About Croatian Scientific Bibliography (CROSBI)

Bibliographies in Croatia have a long history and tradition, from Kukuljević's Croatian Bibliography from 1860. and 1863., covering publications from the 15th century to 1863, through the Croatian National Bibliography: Series A (covers monographic publications, graphic art and catalogs of art exhibitions, notes, geographic maps, atlases, tourist guides and ephemeral publications), Series B (includes scientific and professional articles and literary and other valuable material from journals or other periodical publications) and Series C (includes current journal titles, yearbooks, proceedings and calendars published in the Republic of Croatia) produced by the National and the University Library (NSK) and the Bibliography of the Work of Scientific Workers of SR Croatia (1971.-1978.), up to the SVIBOR bibliography and numerous institutional, thematic or personal bibliographies.
However, when it comes to a bibliography that would cover current scientific research and scientific publishing of Croatian researchers in Croatia well, there was no bibliography that would include the scientific production of employees in Croatian higher education institutions and research institutes.
Part of the data on publications of Croatian scientists is also present in popular bibliographic databases and citation indexes such as the Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus and others. The need for a new, contemporary scientific bibliography in the online environment came from the fact that the existing bibliographies in Croatia covered only a part of Croatian scientific production, that only a small part of Croatian scientific production is included in international databases, and the need to include other types of publications in the bibliography besides the traditional ones.

Since 1992, the Ministry of Science and Technology has initiated computer data collection on scientific papers, derived from research results on the projects funded by the Ministry, through the so-called desktop program SVIBOR, but due to insufficient web technology development at that time, the need for a new online bibliography concept was imposed.
The Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI, that in one place brings together a comprehensive scientific publishing of Croatian researchers, started in 1996 as a project approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology (the current Ministry of Science and Education), and the first version was launched in 1997 and it has been operational until today. Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI is designed, developed and maintained by the Ruđer Bošković Institute Library (current Center for Scientific Information). Together with the database of Croatian scientists Who is Who in Croatian Science, Center for Online Databases and Šestar - Database of Scientific Equipment and Instruments, the goal was to organize information relevant to science and scientific research in Croatia, with the aim to improve scientific communication and promotion of Croatian scientists and research conducted in the country and abroad.

Today, the Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI contains data on more than 520,000 publications by Croatian scientists, and from its very beginning was based on new and advanced concepts:

• the functionality of open access repository (along with the bibliographic record it is possible to archive full text)
• the Bibliography is created by scientists/authors themselves as information providers (authors provide data about their publications)
• Publication data is only entered once and then can be used for different purposes (data harvesting for other systems, CV creation, data exchange with other systems, export of data in different formats for individual, institutional and other needs, etc.)
• librarians/information specialists provide forms, standards and constant monitoring of bibliographic data
• The Ministry, the financiers of scientific research, scientific policies makers, various commissions, agencies, foundations and others use CROSBI as a tool for different evaluation analyzes, whereby the data are publicly available and accessible to all
• starting from a view point where every piece of information is valuable, a broad concept of a bibliography has been achieved which, except for publications in journals and books, includes book chapters, textbooks and scripts, publications, posters and lectures from conferences, all kinds of dissertations (final, graduate and doctoral dissertations), patents, technical reports, encyclopedia entries, publications popularizing science, softwares, studies, expertises, graphic and architectural designs, as well as different media (text, audio, video, animation, multimedia), and various information carriers (print, online, etc.).
• the possibility of insight into the parts of scientific publications considered to be the most significant according to the valid evaluation criteria of the scientific-research output was realized.

In this way, the involvement of all areas of science, all institutions in the system of science and higher education, all types of publications and works resulting from research activities is ensured. Constant liaison with administrators ensures the accuracy of the data entered. Supervisors include librarians who possess competences for supervisory tasks over bibliographic data, and publication data is available in a timely fashion, even before publishing in formal publications. Using the module Entry for new publications, Administration of entered data, Browse by different criteria, Basic and Advanced Search, different Statistical Analysis, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Guidelines, Support and Administration, Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI provides insight into current, complete, and reliable information about scientific activity and output in the Republic of Croatia. Numerous filters allow users to view only selected publication types. Since the very beginning, special attention has been paid to the availability of publications in open access in order to enhance the scientific communication, use, readership and citation of Croatian scientists' publications. Our wish is to provide in every record full text of the publication and/or the link leading to the full text of the publication stored in one of the repositories or available on the publisher's website.

The basic idea of ​​the Croatian Scientific Bibliography is that the information about the publication is entered only once, and then it can be exchanged and used for various purposes. With just "one click" you can get bibliography of a particular institution, project, scientific field, or individual scientist. Links linking to a bibliography of an institution, project, scientific field or scientist can be easily embedded on a website, ensuring constant access to the most up-to-date information about publications. All employees and students of Croatian scientific and higher education institutions that have a profile within the AAI@Edu.hr system, as well as scientists who are registered in the Registry of Scientists of the Ministry of Science and Education, can input their publications.

In order to make data entry easier to scientists, linking and downloading from various resources (Hrčak, Web of Science Core Collection, CrossRef), and additional data sources are added on a continuous basis. In this way, the part of the needed data is automatically filled in the form and it’s only necessary to check the accuracy and fill out the data that has not been downloaded. We would also like to highlight the bibliometric and scientometric analysis possibilities of Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI, which can be used for various evaluations. Depending on the criteria, it is possible to produce different reports whereby the data is presented according to the specific needs. CROSBI can also provide data for institutional annual reports, etc.

In order to promote science in Croatia, Croatia Scientific Bibliography CROSBI exchanges data with numerous information systems, databases, digital archives and repositories. For example, cooperation with the Google Scholar search engine has been established, for which data is delivered in a custom format to ensure the availability of all CROSBI publications through the Google Scholar interface. Collaboration within the OpenAIRE project will soon ensure the availability of all publications deposited in CROSBI through this largest European open access repository. We also provide data exchange with the OBAD, system of the University of Zagreb, as well as other international, national and institutional systems.

It is certainly worth mentioning the roles of individuals who are responsible for the creation and development of Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI. At the very beginning, a crucial initiative and support came from the Ministry of Science and Technology and Minister of Science assistant, major visionary Ph.D. Predrag Pale. For the design (partly based on the previous experiences of the SVIBOR bibliography), development and maintenance, major credits go to assistant professor Ph.D. Jadranka Stojanovski. The main developer for many years was professor Ph.D. Ivo Batistić, and the system administrator responsible for the continuous system operation during last twenty years, as well as database development in the last couple of years is M.A. Alen Vodopijevec. Head of the Center for Scientific Information of Ruđer Bošković Institute Ph.D. Bojan Macan has made a significant contribution to the development of the new CROSBI interface. Librarians from the Center for Scientific Information have also invested a lots of effort in Crosbi administration during all the past years, with the help of numerous volunteers.

We believe that the greatest value of the Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI is the involvement of all stakeholders in the construction and development of the system: financiers, scientific policy makers, scientists and information specialists/librarians. In particular, we believe that the new way of administering publications at the institutional level will significantly contribute to the new level of quality and reliability of scientific publications data. The future development of Croatian Scientific Bibliography CROSBI will be based on the latest technologies and the needs of all parties involved in its development and use.