract should be readable and understandable, and it is key to highlight the main contributions that make the work presented useful to the audience of CRIS researchers and/or practitioners.
The program committee will consider among other these aspects in reviewing the extended abstract:
- Are there any major technical flaws in the abstract?
- Is the language appropriate for a scholarly or technical audience?
- Is the work a significant advance over previous work/cases/experiences in the area, by the same authors or others?
- Does the extended abstract offer an interesting perspective on a problem or describe experiences that might be useful to others?
- Is the abstract well presented and understandable?
Best Paper and Best Poster Awards
In Memory of the late Max Stempfhuber, euroCRIS offers an award to the best paper in the conference. Additionally, euroCRIS will present an award to the best poster. The winners in both categories will be elected by the conference attendees.
The timeline for submitting and selecting contributions is:
- February 7, 2026 – Extended abstract submission
- March 15, 2026 – Acceptance/Rejection Announcement
- May 1, 2026 – Full paper camera-ready submission
Publication of the Accepted Papers
As it was the case for previous CRIS Conferences, the extended abstracts for all accepted papers will be published in the euroCRIS repository shortly before the conference.
On top of this, a selection of papers will be published as post-proceedings with an international publisher indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus.
Specific Activities: Posters, Tutorials, Panels, Workshops and Exhibition and Business Session
The CRIS2024 Conference also welcomes proposals for posters, tutorials and workshops related to any of the topics for the conference. System providers are also invited to submit their contributions for a specific Exhibitions and Business Session. More details on the calls for these separate activities are given below.
Call for posters
Posters on the conference themes above may be submitted as regular contributions via easyChair. When adding the info on the authors and title and abstract for the poster, please specify that this is a poster contribution. The same submission deadlines specified above for conference papers also apply to poster submissions.
Authors of submissions not deemed to be sufficiently solid for a conference paper and/or presentation during the peer-review process may also be invited to submit their contribution as a poster instead.
Call for tutorials
Tutorials are expected to be sessions of a duration ranging from 1 to 3 hours in which the instructor exposes a topic or presents the use of a system. Tutorial proposals need to include:
- Title
- Instructors and their qualifications
- Topics to be covered
- Prerequisites for attendants
- Tutorial setting required (need for computers, Internet connection, other materials)
Tutorials are expected to serve the audience in improving or acquiring knowledge or skills or demonstrating and gaining hands-on or practical experience with technologies and tools.
Proposals for tutorials should be sent to eurocris@eurocris.org before Feb 15th, 2024.
Call for panels
Panels are expected to be sessions organised during the main conference activities. They should be focused on a specific topic. Panel proposals need to include:
- Title
- Panel chair(s)
- Panel members
- Topic to be covered
- Justification of the importance of the topic
Panels will be included in the conference programme. Contributions to panels will typically not be published in the CRIS2026 Conference proceedings.
Call for workshops
Workshops are expected to be sessions organised the day before or in parallel to main conference activities. They should be focused on a specific topic. Workshops proposals need to include:
- Title
- Workshop chair(s)
- Technical/scientific committee members
- Topics to be covered
- Justification of the importance of the topics
Workshops will be included in the conference programme, but the peer-review process and selection of papers is the responsibility of their promoters. Contributions to workshops will typically not be published in the CRIS2024 Conference proceedings unless they're held within the event programme.
Proposals for panels and workshops should be sent to eurocris@eurocris.org before Feb 7th, 2026.
Call for Exhibition and Business Session
Events held by euroCRIS typically include a business session where CRIS vendors are invited to present recent developments in their products. In the case of the CRIS2024 Conference in Vienna, this session was scheduled via a plenary “Tools and products” slot. The objective is to try and merge ‘commercial’ presentations with the general themes for the conference.
Proposals for contributions to the CRIS2026 business session should subsequently be submitted following the same guidelines that apply to general submissions. These proposals may be tagged as business session-oriented by the submitter, but it will be the CRIS2026 Programme Committee that will eventually allocate them to this session.
As for the exhibition opportunities, CRIS2026 conference sponsors will be offered a space to provide in-person information on their products and services. Please reach out to
to arrange the sponsorship and to receive more information on the way the exhibition tables will be managed at the conference.