CRIS - Current Research Information System

CRIS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's documentation and reporting system for ongoing and recently completed research and education projects in agriculture, food and nutrition, and forestry. Projects are conducted or sponsored by USDA research agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, land-grant universities, other cooperating state institutions, and participants in NIFA-administered grant programs, including Small Business Innovation Research and National Research Initiative, and the programs administered by the NIFA Science and Education Resources Development unit. CRIS is an application of the NIFA Information Systems and Technology Management unit.

CRIS was authorized by the Secretary of Agriculture in 1966 to document the publicly-funded activities of the USDA/State agricultural and forestry research system. Available initially only to researchers, research administrators, and government personnel, the major portion of the database is now available free of charge to all users with access to the Internet. In addition, CRIS now documents a large and increasing number of education and extension activities funded by NIFA.

CRIS projects relating to human nutrition are provided annually to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for inclusion in the Human Nutrition Research and Information Management database (HNRIM). In CRIS these projects are designated as the subfile, "HNRIMS." Updates occur annually, therefore, all human nutrition projects in CRIS may not yet be coded as "HNRIMS."

Participants

• USDA
  • Agricultural Research Service
  • National Institute of Food and Agriculture
  • Economic Research Service
  • Forest Service
• State Institutions
  • State Agricultural Experiment Stations
  • 1862 Land Grant Institutions
  • 1890 Land Grant Institutions and Tuskegee University
  • 1994 Land Grant Institutions (Tribal Colleges)
  • Cooperating Schools of Veterinary Medicine
  • State Forestry Schools
• Other participants
  • NIFA Competitive Grant, Small Business Innovation Research, Cooperative Agreement, and other NIFA-funded program recipients

Subject coverage

Agricultural and forestry research and education encompasses a broad range of activities including:

• Management and use of natural resources.
• Protection of crops and livestock from pests and other hazards.
• Production management systems for crops, livestock, poultry, and fish.
• Farm and forest product development and quality improvement.
• Marketing of crop, animal, and forest products.
• Foreign trade and market development.
• Food and human nutrition, health and safety, and consumer protection.
• Rural, community, and youth development.
• Family resource management.
• Fish and wildlife management, outdoor recreation, and environmental quality.
• Agricultural education and outreach.

Description of work

A CRIS work unit documents a defined activity at a single location. The work focuses on a clearly definable problem, a manageable phase of a larger problem, or a few closely related elements of a broad-based program. Each documented activity includes information on:

• WHAT is being done,
• WHO is doing it,
• WHERE it is being conducted,
• WHEN it is performed,
• PROGRESS achieved,
• IMPACT expected, and
• PUBLICATIONS produced.

Why Use CRIS?

The mission of CRIS is to document the research and education activities of the USDA/State agricultural research and education system for various reporting purposes, as well as to provide ready access to information which can help users to:

• keep abreast of the latest developments in agricultural and forestry research and education,
• plan future activities,
• avoid costly duplication of publicly-funded work, and
• establish valuable contacts within the research and education community.

Other databases for:

• Conference papers, preprints, and working papers
• Reports, standards, and financials
• Freely accessible databases

Other databases covering:

• Agricultural, biological, and medical sciences
• Health and medicine