DAIS - Digital Archive of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts: Organization

This public wiki is about the DAIS – Digital Archive of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Organization scheme of the DAIS – Digital Archive of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Responsibilities

DAIS (https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/) is owned by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and SASA institutes, which are responsible for the content of the repository. The content is organized into communities and collections: each participating institution has its own community and a number of sub-communities and collections. Each institute and SASA are free to decide about content types to be included and prioritized, content organization (collection tree) within their communities, and content access and sharing policies. Deposition and curation rules, as well as the overall repository policy, including the metadata policy, are agreed at the repository level.

The participating institutions appoint a number of repository managers, who accept or reject submissions, control the quality of metadata, provide support to end-users, collect feedback, and communitcate with the development team.

The software platform for DAIS has been developed and is hosted and maintained by the University of Belgrade Computer Centre (RCUB). RCUB also provides a set of in-house developed tools for repository managers and general users. RCUB is responsible for hosting, regular back-up, software upgrades and development, preservation, user support and training, and the implementation of interoperability standards and communication with major international infrastructures and aggregators (OpenAIRE, BASE, CORE, WorldCat, Unpaywall).

RCUB has appointed a dedicated team (TRAP-RCUB) responsible for repository development. The team also serves as a steering body. TRAP-RCUB members collect and evaluate information about new developments in the area and they also receive inputs from the Designated community through formal and informal channels. Development plans are devised in collaboration with repository managers. The steering group meets at least once a month to discuss further actions. Decisions are taken by majority vote and are based on a feasibility assessment, paying special attention to security, the integrity of the platform, and the time (hours) required to develop a feature, the number of users benefiting from the action, and the global developments in the area (e.g. standards or expected technical improvements).

Team members collaborate closely with the OpenAIRE, BASE and CORE teams, either through e-mail correspondence or through dedicated online meetings. These collaborations make it possible to assess planned upgrades and improvements from the perspective of aggregators and to modify them towards achieving an optimal interoperability. Technical support for the implementation of Handles is provided by GRNET, through the GRNET Persistent Identifiers Service based on a collaboration agreement with RCUB.

Partners

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

The status of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) and the institutes under its auspices is defined by the Law on the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Službeni glasnik RS, no. 18/2010; Serbian only). Along with this law, the operation of SASA is guided by the Law on Science and Research of the Republic of Serbia (Službeni glasnik RS, 49/2019-3; Serbian only) and the Statute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (No. 367/9-019, 5 October 2020).

According to the Law on SASA (Articles 1–3) and the SASA Statute (1–5), the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the supreme scholarly and cultural institution in Serbia and it has the status of an institution of exceptional national significance (also Law on Science and Research, Article 33). SASA is a legal entity, based in Belgrade. According to the Law on SASA, the activities of the Academy include (Law on SASA, Article 6; SASA Statute, Article 7): organizing and implementing research activities relevant for the social, economic and cultural development of the country; analyzing the situation in various areas of science and arts in the Republic of Serbia and providing expert support to government bodies; fostering the advancement of sciences, arts and education, organizing conferences, consultations and meetings with local and international scholars. The Academy is involved in research programmes, the development of culture, arts and education in the Republic of Serbia, major publishing projects (e.g. Serbian Encyclopaedia, SASA Dictionary), etc.

The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is publicly funded (Law on SASA, Article 43) through a dedicated budget line in the national budget. SASA is independent in allocating the approved funds (Article 44). Furthermore, the research programmes implemented by SASA are funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (Law on Science and Research, Article 12: funding of the research programmes implemented by SASA is recognized as a programme of general interest). The SASA Library, Archive and other resources and outputs are available to the public in line with the provisions of the Statutes of SASA (Law, Article 7; Statute, Article 8).

The Law on SASA also details the membership (Articles 8–16), the organization (Articles 17-21) and the governance structure (Articles 22–29) of SASA.

SASA members are divided into eight Departments based on research areas. SASA also has two branch offices (in Novi Sad and Niš), a Research Centre in Kragujevac, as well as Library, Archives, Gallery of Visual Arts and Music, Gallery of Science and Technology and the Archives in Sremski Karlovci (Law, Article 19).

The governance bodies of SASA include: Assembly, Presidency, Executive Council, and the President of SASA (Law, Article 22).

The Assembly (Law, Articles 23-25; Statute, Articles 76-81) includes all regular and corresponding members of SASA and is responsible for adopting the SASA Statute, defining programmes of activities and research, electing new members, electing the President, the Vice-presidents, the Secretary General and Presidency members, and adopting financial plans.

The SASA Presidency (Law, Articles 26–27; Statute, Articles 82–88) includes representative of each department and the SASA President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary General and the SASA branch offices. The presidency ensures the enforcement of the Statutes, coordinates the activities of various organizational units and the implementation of plans

The Executive Council (Law, Article 28; Statute, Articles 89-91) is an executive body of the Assembly and Presidency of SASA. It includes the SASA President, Vice-Presidents, General Secretary, and Presidents of SASA branches. The Council enforces decisions and conclusions of the SASA Presidency and Assembly and performs other tasks assigned by the Presidency.

The SASA President represents SASA, convenes sessions of the Assembly, Presidency and the Executive Council and performs other tasks and duties in line with the SASA Statutes (Law, Article 29; Statute, Articles 92–93).

SASA is represented in a number of national bodies responsible for research and development, such as the National Science Council (Law on Science and Research, Article 15), Committee for the Accreditation of Research Organizations (Article 19), Promotions Committee (Article, 23), and Scientific Field Committees (Article 26).

Institutes of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

The operation of the eight research institutes under the auspices of SASA is guided by the Law on the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Articles 30–42), the Statute of SASA (101–101) and the national Law on Science and Research. SASA institutes are accredited by the SASA if they comply with the requirements (in terms of the scope of activities and the size and qualifications of the research staff) set out in the Law on SASA (Articles 30 and 39). According to the same Law, the institutes are legal entities registered in the national registry of research institutions (Article 31). The registry is maintained by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (list of registered institutions, Serbian only). SASA institutes are funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in line with the Law on Science and Research (Article 12: institutional funding of the institutes under the auspices of SASA is recognized as a programme of general interest; also Law on SASA, Article 42). At the same time, the framework for the institutes’ governance structure is defined by the Law on SASA (Articles 32–38) and the SASA Statute (Articles 102-108).

The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is represented in the institutes’ bodies (Management Board and the Scientific Council, Statute, Articles 101, 103, 107).

University of Belgrade Computer Centre (RCUB) (outsource patner)

The University of Belgrade Computer Centre is an organizational unit of the University of Belgrade (Statute of the University of Belgrade, Article 18) and the central infrastructure and computer service provider for the University’s faculties and institutes, as well as for the network of publicly funded research organizations in Serbia.

It specializes in information (establishment of information systems and software development) and communication technologies (establishment of computer networks and the development of internet-based infrastructure and communication services) and is publicly funded. The services related to establishing and maintaining institutional repositories are provided on a non-profit basis and service fees and their use are regulated by the Policy for Transparent Access to Research Infrastructures at the University of Belgrade Computer Centre and the service agreement between SASA and RCUB (see an outline of the SLA).

The University of Belgrade Computer Centre is a member of the Academic Network of the Republic of Serbia (AMRES). Until 2010, when AMRES was established as a legal entity, RCUB had been appointed by the Government to manage and represent the national academic network in Serbia. RCUB has participated in a number of international projects.

GRNET (outsource patner)

GRNET S.A. – National Infrastructures for Research and Technology is one of the largest public sector technology companies in Greece. Since August 2019 operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Governance. GRNET provides networking, cloud computing, HPC, data management services and e-Infrastructures and services to academic and research institutions, to educational bodies at all levels, and to all agencies in the public sector.