In a recent series of conversations with knowledge management specialists from CGIAR Centers, Sara Jani and Valentina De Col from ICARDA spoke with Mishell Portilla, Knowledge Management and Open Access Assistant at CIP. They discussed CGIAR’s collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on AGRIS and AGROVOC. AGRIS is a comprehensive bibliographic database on agriculture and nutrition, while AGROVOC is a multilingual thesaurus covering a wide range of agricultural and related terms.
Benefits of being in AGRIS
Q: CIP has shared its knowledge products with AGRIS and plans to do so more. What benefits do you see in being part of AGRIS?
Mishell: Being included in AGRIS boosts the visibility of our research outputs. AGRIS acts as a platform where users can find and access CIP’s publications and datasets produced by our researchers. By sharing our content with AGRIS through CGSpace—CGIAR’s main repository—we’re ensuring that our work reaches a wider audience, including researchers, policymakers, and practitioners worldwide.
Importance for CGIAR to share research outputs with AGRIS
Q: On a broader scale, why is it important for CGIAR to share its research outputs with a global audience through AGRIS?
Mishell: For CGIAR, sharing research through AGRIS is fundamental to expanding our global reach and enhancing the visibility of our research outputs. AGRIS centralizes CGIAR publications in one place and makes them accessible worldwide. This increased visibility is crucial for maximizing the impact of our work and making essential agricultural data more accessible.
The knowledge content from CIP: types of content and subjects
Q: Can you describe the types of knowledge content CIP produces and the research areas covered?
Mishell: At CIP, our knowledge repository includes briefs, brochures, reports, and journal articles. These are focused on CIP’s strategic objectives and align our outputs with the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, gender equality, and climate action. Our content is also multilingual, with some of our output written and shared in Spanish. We strive to provide practical insights and valuable information to various stakeholders, from farmers to other scientists and the general public.
Importance of AGRIS for agricultural research institutions such as CGIAR
Q: How crucial is it for agricultural research institutions, such as CGIAR, to have access to a comprehensive bibliographic database like AGRIS?
Mishell: Access to AGRIS is essential for agricultural research institutions. It offers a centralized source of information that enhances our ability to locate relevant research. Moreover, AGRIS facilitates the dissemination of our research outputs, ensuring they align with FAIR principles—making them findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable for those who can benefit from them.
Enhancing findability and interoperability through AGROVOC
Q: CGIAR contributes to and uses AGROVOC as a common vocabulary. How does this collaboration impact the findability and interoperability of your data?
Mishell: Using AGROVOC boosts the findability and interoperability of our data. AGROVOC provides a standardized vocabulary, making our research more searchable and consistent across different platforms and databases. However, sometimes, we struggle to find the correct keyword to describe the researchers’ output, so it is essential that, as a community, CGIAR contributes to FAO by adding new concepts to AGROVOC. This standardization enhances data discoverability, and we should encourage our scientists to use AGROVOC more frequently.
This conversation underscores the power of data sharing and the use of standardized vocabularies like AGROVOC in enhancing agricultural research. By leveraging AGRIS and AGROVOC, research institutions can significantly improve the visibility and interoperability of their work, driving global collaboration and knowledge exchange.
For more info on the CGIAR and FAO collaboration: