During this session, we introduced ROR and explained its benefits. A summary of African organizations in ROR and a highlight of ROR-enabled systems in use in Africa were also given by Amanda French, who works at Crossref. The discussions also surrounded existing and future collaborations with services such as ORCID and with African research entities.
Watch the recording
The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/16
Speaker’s profiles
Dr. Amanda French is the Technical Community Manager for the Research Organization Registry (ROR) at Crossref, where she works to promote the adoption of ROR to make information about research organizations cleaner and easier to exchange between systems. Dr. French is a well-known project director and community manager in digital humanities and scholarly communication. During the first year of the pandemic, she served as Community Lead at The COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic, working with more than 800 volunteers to collect and publish key COVID-19 data. Earlier, she managed the “Resilient Networks for Inclusive Digital Humanities” project at GWU Libraries, directed the Digital Research Services unit at Virginia Tech Libraries, and led the THATCamp unconference initiative at GMU’s Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. She was also part of the initial cohort of CLIR postdoctoral fellows.
Questions that were addressed during the session
How does the Research Organization Registry (ROR) serve as an identifier for research institutions and universities, and what role does it play in enhancing research visibility?
ROR provides a unique, open, and persistent identifier for every research organization around the world, including universities and institutes across Africa. By using ROR IDs, institutions can ensure that their research outputs are accurately attributed and easily discoverable across systems. It helps connect research to the right organization, improves metadata quality, and boosts visibility on a global scale.
Can you highlight specific examples or success stories of how ROR has positively impacted research organizations in Africa, and what benefits have these institutions experienced?
One great example is how African universities are using ROR IDs to clean and standardize their affiliation data in research repositories. Institutions that have adopted ROR have seen better representation in international databases, leading to more opportunities for collaboration and funding. It also helps African research be more discoverable to a global audience.
What challenges and opportunities exist in the implementation and adoption of the Research Organization Registry (ROR) within the context of African research institutions and universities?
Challenges include a lack of awareness, technical integration barriers, and the need for broader community engagement. However, the opportunities are huge—using ROR can strengthen African institutions’ presence in global research ecosystems, improve data management, and support Open Science goals. ROR is committed to working closely with African partners to support adoption through outreach, technical guidance, and community collaboration.
How African Researchers and Institutions Can Learn and Benefit from the Session with ROR:
Understanding the Importance of Organizational Identifiers
Researchers and institutions learned how vital organizational identifiers like ROR are for ensuring correct attribution of research work. Using ROR IDs can reduce errors in affiliation data and make African research outputs more easily discoverable worldwide.
Improving Research Visibility and Recognition
By adopting ROR, African universities and research institutes can boost their visibility on international platforms. Participants gained insights into how standardizing institutional identifiers directly helps increase the impact and reach of African research.
Learning from Real-World Examples
The session provided examples of African institutions already benefiting from ROR integration. This practical perspective helped attendees understand how they can start small, integrate ROR into their workflows, and enjoy immediate and long-term benefits.
Addressing Local Challenges Together
The discussion highlighted the specific challenges African institutions face with implementing ROR and how these can be overcome with community collaboration, technical support, and advocacy for open infrastructures across Africa.
Opportunities for Collaboration and Growth
Researchers and administrators were shown how ROR opens doors to collaboration with global partners. Standardized organization data makes it easier for African institutions to be recognized and included in international research initiatives and funding opportunities.
Action Steps Toward Integration
Participants left with a clear understanding of how to start using ROR—whether by registering their institutions, updating metadata in repositories, or advocating for adoption within their organizations. ROR’s open approach offers African institutions a practical tool for advancing their Open Science ambitions.
ROR supporting African research
The teams at ROR, Access 2 Perspectives, and UbuntuNet Alliance are working on generating a continental subset of the ROR database for Africa
Related resources
ROR website: https://ror.org/
The ROR database can be accessed at https://ror.readme.io/docs/rest-api or downloaded from https://ror.readme.io/docs/data-dump
About the webinar series
This webinar was co-organized by UbuntuNet Alliance and Access 2 Perspectives as part of the ORCID Global Participation Program.
ORCID is the persistent identifier for researchers to share their accomplishments (research articles, data, etc with funding agencies, publishers, data repositories, and other research workflows.
AfricArXiv is a community-led digital archive for African research communication. By enhancing the visibility of African research, we enable discoverability and collaboration opportunities for African scientists on the continent as well as globally.