Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information

The Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (Slovak: Centrum vedecko-technických informácií Slovenskej republiky, abbreviated CVTI SR) is Slovakia's national information centre for science, technology, innovation and education, and simultaneously the country's national scientific library. It is headquartered in Bratislava, in the Patrónka district on Lamačská cesta, and operates as a state-funded institution under the Slovak Ministry of Education. Its stated mission is to support science, research, development, innovation and education in Slovakia. CVTI SR combines several roles that are often split between separate bodies in other countries. It manages library and information collections and provides library and information services both through physical lending and electronically, including a national scientific library portal, an online catalogue, remote access to e-resources, and digitisation services. It is a methodological library with nationwide scope. Beyond classical library work, it operates key national research infrastructure: the Central Register of Publication Activity (CREPČ) and the Central Register of Artistic Activity (CREUČ), which underpin the allocation of public funds for science and research, as well as the Central Register of Final and Qualification Theses (CRZP) and an anti-plagiarism system. The centre also acts as a national coordination point for research support. It hosts the Slovak participation in the EU's Horizon Europe and predecessor H2020 programmes, the SK CRIS research information system, the SLORD registry, the PATLIB intellectual property centre, the European Documentation Centre, the EOSC (European Open Cloud for Open Science) activities, and a technology transfer centre. Since 2013 it has served as Slovakia's National Reference Point for the European Commission's Open Access policy. It also runs a FabLab and a support scheme for returning researchers. In the area of science popularisation, CVTI SR operates the National Centre for the Popularisation of Science and Technology in Society, the Aurelium experiential science centre, the Science Week and Science on Reach initiatives, and publishes the science-popularisation magazine Quark. It also publishes the library and information technology journal ITlib, the technology transfer bulletin, and Vedecký kaleidoskop. In education, it maintains registries, statistics and data collection for the school system, school computing centres, regional education informatisation, and secondary-school scholarship schemes. CVTI SR traces its origins to 1938, when it was founded as the Slovak Technical Library. It has since grown into a broad national agency for scientific and educational information. Its current director is Ing. Róbert Gálik, MBA. The organisation is publicly funded and is not a commercial company; it functions as a state institution serving researchers, students, libraries and the wider public in Slovakia.

The institution that is today the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CVTI SR) was originally founded in 1938 as the Slovak Technical Library (Slovenská technická knižnica). Over the following decades it developed into the country's central scientific and technical information body, combining library collections with information services for research and industry. A major shift in its role came in 2008, when the Ministry of Education decided that purchases of expensive access to scientific bibliographic databases would be handled centrally through CVTI. This centralised access cost roughly 3.5 million euros per year and was financed from European Union funds. The project that funded this access ended in 2015, however, and neither CVTI staff nor ministry officials were able to secure renewed financing. During 2016 some international databases were provided free of charge, but from January 2017 the publisher Elsevier cut off access to its databases (ScienceDirect and Scopus) from Slovakia, and the Reaxys and Knovel databases also stopped working. News of the problem only emerged during January 2017 and provoked outrage in the scientific community; access was restored within a few weeks. In 2013 CVTI became the National Reference Point for the European Commission's Open Access policy in Slovakia, formalising its role in open science. Over the 2010s and 2020s the centre broadened its portfolio to include national research information systems (SK CRIS, SLORD), the CREPČ and CREUČ registers that underpin research funding allocation, the CRZP thesis register and anti-plagiarism system, participation in EU framework programmes such as H2020 and Horizon Europe, a technology transfer centre, a PATLIB intellectual property centre, a European Documentation Centre, EOSC activities, and a FabLab. It also expanded its science-popularisation work through the National Centre for the Popularisation of Science and Technology in Society, the Aurelium experiential science centre, Science Week, and publications including the magazine Quark. In education it took on registries, statistics, data collection, school computing centres and scholarship administration. The organisation is headquartered in Bratislava on Lamačská cesta in the Patrónka district, and its current director is Ing. Róbert Gálik, MBA.

• 2017

  Elsevier cut off access to ScienceDirect and Scopus from Slovakia; Reaxys and Knovel also stopped working; access restored within weeks after public outcry.

• 2015

  The project financing central database access ended.

• 2013

  Became the National Reference Point for the European Commission's Open Access policy in Slovakia.

• 2008

  Ministry of Education decided that purchases of expensive scientific bibliographic database access would be handled centrally through CVTI.

• 1938

  Founded as the Slovak Technical Library (Slovenská technická knižnica).

Slovakia's national information centre and scientific library for science, technology, innovation and education, providing nationwide research infrastructure, library services and science popularisation.

• Vedecká knižnica (National Scientific Library)

  National scientific library portal with online catalogue, e-resources, remote access and digitisation services.

• CREPČ / CREUČ

  Central registers of publication activity and artistic activity, used to allocate public funds for science and research.

• CRZP and anti-plagiarism system

  Central register of final and qualification theses and the associated anti-plagiarism system.

• SK CRIS

  Slovak research information system.

• Aurelium

  Experiential science centre operated by CVTI SR.

• Quark

  Science-popularisation magazine published by CVTI SR.

• ITlib

  Journal on information technologies and libraries.

1. 1Hlavná stránka - CVTI SRcvtisr.sk
2. 2Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Centrum vedecko-technických informácií Slovenskej republiky - Wikipedia (sk)sk.wikipedia.org