3.1 - Ricgraph

A new preprint was written: Rik D.T. Janssen (2025). Utilizing Ricgraph to gain insights into research collaborations across institutions,
at every organizational level. [preprint]. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5524439.

The software created for that article has been integrated in Ricgraph and Ricgraph Explorer, causing a number of changes. There are also a number of improvements.

Ricgraph general:

• Added a batch script to get the collaboration diagrams (the figures in the preprint mentioned above).
• The file ricgraph.ini now has new parameters related to the software for the preprint.
• From now on, you can only use organization abbreviations of max. length 3.
• Improvements to the Makefile.
• Many small improvements (including code rewrites).

Ricgraph:

• Modifications for the preprint mentioned above.
• Ricgraph now prints its version on module initialization.
• Modifications in the functions that read from and write to a file for json, dataframe, and text formats. Changed order of function parameters for write_json_to_file().
• Full rewrite of the code that caches nodes. You can now both use a local cache or Memcached. Read more what to use.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• Modifications for the preprint mentioned above.
• Added an example Apache config file, so you can use Apache with login/password authentication.
• Updated awstats config file.

Documentation:

• Added the preprint mentioned above.
• Added a presentation.
• Added How to install Ricgraph on Windows using Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL).
• Added the Ricgraph October 2025 newsletter.
• Added University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, projects with students.
• Renamed file ricgraph_pubs_pres_news_use_ment.md to ricgraph_outreach.md.

Upgrading:

• Save your ricgraph.ini file. Remove all of your existing files and directories, then re-install Ricgraph. Create a new version of ricgraph.ini, based on your old version and the file ricgraph.ini-sample. If you use organization abbreviations that have more than 3 characters, change them to have 3 characters (at most).
• You will need to reharvest your sources.

3.0 - Ricgraph

3.0 - Ricgraph

This release is for the first version of the Pilot project Open Ricgraph demo server. The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• New Makefile targets for installing Certbot, Munin monitoring, and AWStats web server log analysis.
• The file ricgraph.ini now has a parameter 'ricgraph_explorer_display_results_mode' that sets the default mode in which results are shown in Ricgraph Explorer.
• Many small improvements.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• Added robots.txt file to disallow harvesting of Ricgraph Explorer, and made it accessible via Nginx and Apache.
• Some new refactoring of Ricgraph Explorer.

Harvest scripts:

• Research Software Directory harvest: Clarified comments. Note that Ricgraph harvests organizations from persons in RSD, not from software in RSD (both is possible, the comments now explain this choice).
• Pure harvest: Add (first) external organization to external authors. Removed text 'external author' from external authors.

Documentation:

• Clarified and improved documentation.
• Added sections how to update Ricgraph.
• Update of the Ricgraph website.
• Added HBO-ICT innovation project (fall 2025) and results (spring 2025).

Upgrading:

• For any version, you will need to re-install Ricgraph. It is advisable to remove all of your existing files and directories, except for ricgraph.ini, before you re-install Ricgraph. Recreate your Ricgraph initialization file from ricgraph.ini-sample, and use the values from your previous ricgraph.ini version. Read more about the Ricgraph initialization file.
• You will need to reharvest your sources.

2.13 - Ricgraph

The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• Many small improvements.

Ricgraph:

• The module Ricgraph has been partly refactored.
• Added a new Pure research output type artefact.
• Added a type publication_types_all that contains all category items that are publications.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• Ricgraph Explorer is now a progressive web app (Android); done similar for iOS.
• Ricgraph Explorer has been made accessible for people with disabilities (according to https://wave.webaim.org).
• The Python script for Ricgraph Explorer has been partly refactored.
• Added installation of certbot to the Makefile.
• Updated Apache and Nginx web server config files.
• Improvements around storing and retrieving global variables in the app context.

Harvest scripts:

• Now it is possible to skip the harvest and read data from a previous harvest's csv file.
• Added a script for harvesting for the Open Ricgraph demo server.

Documentation:

• Added a document Discovering insights from cross-organizational research information and collaborations: A pilot project using Ricgraph.
• Added the Ricgraph June 2025 newsletter.

Upgrading:

• Save your ricgraph.ini file. Remove all of your existing files and directories, then re-install Ricgraph. Copy your old version of ricgraph.ini to the directory where you installed Ricgraph.
• You will need to reharvest your sources.

2.12.1 - Ricgraph

It appeared that there was a typo in file CITATION.cff. This caused an error in Zenodo, the service that generates DOIs. Therefore, a new release v2.12.1 had to be made. It is the same as release v2.12 of Ricgraph, since CITATION.cff only relates to Zenodo. You can use either v2.12.1 or v2.12, both are the same. Both will report that they are Ricgraph v2.12.

2.12 - Ricgraph

The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• Now you can search for words with accents and other non-ASCII characters by searching for their equivalent without accents, e.g. search for "Jòhñ Doë" by searching for "John Doe".
• Now, different persons can have the same name in Ricgraph. Previously, this was not possible.
• If you install Neo4j Community Edition, now anonymous reporting is disabled by default. This reporting was introduced by the new version of Neo4j Community Edition in Ricgraph v2.11.

Ricgraph:

• The module Ricgraph has been refactored.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• The Python script for Ricgraph Explorer has been refactored.

Harvest scripts:

• If you harvest projects from Pure, now the organization abbreviation is attached to the project name.

Upgrading:

• Save your ricgraph.ini file. Remove all of your existing files and directories, then re-install Ricgraph. Copy your old version of ricgraph.ini to the directory where you installed Ricgraph.
• You will need to reharvest your sources.

2.11 - Ricgraph

The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• Various updates in the merging of nodes in update_node_value() and merge_two_nodes().
• In the Makefile: updated Neo4j Community Edition from v5.24.0 to v2025.03.0. Updated Neo4j Desktop from v1.6.0 to v1.6.1. You will need openjdk21 (java21) for both. Usually, these will be installed automatically.
• Improvements and clarifications of the Makefile.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• You can now export every table to a csv file using a link below the table.

Enhance scripts:

• A script rename_organization.sh in directory enhance to rename (sub-)organizations has been added. Imagine, that after harvesting multiple sources, you have organization names "Universiteit Utrecht" and "Utrecht University", using this script you can rename the former to the latter. The (sub-)organization names to be renamed are specified in a csv file. Some examples have been included in directory enhance.

Harvest scripts:

• The harvest of multiple sources has been rewritten using bash files. They have also been moved to directory harvest_multiple_sources. Now, while harvesting, you can do other actions in between. E.g., you can harvest sources for organization A, then dump the graph database using a Makefile command, then harvest sources for organization B, then dump the graph database, then clean up (sub-)organization names, and then dump the final graph database, all in one script.

Documentation:

• Restructured, clarified, and cleaned up documentation.
• The Neo4j Desktop Bloom videos have been removed.

Upgrading:

• For any version, you will need to re-install Ricgraph. It is advisable to remove all of your existing files and directories, except for ricgraph.ini, before you re-install Ricgraph. Recreate your Ricgraph initialization file from ricgraph.ini-sample, and use the values from your previous ricgraph.ini version. Note that organization abbreviation VU has changed to VUA. Read more about the Ricgraph initialization file.
• You will need to reharvest your sources if you have harvested organization VU.
• You will not need to reharvest your sources if you upgrade from version v2.4 and earlier.

2.10 - Ricgraph

The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• Improvements and clarifications of the Makefile.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• A table can have a pagination bar below the table if the table is long. This depends on the the maximum number of items to return in a table, and the the maximum number of rows in a table (the page size of the table).
• Added a Go back button in the top bar of Ricgraph Explorer.

Harvest scripts:

• Yoda-DataCite harvest did not always correctly parse a person working at more than one organization. This has been fixed.

Documentation:

• Using Quarto, the Ricgraph documentation website https://docs.ricgraph.eu is generated from the GitHub markdown documentation. This is done using the repository https://github.com/UtrechtUniversity/ricgraph-documentation.
• Created a progressive web app (Android) for the Ricgraph documentation website; done similar for iOS.
• Restructured documentation.
• Added a tutorial for Ricgraph.
• Added a presentation at the University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, at Feb. 17, 2025.

Ricgraph website:

• Using Quarto, the Ricgraph website https://www.ricgraph.eu is generated from the GitHub markdown documentation in directory website. This is done using the repository https://github.com/UtrechtUniversity/ricgraph-documentation.
• Created a progressive web app (Android) for the Ricgraph documentation website; done similar for iOS.

Upgrading:

If you upgrade from version v2.9, you only need to reinstall Ricgraph. If you upgrade from an earlier version:

• Re-install Ricgraph. It is advisable to remove all of your existing files and directories, except for ricgraph.ini, before you re-install Ricgraph.
• Recreate your Ricgraph initialization file from ricgraph.ini-sample, and use the values from your previous ricgraph.ini version. This is due to the changes in harvesting of Yoda-DataCite. Read more about the Ricgraph initialization file.
• You only need to reharvest your sources if you upgrade from version v2.4 and earlier.

2.9 - Ricgraph

The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• Improvements and clarifications of the Makefile. Added a target to empty the Neo4j Community graph database.

Ricgraph (these also apply to the harvest scripts):

• Improved command line parameter handling.
• Improved reading from the Ricgraph initialization file.
• Added calls to normalize the data harvested. Some of these calls are in ricgraph/ricgraph.py, others are in the harvest scripts.

Harvest scripts:

• OpenAlex and Pure: Changed the years to harvest research results from: from 2021-2024 to 2022-2025.
• Yoda-DataCite harvest can now harvest multiple organizations by specifying a command line parameter. This required changes in some batch_harvest scripts and in the Ricgraph initialization file (see Upgrading below).

Documentation:

• Clarified documentation to describe more easy install procedures, both for Ricgraph install for a single user and for Ricgraph install for a server.
• Restructured documentation.
• Added several presentations, and an Innovation project involving six students at University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht.

Upgrading:

• Re-install Ricgraph. It is advisable to remove all of your existing files and directories, except for ricgraph.ini, before you re-install Ricgraph.
• Recreate your Ricgraph initialization file from ricgraph.ini-sample, and use the values from your previous ricgraph.ini version. This is due to the changes in harvesting of Yoda-DataCite. Read more about the Ricgraph initialization file.
• You only need to reharvest your sources if you upgrade from version v2.4 and earlier.

2.8 - Ricgraph

The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• You can now use Ricgraph by installing and using its Podman container. A container is like a small box that holds an application and everything it needs to run, such as files and settings. This makes installation of Ricgraph much simples. Read more.
• The Makefile has been fully rewritten.
• Ricgraph now contains a script to delete personal data from Ricgraph, if requested by someone.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• On a page with two tabbed tables, these now behave correctly.

Ricgraph:

• More graceful handling of an empty or not (yet) existing graph database.
• Ricgraph has a call to delete nodes.

Documentation:

• Extended and clarified documentation.

Upgrading:

• If you upgrade from any Ricgraph version, you will need to re-install Ricgraph and re-use your previous Ricgraph initialization file. You only need to reharvest your sources if you upgrade from version v2.4 and earlier. It is advisable to remove all of your existing files and directories, except for ricgraph.ini, before you re-install Ricgraph.

2.7 - Ricgraph

The following improvements have been made to Ricgraph.

Ricgraph general:

• Modifications for a new Ricgraph logo.

Ricgraph Explorer:

• Added the possibility to show a customised text on the home page.
• Added the version number of Ricgraph in the footer.
• Added the possibility to show a privacy statement or a privacy measures document in the footer.
• Added a list that contains all possible values of the name field that contain personal data in a Ricgraph node. This is shown in the Statistics section of the Home page, and it can be queried using the REST API call get_ricgraph_list().
• REST API call /organization/information_persons_results now has a name_want and category_want field that let you specify what to return.
• New REST API call /organization/enrich with similar parameters as /organization/information_persons_results.
• Added name_want and category_want to /person/enrich. Updated documentation to reflect this.
• Minor changes in the user interface.

Harvest scripts:

• During harvesting OpenAlex, also ROR identifiers are being added to Ricgraph, they will be connected to ORGANIZATION_NAME.

Upgrading:

• If you upgrade from any Ricgraph version, you will need to re-install Ricgraph and re-use your previous Ricgraph initialization file. You only need to reharvest your sources if you upgrade from version v2.4 and earlier. It is advisable to remove all of your existing files and directories, except for ricgraph.ini, before you re-install Ricgraph.