Institutional research data systems is a broad term that aims to capture the ways and structures by which institutions—universities, research centres, and other higher education organisations—manage the large and increasingly complex amounts [Page 818]of information that their operations generate. These systems rely on research data technology, which refers to the concrete technical instruments, such as computing devices, databases, and software, by which research data are collected and organised. As computing power has increased, the kinds of data collected and the systems in which the data are organised have been greatly transformed. Thus, data technology is a central part and key enabler of research management systems.

The idea of collecting data—including sorting, coding, storing data, and transferring information within organisations—is a long-standing one. However, as organisations have ...