CRIS is the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) automated system for storing and retrieving information on current research in the agricultural and forestry sciences. Sources include:
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture),
SAES (State Agricultural Experiment Stations),
forestry schools,
land grant institutions of 1890 and Tuskegee University,
schools of veterinary medicine, and
other institutions receiving CSREES awarded grants
All research sponsored or conducted by the USDA is required to be documented in CRIS. Cooperating non-Federal institutions voluntarily report all non Federal research projects as well.
Over 95 percent of all publicly supported agricultural and forestry research is documented in CRIS, and the system contains both management and scientific data. The current database consists of more than 30,000 research projects.
The basic unit for reporting research is the research project or research work unit. A research project is defined as an activity at a single location that addresses a clearly definable problem, a sizable part of a larger problem, or a number of closely related elements of a logical and manageable problem. A location is a duty station where the funding and the scientist responsible for the project are assigned. Normally, a research project will not exceed five scientist years of effort.
Data from non Federal institutions are submitted to CRIS via four electronic forms: