From Regulation to Perceived Strategic Utility: A Research Monitoring System Based on the Elsevier Pure API at UCSM

This article describes the design, development, and user acceptance evaluation of the Monitor CRIS UCSM, a research monitoring system (RMS) built on the Elsevier Pure REST API for the Universidad Católica de Santa María (UCSM), Arequipa, Peru. The study addresses two research questions: (RQ1) can an API-based CRIS monitoring solution be implemented on a commercial Research Information Management System (RIMS) to meet institution-specific regulatory requirements, and (RQ2) to what extent do institutional stakeholders perceive such a system as usable, normatively relevant, and useful for strategic decision-making? The system integrates bibliometric data from Pure into dashboards covering research production metrics, RENACYT-qualified researcher profiles, SDG alignment, and regulatory compliance indicators aligned with Peruvian higher education legislation (Law No. 30220, SUNEDU, CONCYTEC), implemented on a three-tier architecture (Laravel 11/Vue.js 3/MySQL 8.0) with role-based access control. A User Acceptance Test (UAT) conducted with 134 institutional stakeholders, using an instrument adapted from the System Usability Scale (SUS) and structured into four dimensions, showed excellent internal consistency (α = 0.90), a composite SUS-adapted score of M = 81.12 (SD = 5.83), and very favorable ratings across all four dimensions (global M = 4.32; SD = 0.14 on a 1–5 Likert scale). These findings, bounded to the UCSM institutional case, support the technical feasibility of API-based CRIS monitoring within a single institution. The decision-making utility reported here reflects internal stakeholder perceptions gathered through a single UAT administration, not measured organizational outcomes, external adoption, or longitudinal use.