Carbon-aware computing - CASRAI (2026)
The practice of scheduling, shifting, or routing computational workloads in response to real-time grid carbon intensity, so that flexible jobs run when and where electricity emissions are lowest.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Energy proportionality (computing) - CASRAI (2026)
The property of computing systems whose energy consumption scales linearly with workload, so that idle or lightly utilised systems draw correspondingly little power.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Green software engineering - CASRAI (2026)
The discipline of designing, building, and operating software with explicit attention to its energy and carbon impact, as defined by the Green Software Foundation.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Sustainable HPC - CASRAI (2026)
High-performance computing operations and procurement choices that minimise energy use, carbon emissions, water use, and hardware waste while delivering scientific compute capacity.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Compute carbon footprint - CASRAI (2026)
The greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the electricity consumed by computational research activities, including local workstations, on-premises HPC clusters, and cloud or commercial compute services.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Research carbon footprint - CASRAI (2026)
The total greenhouse gas emissions (expressed in CO2-equivalent) attributable to research activity, encompassing direct laboratory energy use, computing, procurement, travel, and end-of-life of research equipment.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Lab waste audit - CASRAI (2026)
A structured exercise in which a laboratory measures and categorises the volume, type, and disposal route of waste generated over a defined period to identify reduction, re-use, and recycling opportunities.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Single-use plastic alternatives - CASRAI (2026)
Materials and product designs that substitute for traditional single-use polymer consumables in research workflows, including bio-based polymers, autoclavable glassware, reduced-plastic packaging, and refill-and-wash systems.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Reusable consumables - CASRAI (2026)
Laboratory items historically used once and discarded that are redesigned, repurposed, or substituted with multi-use alternatives, including washable tip-box racks, autoclavable glass tubes, refillable spray bottles, and washable lab coats.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Plastic waste (research lab) - CASRAI (2026)
The single-use and multi-use polymer waste generated by laboratory research activities, including pipette tips, tubes, plates, gloves, packaging, and serological pipettes, much of which is contaminated and routed to incineration rather than recycling.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

-80 degC freezer management - CASRAI (2026)
The set of operational practices applied to ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers to minimise energy use, extend equipment life, and preserve sample integrity, including sample inventory control, temperature setpoint optimisation, and preventive maintenance.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Cold-storage energy (research) - CASRAI (2026)
The electrical energy consumed by research cold-storage equipment (-20 degC freezers, -80 degC ultra-low temperature freezers, liquid nitrogen Dewars, cold rooms) used to preserve biological, chemical, and reagent samples.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Orphan (unclaimed) freezer sample - CASRAI (2026)
A sample held in ultra-low-temperature (ULT, -80 degC) or -20 degC cold storage with no identifiable current owner, provenance record, or active research use – commonly called an orphan or unclaimed sample – and a standard target for freezer clean-out and sustainability audits.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Green Lab Certification - CASRAI (2026)
Any formal third-party assessment that verifies a laboratory meets defined sustainability criteria, most commonly issued by LEAF or My Green Lab.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

My Green Lab - CASRAI (2026)
A US-based non-profit organisation and certification programme that assesses laboratory sustainability across behaviour, equipment, infrastructure, and culture, issuing tiered certifications used by pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic labs worldwide.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) - CASRAI (2026)
A standards-based assessment framework developed by University College London that scores wet and dry laboratories on energy, waste, water, procurement, and research-quality practices, awarding Bronze, Silver, or Gold accreditation.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Updated project plan - CASRAI (2026)
The revised project-planning document – updated work packages, timeline, budget allocation, or personnel roles – issued after a sponsor has approved a change request. It is the downstream artefact of an approved change, not the change request itself and not the underlying pivot that prompted it.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project plan - CASRAI (2026)
The project plan is the operational blueprint approved as part of a funded award — the document that sets out what work will happen, in what sequence, against what timeline, using what resources, and by whom. It is the reference an institution and a sponsor both compare actual progress against during interim and final reporting across the project lifecycle . Funder-specific forms The project plan doesn't have one universal template; it takes the form a given funder's application process produces. For Horizon Europe projects, Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement (the "description of action
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project metadata - CASRAI (2026)
The structured descriptive and administrative fields – title, PI, funder, award identifier, project period, budget – that identify a funded research project within a CRIS, grants system, or funder database.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project ID (RAiD-anchored) - CASRAI (2026)
A persistent, machine-actionable identifier for a research project, typically issued under the Research Activity Identifier (RAiD) standard ISO 23527, used to unambiguously identify the project across systems, funders, institutions, and outputs.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Output legacy planning - CASRAI (2026)
Planning, undertaken before or during a project's final phase, for what happens to its outputs, deliverables, and communities of practice once dedicated funding ends – preservation and licensing of data, software, or other outputs, and succession arrangements for networks or infrastructure the project created. Distinct from project closure documentation, which records what was done, not what should happen next.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Post-project sustainability - CASRAI (2026)
Post-project sustainability is the broader planning question a funder increasingly expects an applicant to answer: what continues, and how, once dedicated project funding stops? It sits at proposal and reporting stage as a distinct planning requirement in its own right — Horizon Europe's sustainability plans, NIH's data-management and sharing expectations, and UKRI's exploitation plans are the most commonly cited funder-specific forms it takes. The questions it typically has to answer Who will maintain project-built software once the grant ends and dedicated developer time disappears; ho
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Lessons learned - CASRAI (2026)
A structured retrospective summary of what worked well, what did not, and what the project team would do differently, capturable at any major lifecycle milestone, not only at closeout, to inform future projects.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project closure documentation - CASRAI (2026)
The set of documents produced at project closeout to record final outcomes, lessons learned, deliverables submitted, data archived, equipment disposition, and outstanding obligations, providing an auditable trail for future reference – the output of the closeout phase, not the process itself.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Offboarding (project) - CASRAI (2026)
The structured process of transitioning a team member, or an entire project, out of active involvement, including knowledge transfer, data and code hand-off, access revocation, exit interview, and documentation of outstanding items – distinct from the award-level closeout phase.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Onboarding (project) - CASRAI (2026)
The structured process of bringing a new member – or, for a consortium partner, an entire new organisation – into active, compliant participation in an already-running project: provisioning access, delivering mandatory training, and formally accepting the newcomer into the project's governance documents.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Hand-off (between phases) - CASRAI (2026)
The structured transfer of project responsibility, knowledge, and artefacts from one lifecycle phase to the next, or between project teams or roles, to ensure continuity and minimise loss of context.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project hold - CASRAI (2026)
A temporary pause of project activity initiated by the project team, the institution, or a regulatory body, for example pending an ethics re-approval, equipment repair, IRB decision, or while a key team member is on leave.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Continuation decision - CASRAI (2026)
The sponsor's programmatic and administrative determination, made after reviewing a periodic or annual report, of whether an already-approved multi-year project may proceed into its next budget period as planned. The decision itself – satisfactory, satisfactory with comments, or unsatisfactory – is distinct from the continuation award, which is the funding-release mechanism that follows a satisfactory decision.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Suspension (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
A sponsor-imposed halt to a recipient's authority to draw down funds and continue award activity, imposed under 2 CFR 200.339 as a remedy for noncompliance the agency has determined cannot be resolved by imposing specific conditions alone. This is distinct from suspension and debarment under 2 CFR Part 180, a separate, more severe exclusion action that can bar an entity from receiving future federal awards at all.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Termination (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
The formal ending of a grant award before its scheduled end date, initiated by the sponsor or recipient, due to non-performance, mutual agreement, loss of funding, or other defined cause.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

No-cost extension (lifecycle context) - CASRAI (2026)
In the project-lifecycle sense, a no-cost extension (NCE) is the change-request event that shifts a project's end date – and with it, the start date of every downstream phase – without adding funds or changing scope. See the tighter ledger/agreement definition at no-cost extension for the funding-instrument view; this entry covers what an NCE does to phase timing and governance.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Change request (project) - CASRAI (2026)
A formal request a recipient submits to the sponsor to amend an already-approved aspect of a funded project – scope, key personnel, budget category, subaward activity, or timeline – required whenever the change falls on the sponsor's prior-approval list, most concretely enumerated at 2 CFR 200.308(f) for US federal awards.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project pivot - CASRAI (2026)
A substantive change in a funded project's scientific approach, methodology, or direction, made in response to early results, external circumstances, or a changed environment – normal and often necessary, but compliant only once it has been assessed against the sponsor's prior-approval rules and, where it changes the project's scope or objective, formalized as a change request.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

End-of-project review - CASRAI (2026)
A formal evaluative meeting or process held at or near a project's end to assess whether it met its stated objectives against the original plan, typically involving the funder's programme or project officer and, for larger awards, external experts – distinct from a mid-project interim review, and from the later, broader impact evaluation that may follow independently.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Mid-term review - CASRAI (2026)
A formal review conducted at approximately the midpoint of a research project, evaluating progress against aims, resource utilisation, and the realism and feasibility of the plan for the remaining project duration.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Interim project review - CASRAI (2026)
A formal, funder-initiated progress check conducted at a defined mid-point of a multi-year project – assessing whether work is on track against the plan and informing continuation, adjustment, or corrective-action decisions – distinct from the routine interim report it draws on and from the end-of-project review held at project close.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Annual report (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
The reporting deliverable a recipient submits once per year of a multi-year award, combining a narrative account of progress with, where the sponsor requires it, a financial update – the most common cadence for the interim report in US federal and UK funding, but not itself a synonym for either 'financial report' or 'final report.'
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Archive phase - CASRAI (2026)
The final lifecycle stage, beginning once closeout reporting is complete, in which a project's outputs – data, code, documents, and equipment records – are placed into long-term stewardship: deposited in repositories, registered with persistent identifiers, and retained for whatever period funder policy and 2 CFR 200.334 require. It formalises what happens to a project's outputs after the award itself has formally ended.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Reporting phase - CASRAI (2026)
The recurring lifecycle activity during which scheduled progress and financial reports are planned, drafted, internally reviewed, and submitted to the sponsor – distinct from the reporting period it covers and the interim report it produces.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Execution phase - CASRAI (2026)
The main project lifecycle phase during which the planned research activities are carried out, deliverables produced, milestones achieved, and the bulk of grant expenditure occurs.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Award phase - CASRAI (2026)
The stage of the research-project lifecycle between formal award issuance and project close-out, covering budget execution, progress reporting, personnel management, and amendments.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Proposal phase - CASRAI (2026)
The lifecycle phase covering preparation, drafting, internal review, institutional approval, and submission of a research proposal to a funder, ending with proposal submission.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Idea phase - CASRAI (2026)
The earliest phase of the research project lifecycle, in which a researcher identifies a question, surveys the literature, drafts a research concept, and explores potential funders and collaborators before committing to proposal preparation.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project lifecycle - CASRAI (2026)
The full sequence of stages a research project moves through from first concept to final archival, used as the organising framework for governance, planning, and hand-offs across a project's life: idea, proposal, pre-award, post-award (execution), closeout, and archive. "Project lifecycle" names the whole sequence; "project phase" names any one stage within it.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Subtask - CASRAI (2026)
An internal subdivision of a project task, used for detailed planning, effort tracking, and execution management, typically not formally reported to the sponsor but tracked within the consortium or research group – distinct from a formally reported task.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Task (Horizon Europe) - CASRAI (2026)
A subdivision of a Horizon Europe work package, representing a specific activity with defined objectives, contributing partners, person-month allocation, and link to particular deliverables or milestones, defined in the Application Form and Grant Agreement Annex 1.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Work package (Horizon Europe) - CASRAI (2026)
A defined sub-component of a Horizon Europe project that groups related tasks, deliverables, and milestones under a single work-package leader, with its own budget allocation and timeline.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project deliverable - CASRAI (2026)
A tangible, verifiable output produced by a project, such as a report, dataset, software release, prototype, or publication, formally documented in the project plan with a due date and responsible work package or partner.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project milestone - CASRAI (2026)
A significant intermediate point in a project, marking achievement of a key activity, completion of a deliverable, or successful transition between phases, used to monitor progress against the project plan.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Project phase - CASRAI (2026)
A defined segment of a research project's lifecycle, characterised by a specific objective, set of activities, deliverables, and decision gates, used to structure planning, execution, and reporting.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Financial report (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
The financial component of grant reporting – an accounting of expenditures against the approved budget, submitted to the sponsor on its own cadence and in its own format (for example the US federal SF-425 Federal Financial Report, or Horizon Europe's Form C financial statement) – defined by its content (expenditure data), not by when in the award's lifecycle it is due.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Final report - CASRAI (2026)
The single report filed once, at or shortly after the end of a project's period of performance, closing the technical and financial record of the award – unlike an interim or annual report it supports no further continuation decision, and it is one deliverable within, not the whole of, the closeout phase.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Interim report - CASRAI (2026)
A progress and/or financial report submitted to the sponsor during a multi-period grant, covering activities up to a defined intermediate point and supporting continuation decisions – distinct from the final report and from the reporting period it covers.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Reporting period (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
A defined time window within a multi-period grant for which the recipient must submit progress and/or financial reports to the sponsor, fixed in the award terms and often aligned with budget years or a set periodic-reporting cycle.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Lump-sum grant (Horizon Europe) - CASRAI (2026)
A Horizon Europe funding model in which the Commission pays a pre-agreed fixed amount per work package on satisfactory completion of that work package's activities, rather than reimbursing actual costs incurred – eliminating financial reporting, unit-cost declarations, and cost-related audits for the beneficiary, in exchange for the beneficiary accepting completion risk against a fixed budget agreed at proposal stage.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Milestone payment - CASRAI (2026)
A funding disbursement triggered by the achievement of a defined project milestone, used in fixed-price or hybrid funding mechanisms to align sponsor payment with verifiable progress.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Fixed-price grant - CASRAI (2026)
A grant or contract in which the sponsor pays a pre-agreed fixed amount on satisfactory completion of the work or defined milestones, without reimbursement of actual costs, transferring cost-overrun risk to the recipient.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Cost reimbursement - CASRAI (2026)
A funding mechanism in which the sponsor reimburses the recipient for actual allowable costs incurred during the performance of the award, typically up to a stated funding ceiling, with periodic invoicing and supporting documentation required.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Pass-through entity - CASRAI (2026)
Under 2 CFR 200.1, a pass-through entity is a non-federal entity – including a state, tribal government, institution of higher education, or nonprofit organization – that provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a federal program. A university holding a federal prime award and issuing a subaward to a partner institution is acting as a pass-through entity for that subaward, while remaining a recipient with respect to its own prime award.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Prime award - CASRAI (2026)
The grant or contract directly between the funder and the lead recipient organisation, which holds primary responsibility for the project's scope, deliverables, and compliance, and may issue subawards to other entities.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Subrecipient monitoring - CASRAI (2026)
The activities undertaken by the prime award recipient (pass-through entity) to ensure that subrecipients comply with the terms of their subawards, including financial, programmatic, and audit oversight.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Subaward - CASRAI (2026)
A subaward is the funding instrument — not the organization, not the oversight activity — by which a pass-through entity transfers part of a prime award 's funding and a defined, substantive scope of research work to a subrecipient. A subrecipient carries out programmatic work under its own principal investigator and budget and is judged, at least in part, against the subaward's own performance measures — unlike a contractor, which simply provides goods or services within a market relationship. 2 CFR 200.331 sets out the factors used to make that subrecipient-vs-contractor de
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Sponsored research agreement - CASRAI (2026)
A contractual agreement between a research-performing organisation and a sponsor (industry, foundation, or government), defining the scope of work, deliverables, IP terms, publication rights, payment terms, and reporting obligations for a research project.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Crowdfunded research - CASRAI (2026)
Research projects funded by aggregated small contributions from many individuals, typically solicited through online platforms (Experiment, Kickstarter, GoFundMe, institutional giving sites) rather than from traditional grant-making bodies.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Endowment income - CASRAI (2026)
The investment returns generated by an institution's or foundation's permanent endowment fund, used (typically at a defined spending rate, e.g., 4 to 5 percent of a multi-year smoothed average) to support operations, scholarships, or named research programmes.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Foundation grant - CASRAI (2026)
A grant awarded by a private, charitable, or family foundation rather than a government agency or industry sponsor, typically funded from endowment income and governed by the foundation's mission and giving guidelines.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Indirect cost recovery - CASRAI (2026)
The income an institution receives from sponsors as reimbursement for indirect (overhead) costs incurred in support of sponsored projects, calculated by applying the negotiated or sponsor-imposed indirect cost rate to the relevant direct-cost base.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Single Audit (US) - CASRAI (2026)
A US federal annual organisation-wide audit required of non-federal entities expending more than a defined threshold of federal funds, conducted under 2 CFR 200 Subpart F (formerly OMB Circular A-133).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Audit (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
A formal examination of an institution's or project's financial records, internal controls, and compliance with sponsor terms, conducted by external or internal auditors to provide independent assurance of proper stewardship of grant funds. For US federal grants specifically, "federal grant audit" most often refers to the annual, organisation-wide Single Audit required under 2 CFR 200 Subpart F once an entity's federal expenditures cross the statutory threshold (see Single Audit (US)); an entity whose federal expenditures come from only one federal program may instead elect an equivalent program-specific audit under 2 CFR 200.501(c). Either is distinct from an agency-initiated audit – for example by a funding agency's Office of Inspector General – of a single award outside the routine Single Audit cycle.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Closeout phase - CASRAI (2026)
The sponsor-facing administrative and financial wind-down of an awarded project once its period of performance ends – submitting required final reports, reconciling final expenditure, resolving unliquidated obligations, and disposing of equipment per sponsor rules – distinct from offboarding (the people/access side of a project ending) and from project closure documentation (the paper trail closeout produces).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Post-award phase - CASRAI (2026)
The grant lifecycle phase covering the period of performance, from account activation through the end of funded work, including expenditure, reporting, monitoring, modifications, and subaward management – distinct from the closeout phase that follows it.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Pre-award phase - CASRAI (2026)
The grant lifecycle phase covering activities from identification of a funding opportunity through proposal preparation, submission, and award negotiation, prior to the start of the period of performance.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Encumbrance - CASRAI (2026)
A reservation or commitment of grant funds against a future expenditure (such as a purchase order, a multi-year salary commitment, or a subaward), recorded in the institution's financial system to prevent over-commitment.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Burn rate (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
The rate at which a grant's funds are being expended over time, typically expressed as currency-per-month or as a percentage of the budget consumed per period, used to forecast end-of-period spend and identify under- or over-spend trajectories.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Underspend - CASRAI (2026)
The condition in which a grant budget period ends with unspent funds, indicating actual expenditure was lower than planned and requiring action (carry-forward, reduction of next-year award, or return to sponsor).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Carry-forward - CASRAI (2026)
The authorised transfer of unobligated grant funds from one budget period to the next within a multi-year grant, allowing the recipient to use those funds in a subsequent period rather than losing them.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

No-cost extension (NCE) - CASRAI (2026)
An approved extension of the period of performance of a grant beyond the original end date, without additional sponsor funds, to enable completion of the funded scope.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Continuation award - CASRAI (2026)
The routine, non-competing release of funding for the next budget period within an already-awarded, already-peer-reviewed multi-year project – issued once the recipient submits the required progress and financial report for the prior period, and requiring no new scientific review. NIH designates this a Type 5 application.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Renewable award - CASRAI (2026)
A grant mechanism whose terms allow the recipient to submit a new, fully peer-reviewed competing application – a competing renewal – for a further period of support once the current project period ends, competing on equal footing with new applications. NIH designates this a Type 2 application; it is distinct from the routine, non-competing continuation awards issued within an already-approved project period.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Discretionary funding - CASRAI (2026)
Funds that an institution, dean, or unit head may allocate at their own judgement, without a formal competitive call, typically used for strategic investments, recruitment startups, bridge support, or unforeseen needs.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Non-competitive grant - CASRAI (2026)
A funding award made without a comparative peer-reviewed competition, either through direct invitation, formula allocation, or as a routine continuation of an existing multi-year award.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Competitive grant - CASRAI (2026)
A funding award made following a peer-reviewed, merit-based competition against other proposals, in which only a subset of applicants are funded.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Catalyst grant - CASRAI (2026)
A targeted, often small-to-medium-value funding mechanism designed to catalyse strategic activity in a specific area, such as building a new research network, piloting a methodology, or de-risking a translational step.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Pump-priming funding - CASRAI (2026)
Small grants intended to initiate new collaborative or interdisciplinary research activity that is not yet ready for full external funding competition, typically with an explicit expectation of follow-on external grant capture.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Seed funding - CASRAI (2026)
Small-value, short-duration funding awarded to develop a novel research idea to the point where it can compete for larger external grants, typically provided by institutions, learned societies, or pilot-grant programmes.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Bridge funding - CASRAI (2026)
Short-term funding provided to maintain a research programme between an expiring grant and an anticipated new award, typically from institutional sources rather than external sponsors.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Match funding - CASRAI (2026)
A funding model in which one party's contribution is conditional on a matching contribution from another party, typically expressed as a ratio (e.g., 1:1, 2:1) of sponsor funds to recipient or third-party funds.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Cost share (voluntary) - CASRAI (2026)
A cost-sharing contribution a recipient offers beyond what a sponsor requires, typically to strengthen a proposal. Once written into the approved budget as 'voluntary committed' cost share it becomes a binding, auditable obligation under 2 CFR 200.306 – unlike unrecorded 'voluntary uncommitted' effort.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Cost share (mandatory) - CASRAI (2026)
A cost-sharing contribution a recipient is legally required to provide as a condition of the award – set by statute, the funding notice, or the award terms, not offered voluntarily – tracked and audited under 2 CFR 200.306 like any other allowable project cost.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Direct charging - CASRAI (2026)
The practice of charging a specific cost directly to a sponsored project's budget as a direct cost rather than recovering it through the indirect cost rate, when the cost meets allowability, allocability, and reasonableness criteria.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

APC reimbursement (funder) - CASRAI (2026)
This term answers a mechanism question: once an APC has been determined to be grant-eligible , how does the money actually reach the publisher? In practice this happens through one of four routes, which a given institution and funder combination may support in parallel. Four common routes (a) Direct charge against the specific project's own open-access publication budget line, drawn straight from grant funds and processed like any other project expense. (b) Institutional block grants — UKRI and Wellcome both fund a lump sum to the institution, which the institution then administers and d
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Open access publication cost (grant-eligible) - CASRAI (2026)
This term answers an eligibility question: which open-access publication costs — principally article processing charges (APCs) , but also cases such as data-publication or repository-deposit fees — a funder will let a grant budget actually pay for, and under what conditions or caps. It does not describe the mechanics of how an eligible cost gets paid; that's the separate, closely related question covered at APC reimbursement (funder) . The general pattern among major funders Most major research funders — UKRI, Wellcome, NIH, the European Research Council/Horizon Europe &mdash
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Travel cost (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
Travel cost is the direct-cost budget line covering airfare, lodging, ground transport, per diem/subsistence, and conference registration incurred to carry out project work — site visits, fieldwork, collaborator meetings, and dissemination at conferences. It is allowable when it is reasonable, necessary for the project, and consistent with the institution's own written travel policy (or, absent one, US federal per diem rates), the same reasonableness test applied to direct costs generally. US federal rule: 2 CFR 200.474 and the Fly America Act Under 2 CFR 200.474 (Travel costs), costs ar
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Equipment cost (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
Equipment, for grant-budgeting purposes, is tangible personal property with a useful life of more than one year whose per-unit acquisition cost meets a capitalization threshold. Below that threshold, an item is ordinarily budgeted as a supply cost instead. A "lesser of" test, not a flat $10,000 line Under 2 CFR 200.1, equipment means a per-unit acquisition cost that equals or exceeds the lesser of the capitalization level the recipient has established for its own financial-statement purposes, or $10,000 . An institution that capitalizes at $5,000 for its own accounting must use $5,00
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Personnel cost (grant) - CASRAI (2026)
The portion of a grant budget that pays the salaries, wages, and associated fringe benefits of staff who work on the funded project – typically the largest single direct-cost category in a research grant, and the category most exposed to effort-reporting, key-personnel, and salary-cap compliance requirements.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Single-year project - CASRAI (2026)
A funded research project whose period of performance is one year or less, with a single budget period and a single reporting cycle (interim if applicable, plus final).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Multi-year project - CASRAI (2026)
A funded research project whose period of performance spans more than one year, typically divided into successive annual (or otherwise defined) budget periods released through non-competing continuation awards, and potentially eligible for a competing renewal once the full project period ends.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Grant Agreement (Horizon Europe) - CASRAI (2026)
The legally binding contract signed between the European Commission (or designated funding body) and the beneficiaries, defining the action's scope, budget, deliverables, payment, IP, reporting, and dissemination obligations for a Horizon Europe project.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Consortium agreement - CASRAI (2026)
A private-law contract signed among all beneficiaries of a multi-partner grant, in addition to and subordinate to the Grant Agreement with the funder, that governs the internal relationship between partners: decision-making bodies, the coordinator's role, intellectual property allocation, access rights, liability for a defaulting partner, and dispute resolution. It binds the partners to each other, not to the funder.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Partner (grant consortium) - CASRAI (2026)
A non-coordinator beneficiary in a multi-partner grant consortium, responsible for an agreed share of the work and budget and party to the consortium agreement.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Coordinator (grant consortium) - CASRAI (2026)
The beneficiary in a multi-partner grant (especially Horizon Europe) that takes legal and administrative lead, acting as the single point of contact with the funder and coordinating consortium activities, reporting, and payments.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Beneficiary (Horizon Europe) - CASRAI (2026)
A legal entity that signs the Horizon Europe Grant Agreement and is directly accountable to the European Commission for delivery of an agreed share of the project's work and budget.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

MTDC (Modified Total Direct Cost) - CASRAI (2026)
The base to which a US federal indirect cost rate is applied, equal to total direct costs minus excluded items (typically equipment over a threshold, capital expenditures, patient care, tuition remission, rental costs, scholarships, and the portion of each subaward exceeding $50,000 under 2 CFR 200.1 since October 1, 2024).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

De minimis rate (NIH) - CASRAI (2026)
A federally permitted de minimis indirect cost rate that organisations without a negotiated F&A rate may elect to use on US federal awards, applied to modified total direct costs (MTDC). The government-wide ceiling under 2 CFR 200.414(f) is up to 15 percent for awards issued on or after October 1, 2024, raised from 10 percent; NIH reverted to 10 percent for its own awards via Notice NOT-OD-26-072 (April 20, 2026).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Indirect Cost Rate (F&A Rate) - CASRAI (2026)
Indirect cost rate (also called the F&A rate in US federal terminology): the negotiated or de-minimis percentage applied to a defined direct-cost base to recover an institution's facilities and administrative (overhead) costs on US federal grants and contracts — costs that support a sponsored project but cannot be attributed to it directly.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Indirect costs (overheads) - CASRAI (2026)
The costs an institution incurs for common or joint objectives that cannot be readily identified with a single federal award without disproportionate effort – facilities, general administration, and similar shared infrastructure – recovered through a negotiated or de minimis rate applied to a direct-cost base rather than charged to any one award directly.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Direct costs - CASRAI (2026)
A cost that can be identified specifically with a particular award, project, or activity with a high degree of accuracy, and is therefore charged directly to that award rather than recovered through an indirect-cost rate. Under 2 CFR 200.413, classification as direct or indirect turns on whether a cost is allocable to a specific cost objective, not on the type of expense itself – the same expense category (e.g. administrative staff time) can be direct on one award and indirect on another depending on the actual relationship to project objectives.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Implementation science - CASRAI (2026)
The scientific study of methods and strategies for embedding evidence-based practices and interventions into real-world policy and practice settings, addressing the gap between 'what works' in a controlled study and its sustained real-world use.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Bench-to-bedside - CASRAI (2026)
A phrase used in biomedical research to describe the translation of laboratory ('bench') discoveries into clinical practice ('bedside'), encompassing the T1 stage of translational research.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Translational research - CASRAI (2026)
Research explicitly organised around moving findings from basic discovery through to clinical, practical, or population-level application, typically described through a staged (T0-T4) model of successive translation.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Action research - CASRAI (2026)
A research approach in which researchers and practitioners work together to investigate a practical problem and develop solutions through iterative cycles of planning, action, observation and reflection.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) - CASRAI (2026)
A collaborative research approach that equitably involves community members, organisational representatives and researchers in all aspects of the research process, with shared decision-making and the aim of combining knowledge with action for social change.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Lived-experience expert - CASRAI (2026)
A person whose personal experience of a condition, situation or issue is recognised as a form of expertise that contributes meaningfully to research, policy or practice alongside professional and academic expertise.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Co-design (research) - CASRAI (2026)
The collaborative design of research studies, interventions, services or products with the people who will use them or be affected by them, integrating their knowledge and perspectives from the outset.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Co-production (research) - CASRAI (2026)
A research approach in which researchers and stakeholders share authority over the research question, design, conduct, analysis, and dissemination across the entire research lifecycle, not one phase of it.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Engagement metric - CASRAI (2026)
A quantitative or structured-qualitative indicator capturing the extent, depth, reach or quality of engagement between researchers and non-academic stakeholders or publics.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) - CASRAI (2026)
A governance and research-practice framework asking researchers and innovators to anticipate, reflect on, and be responsive to the ethical, social and environmental implications of their work throughout the research process, rather than only after the fact.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Mission-oriented research - CASRAI (2026)
Research and innovation activity organised around explicit, bold, measurable, time-bound societal goals ('missions') that are broad and interdisciplinary in scope, rather than around a single discipline or open-ended discovery agenda.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

SDG-Aligned Research - CASRAI (2026)
Research that is explicitly designed, framed or assessed in relation to specific Sustainable Development Goals and their targets, with the intent of contributing to their achievement.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

SDG 17 (Partnerships) - CASRAI (2026)
The seventeenth Sustainable Development Goal: strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

SDG 9 (Industry Innovation) - CASRAI (2026)
The ninth Sustainable Development Goal: build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

SDG 4 (Quality Education) - CASRAI (2026)
The fourth Sustainable Development Goal: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

SDG mapping (research output) - CASRAI (2026)
The practice of classifying research outputs, projects, or programmes against one or more Sustainable Development Goals or their underlying targets, typically using a keyword-based, citation-based, or machine-learning classification method.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - CASRAI (2026)
A set of 17 goals, adopted by UN member states in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, that the research community increasingly uses to frame funding priorities, project design, and impact reporting.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

ECSA (European Citizen Science Association) - CASRAI (2026)
A European network of citizen-science practitioners, researchers and project owners that promotes the practice, quality and recognition of citizen science across Europe and internationally.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Citizen science - CASRAI (2026)
A research method in which members of the public contribute directly to data collection, protocol design, or analysis – not merely as subjects or an audience – ranging from contributory through collaborative to co-created participation.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Patient partner - CASRAI (2026)
A patient, carer, or member of the public who contributes lived experience to shaping research design, conduct, analysis, or dissemination as an active collaborator – involvement – as distinct from a research participant (participation) or an engagement audience.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) - CASRAI (2026)
Research being carried out 'with' or 'by' members of the public rather than 'to', 'about' or 'for' them, as defined by INVOLVE (the UK national advisory group for PPI).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Public engagement with research (PER) - CASRAI (2026)
Engagement activity directly connected to a specific piece of research – involving publics in shaping questions, dialogue during the work, or engagement with findings – as distinct from broader public engagement with higher education or science that need not tie to any one project.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Public engagement (PE) - CASRAI (2026)
The myriad ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public, often involving two-way interaction to generate mutual benefit, as defined by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Knowledge exchange (KE) - CASRAI (2026)
A two-way process through which knowledge, ideas and experiences are shared between researchers and non-academic partners (such as businesses, public services, third sector, communities) to mutual benefit.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Knowledge mobilisation (KMb) - CASRAI (2026)
The processes by which research evidence and other forms of knowledge are made accessible, useful and used by communities, practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders to inform decisions and action.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Knowledge translation (KT) - CASRAI (2026)
The process of moving research knowledge into use – synthesising, disseminating, exchanging and applying it – to improve outcomes and strengthen practice or policy, anchored in CIHR's framework distinguishing end-of-grant KT from integrated KT.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Pathway to impact - CASRAI (2026)
A mandatory, standalone section of UKRI grant applications, required from 2009 and formally removed from March 2020, in which applicants identified likely beneficiaries, planned activities, and the mechanisms linking research outputs to societal effects. Historical, not a current requirement.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Theory of change - CASRAI (2026)
An explicit, testable map of how and why a research project, programme or intervention is expected to lead to specified outcomes, identifying the causal pathway and necessary intermediate conditions.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Impact evaluation - CASRAI (2026)
A systematic assessment of the effects a piece of research or a research programme has had – often extending beyond its own stated objectives – using methods such as counterfactual or comparison-group designs, contribution analysis, or theory-based evaluation. Typically conducted after project completion, sometimes at a portfolio level across many awards, and distinct from a single project's end-of-project review.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Impact case study (REF) - CASRAI (2026)
See 'REF impact case study' (responsible-assessment). A structured narrative documenting how specific research has produced effects beyond academia, submitted as part of UK Research Excellence Framework assessment.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Environmental impact - CASRAI (2026)
The environmental footprint generated by research activity itself — energy use, emissions, water use, waste, and procurement associated with laboratories, fieldwork, computing, and research travel — as distinct from a research project's findings contributing to environmental outcomes, or the UK REF's separate 'impact' assessment concept.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Cultural impact - CASRAI (2026)
Cultural impact is a category of non-academic research impact concerned with effects on museums, galleries, performance, broadcast media, creative practice, heritage conservation, and public understanding of history, identity, and the arts. It is distinguished from academic impact (effect on a field of scholarship, evidenced through citation and uptake by other researchers) and from economic impact (effect on commercial value, jobs, or productivity) by being evidenced through audience engagement, critical reception, and expert testimony rather than metrics or financial figures.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Policy impact - CASRAI (2026)
The contribution that research makes to the formulation, content or implementation of public policy at local, national or international levels.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Economic impact - CASRAI (2026)
A quantifiable financial or employment effect of research – jobs, revenue, licensing income, cost savings, or spin-out value – evidenced through economic modelling, payback methods, or documented case-based outcomes.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Societal impact - CASRAI (2026)
A documented change in public knowledge, attitudes, social practice, community wellbeing, or civil-society institutions attributable, at least in part, to research, typically evidenced through contribution analysis or structured case studies rather than a single metric.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Academic impact - CASRAI (2026)
The contribution that research makes to the advancement of scientific knowledge and to other research communities, typically evidenced through citations, methods uptake, theoretical influence and training of researchers.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Research impact - CASRAI (2026)
An effect on, change, or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy, services, health, environment, or quality of life that occurs beyond academia and can be attributed, at least in part, to a specific piece of research.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

OA Monitoring Explained - CASRAI (2026)
The systematic measurement and reporting of open-access publication uptake, compliance with OA policies, and progression toward open scholarship goals at institutional, funder or national level.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Knowledge Equity Index - CASRAI (2026)
A composite measure or framework that quantifies how equitably knowledge production, dissemination and access are distributed across geographies, languages, disciplines, demographics or career stages.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI) - CASRAI (2026)
A set of principles published in 2015 (updated 2020) by Bilder, Lin and Neylon defining the governance, sustainability and insurance characteristics that scholarly infrastructure should have to be considered open and community-controlled.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Open infrastructure (POSI principles) - CASRAI (2026)
Scholarly infrastructure that is community-governed, financially sustainable, and operationally transparent, in alignment with the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI).
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Institutional Waiver Programme (APCs) - CASRAI (2026)
A structured arrangement by a publisher or institution that grants reductions or full waivers of article-processing or publication charges to authors who would otherwise face financial barriers to open-access publication.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Author Fee Equity in OA - CASRAI (2026)
The principle that author-side publication charges (APCs, page charges, submission fees) should not act as a barrier to publication, with equitable access ensured through waivers, transformative agreements, diamond OA alternatives or funder support.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Predatory journal - CASRAI (2026)
A journal that solicits and accepts manuscripts in exchange for fees without providing the editorial and peer-review services normally expected of a legitimate scholarly venue, often through deceptive marketing.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Multilingual Scholarship - CASRAI (2026)
Scholarly communication that recognises, supports and produces research outputs in multiple languages, in contrast to English-only norms that dominate international academic publishing.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Geographic Editorial Diversity - CASRAI (2026)
The presence on a journal's editorial board, reviewer pool and authorship of researchers from a wide range of countries, regions and institutional types, especially including the Global South.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Equitable Peer Review - CASRAI (2026)
Peer-review practice that actively addresses structural inequities in reviewer recruitment, manuscript handling, language fairness and decision-making, to ensure that authors from under-represented regions, languages and demographics receive fair evaluation.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Global-South Publishing - CASRAI (2026)
Scholarly publishing originating from, owned by or serving researchers and communities in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Pacific and other regions historically marginalised by Northern publishing infrastructures.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

AfricArXiv - CASRAI (2026)
A community-led preprint repository for African researchers, established in 2018, providing a publishing venue for African scholarship in multiple African languages alongside English and French.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

African Open Science Platform (concept) - CASRAI (2026)
The African Open Science Platform (AOSP) is a continental open-science infrastructure and policy initiative, originating from a 2016 CODATA-International Science Council pilot funded by South Africa’s National Research Foundation and now led into its second phase by the African Academy of Sciences, focused on FAIR data repositories, interoperability, training, and policy coherence across African Union member states.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

AmeliCA (concept) - CASRAI (2026)
AmeliCA (Conocimiento Abierto para América Latina y el Sur Global) is a non-profit, academic-led open-access publishing infrastructure and advocacy initiative for Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal, built around a diamond-open-access model as an explicit alternative to article-processing-charge (APC) driven open-access reform.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

SciELO (concept) - CASRAI (2026)
Scientific Electronic Library Online, an open-access publishing model and bibliographic database founded in Brazil in 1997, now a network of country collections across Latin America, the Caribbean, South Africa and beyond.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Redalyc: Open-Access Journal System - CASRAI (2026)
A non-profit scientific information system, launched in 2002 and operated by UAEM Mexico, that hosts and disseminates peer-reviewed open-access journals from Iberoamerica and beyond.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Latindex (concept) - CASRAI (2026)
A regional online information system for scientific journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal, established in 1997 and coordinated from UNAM, Mexico.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Bibliodiversity: The 2017 Jussieu Call - CASRAI (2026)
The principle that the global scholarly publishing ecosystem should support a plurality of languages, disciplines, geographies, business models and editorial communities, as articulated by initiatives such as DOAJ, AmeliCA, Redalyc and the Jussieu Call.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Pure publish agreement - CASRAI (2026)
A contract between an institution or consortium and a publisher that covers only the open-access publication of the institution's authors, without bundled subscription reading access.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Pure read agreement - CASRAI (2026)
A traditional subscription contract giving an institution access to read a publisher's content, with no open-access publishing component, in contrast to a transformative or pure publish agreement.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Transformative Agreement (TA) – Definition - CASRAI (2026)
A time-limited contract between an institution or consortium and a publisher designed to shift the financial flow from subscription-based payment for access to payment for open-access publication, with the intent of converting subscription journals to fully OA.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Read-and-Publish Agreement - CASRAI (2026)
An agreement between an institution or consortium and a publisher that bundles the costs of reading subscription content with the costs of open-access publishing by the institution's authors in the publisher's journals into a single negotiated price.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Subscribe-to-Open (S2O) - CASRAI (2026)
A business model in which a journal flips to open access for a given year if enough institutional subscribers renew their subscriptions, with the same subscription price funding open publication instead of access control.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Diamond Open Access - CASRAI (2026)
A publication model in which scholarly content is freely available to read with no charges to either readers or authors, typically supported by institutional, scholarly-society or public funding.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Plan U (Preprint) - CASRAI (2026)
Plan U is a 2019 proposal, not an adopted funder policy, that argues the simplest and lowest-cost route to immediate open access is for funders to require grantees to post a preprint — in an approved server such as bioRxiv, medRxiv, or arXiv — at or before the point of journal submission. It was set out in Richard Sever, Michael Eisen, and John Inglis, "Plan U: Universal access to scientific and medical research via funder preprint mandates," PLOS Biology , 4 June 2019 (DOI 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000273). Sever and Inglis co-founded the bioRxiv and medRxiv preprint servers
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

cOAlition S - CASRAI (2026)
An international consortium of research funders, launched in 2018 by Science Europe, that collectively implements Plan S and advocates for full and immediate open access to research publications.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Plan S Explained - CASRAI (2026)
An open-access publishing policy launched in September 2018 by cOAlition S requiring that, from January 2021, scholarly publications resulting from research funded by member organisations be made openly available immediately upon publication under an open licence.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Re-evaluation cycle - CASRAI (2026)
The interval and criteria on which a researcher's, unit's, or output's contribution is periodically reassessed for tenure, promotion, or funder track-record review.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Lifetime contribution lens - CASRAI (2026)
An assessment approach evaluating a researcher's career as a whole – including non-traditional outputs, career breaks, and mentorship – rather than a fixed recent window of journal articles, typically operationalised through a narrative CV.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Career diversity - CASRAI (2026)
Recognition, within research assessment, that researchers contribute through varied routes – industry-to-academia moves, career breaks, part-time research, late entry, discipline shifts, international mobility – rather than a single linear, full-time, uninterrupted trajectory.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Process diversity (in assessment) - CASRAI (2026)
Recognition in research assessment of the diverse research processes researchers contribute to, including teaching, mentoring, peer review, leadership, software engineering, data curation, public engagement and policy work.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Output diversification - CASRAI (2026)
The recognition, in assessment criteria and CV formats, of datasets, software, protocols, and other non-paper outputs as legitimate, citable evidence of research contribution.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Peer review (in assessment) - CASRAI (2026)
The use of expert qualitative judgement by a grant panel, REF sub-panel, or promotion committee to evaluate a researcher's, output's, or unit's overall contribution, as distinct from editorial peer review of a single manuscript.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Quantitative-qualitative balance - CASRAI (2026)
The deliberate combination of metrics and expert qualitative judgement within a single assessment process, so that neither substitutes entirely for the other.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Responsible metrics - CASRAI (2026)
An approach to using quantitative indicators in research assessment that emphasises robustness, humility, transparency, diversity and reflexivity, as articulated in the 2015 Metric Tide report.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Twitter mentions (concept) - CASRAI (2026)
An altmetric signal counting public posts on Twitter (rebranded to X in 2023) that include a link or identifier referring to a specific research output.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Mendeley readership - CASRAI (2026)
An altmetric signal derived from the count of users who have added a research article to their personal library in the Mendeley reference manager.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Relative Citation Ratio (RCR, NIH) - CASRAI (2026)
An article-level field-normalised citation metric developed by the US National Institutes of Health, expressing an article's citations per year relative to the median in the article's co-citation network, with a value of 1.0 corresponding to NIH-funded median performance.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) - CASRAI (2026)
An article-level citation indicator, published by Elsevier (SciVal/Scopus), that normalises an article's citation count against the average for outputs of the same publication year, document type and subject field, with 1.0 representing the world average.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Article-level metrics - CASRAI (2026)
Any impact or attention indicator reported at the level of an individual article rather than aggregated to its journal, including citation counts, downloads, and altmetric signals.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Altmetrics - CASRAI (2026)
A non-citation attention signal – social-media mention, media coverage, policy citation, or reference-manager save – used as one input alongside citation-based evidence, not a synonym for article-level metrics generally.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

h-index - CASRAI (2026)
A researcher-level metric proposed by Jorge Hirsch in 2005, defined as the largest number h such that the researcher has published h papers each cited at least h times.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

CiteScore - CASRAI (2026)
A journal-level metric published by Elsevier (Scopus) since 2016 that measures the average number of citations received in a given year by documents published in that journal during the previous four years.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Journal Impact Factor (JIF) - CASRAI (2026)
An annual journal-level metric, published by Clarivate in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), equal to the average number of citations in a given year to articles published in that journal during the preceding two years.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Personal statement (research assessment) - CASRAI (2026)
A short narrative section in a researcher CV, grant application or assessment dossier in which the researcher explains, in their own voice, the context, motivation and significance of their work and contributions, evaluated against explicit assessment criteria.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Biosketch (NIH-style) - CASRAI (2026)
The structured biographical document every senior/key person on an NIH grant application must submit. For due dates on or after January 25, 2026, NIH requires it in a new two-part NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form (Professional Preparation, Appointments and Positions, Products) plus a separate NIH Biosketch Supplement (Personal Statement, Honors, Contributions to Science) – both prepared in SciENcv – replacing the narrative five-page Section A-D format used since 2015.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

R4RI mandate (UKRI 2024) - CASRAI (2026)
The UK Research and Innovation policy, fully effective in 2024, requiring applicants and reviewers in most UKRI funding opportunities to use the R4RI-derived narrative CV ('Resume for Research and Innovation') instead of traditional academic CVs.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

R4RI (Resume for Researchers / Royal Society narrative CV) - CASRAI (2026)
R4RI (Résumé for Research and Innovation, also called Resume for Researchers or the Royal Society narrative CV) is UKRI's specific, named narrative-CV template. It structures a researcher's self-description around four defined domains rather than open-ended prose, and has been mandatory across UKRI funding applications since January 2024.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

REF 2029 - CASRAI (2026)
The next planned cycle of the UK Research Excellence Framework, currently scheduled with a submission deadline in 2028 and results in 2029, with substantial design changes following the Future Research Assessment Programme.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

REF 2021 - CASRAI (2026)
The 2021 cycle of the UK Research Excellence Framework, whose results were published in May 2022, assessing research produced between 2014 and 2020. Now superseded by REF 2029.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

REF impact case study - CASRAI (2026)
A structured, four-to-five-page narrative submission to the UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF), describing how research carried out at the submitting institution produced a demonstrable effect, change, or benefit beyond academia.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

REF (Research Excellence Framework, UK) - CASRAI (2026)
The UK's national exercise for assessing the quality of research in higher education institutions, used to inform the selective allocation of quality-related (QR) research funding.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Metric Tide Review: Harnessing the Metric Tide (2022) - CASRAI (2026)
The 2022-2023 re-examination of the original Metric Tide report, also chaired by James Wilsdon for Research England, which reviewed how responsible-metrics principles had been implemented since 2015.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Metric Tide Report - CASRAI (2026)
The 2015 independent review of the role of metrics in UK research assessment, commissioned by HEFCE and chaired by James Wilsdon, which introduced the concept of 'responsible metrics'.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0

Leiden Manifesto - CASRAI (2026)
A 2015 set of ten principles for the responsible use of quantitative indicators in research evaluation, authored by Hicks, Wouters, Waltman, de Rijcke and Rafols and published in Nature.
dictionary_term; CASRAI Dictionary v2026.1; CC-BY 4.0