Project Plan Post 6 of 7 - WP2: Symplectic interface

This work package will allow data to be transferred between Mendeley and Symplectic in a bi-directional way. Also, extend Symplectic’s data API to give Mendeley a mediated access to institutional digital repository (allowing Mendeley to interface to DSpace, ePrints, Fedora and, in time, further repositories) through a single, consistent data API.  Daniel Hook at Symplectic will be responsible for delivery of this work package.

As part of this work package, authentication methodology will be investigated. Each institution has a separate authentication methodology – Active Directory, LDAP, Kerberos, Shibboleth and there are often variants on these main themes. An approach will be taken that may be based on institutional authentication methodology or may be independent of the local system depending on the outcome of analysis. The methodology chosen will be based on inclusiveness – allowing the
largest number of institutions to participate with the lowest entry requirements while maintaining an appropriate level of data security.

Task 2.1
Develop Mendeley data source (to pull both bibliographic data and full text).
(Partners: Symplectic 1PM, Mendeley 0.5PM)

Task 2.2
Develop API extension to allow Mendeley to pull bibliographic data and full-text from Symplectic / Repository respectively. (Partners: Symplectic 1PM, Mendeley 0.5PM)

Task 2.3
Investigate authentication and develop methodology for authentication between Mendeley and Symplectic. (Partners: Symplectic 2PM, Mendeley 1PM)

Task 2.4
Develop API to allow Mendeley to push both bibliographic and full-text data into Symplectic, including authentication methodology. (Partners: Symplectic 2PM, Mendeley 1PM)


Deliverables

D 2.1 Mendeley as a data source (month 3)
Use Mendeley API to authenticate user and pull data from their account. Provide user interface to support Mendeley API usage (authentication with Mendeley etc.). Implement “throughload” functionality for Mendeley data source.

D 2.2 Mendeley back-sync from Symplectic (month 4)
Extend existing Symplectic data API to allow full-text to be located in local institutional repository and harvested into Mendeley.

D 2.3 Authentication methodology (month 5)
Documentation describing results of analysis. Explanation of methodology for authentication between Mendeley and Symplectic – source code for authentication mechanism.

D 2.4 Mendeley “Push” functionality (month 7)
Create API for specific integration with Mendeley – handle authentication of a user; account matching; and accepting bibliographic metadata into Symplectic’s software (matching to existing articles in user’s profile) and passing full-text through into target repositories.