Web-based university staff's publication analysis system

This paper proposes an architecture of a web-based publication analysis system that makes the process of multi-source data gathering much easier, serves as a centralized data storage system and automates most of the time consuming procedures of statistical analysis. Every academic staff member is required to keep an up to date list of their research publications. Having access to all of the data, for all staff members, the system can easily aggregate and perform multiple statistical analyses on these data. The resulting analyses could be very important for the university management as they reveal the current research status of the institution and help managers forecast and plan strategies for its improvement. The system implements a 3-tier architecture where user interface, business logic and data are separated into three functionally-independent non-overlapping layers. That provides easier data replication and portability; higher reliability and flexibility; and allows fast and easy personalization or complete change of the user interface. The paper describes both the architecture and the system's features in details and presents some statistical analyses of the publication activity of the researchers at the University of Ruse.