Working with a registry: what each side needs from the other

Registries depend on institutions for accurate source data. Institutions depend on registries for figures they cannot produce alone.

The relationship works when both sides know what the other needs — and it usually fails because nobody said.

What a registry needs from institutions

• Accurate structure — the institution is the only authority on its own organisation.
• A preferred affiliation form published for researchers to use.
• Confirmation of staff affiliations where possible.
• Notification of structural change.
• A named contact for data questions.

What institutions need from a registry

• Figures they can reproduce and defend.
• A stated counting rule with every figure.
• The ability to trace any figure to underlying records.
• A responsive correction route.
• Advance notice of methodology changes.

Setting it up

• Agree definitions before exchanging anything — this prevents most later problems.
• Agree identifiers for scholars and institutions.
• Agree the exchange format, frequency and mechanism.
• Agree correction responsibility and turnaround.
• Name a person on each side.

Keeping it working

• Monitor volumes and rates — changes usually indicate an upstream format change.
• Review annually rather than only when something breaks.
• Document the arrangement, since staff change and arrangements outlive them.
• Report errors in both directions.
• Update the agreement when either side changes systems.

What improves both sides

• Institutions publishing preferred affiliation forms — the single highest-value action.
• Researchers using persistent identifiers.
• Registries publishing their methodology.
• Correction routes that actually work in both directions.
• Data quality is a shared outcome, not one side's responsibility.

For media and analysts

• Ask what a figure cannot show — providers will generally tell you.
• Ask for the counting rule.
• Ask about coverage limitations.
• Give institutions and individuals a chance to respond before publishing anything critical.

One thing worth remembering

The highest-value thing an institution can do is publish a preferred affiliation form and ask its researchers to use it.

It costs one page of guidance. It improves that institution's figures in every system worldwide, permanently — and no amount of work at the registry end achieves the same effect.

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