5.30.0 New and noteworthy 

Web accessibility

Pure Core: Administration

New header updates

Based on feedback from customers, a number of improvements to the new header have been implemented.

The Notifications component now displays a dot when a new notification comes through.

The My history functionality now supports:

• Saving history across sessions
• The number of records shown has expanded from 5 to 25
• A Clear history button has been added
• Records are now grouped by date

New authentication framework

As part of this upgrade, the underlying authentication framework has been updated to a newer and more secure version.

As part of this upgrade we have, as previously announced, reduced the amount of supported authentication mechanisms, to reduce the amount of attack surfaces and increase the overall security and maintainability of Pure.

SAML2 and all Elsevier authentication types will automatically be migrated to this new setup. 

Configuring authentication setup has been moved slightly and updated to the latest look and feel of Pure. It is now decoupled from the Admin and WS setup, where it is now only possible to set up filtering of data to expose and whether authentication is enforced.

Furthermore, the setup has been simplified and providing a better onboarding experience and debugging tooling.

As shown on the screenshot, OpenID Connect (OAuth2) support has also been added as an option. 

As part of this upgrade, the /WS scope only supports basic authentication, which is always enabled. If “requires authentication” has been enabled for parts of the WS under Administrator → Security → WS basic authentication is used to provide access. The actual setup of “requires authentication” and the filtering options under /WS is unchanged and will work as before.

Note: Tenant as a request header is no longer supported. It was only enabled by very few customers, and we have not been able so see any traffic with those requests and has therefore removed the capability.

Integration

Mint DOIs for Research Output and related sub-types through DataCite

Pure administrators can now enable minting of DOIs of research output, allowing users to register their research output in DataCite. 

It is possible to configure this functionality to allow the minting of DOIs for all research output, or for specific sub-types.

When this functionality is enabled, users have the option to mint the DOI directly from the research output editor. When the DataCite integration is enabled, configured editors and administrators of datasets will be able to mint a new DOI by clicking Create DOI from DataCite.

The Create DOI from DataCite button is only visible to editors and administrators once the record has been saved. It is only possible to mint a DOI at DataCite if no DOI exists on the record. 

The following fields are sent and will be registered at DataCite:

• Contributors
• DOI
• Electronic versions
• Journal association
• Original language
• Publication statuses and dates
• Publisher
• Subtitle of the contribution in original language
• Title of the contribution in original language
• Translated subtitle of the contribution
• Translated title of the contribution

Once a DOI has been minted, these fields will be locked for the personal user. If the metadata on the record is updated by the editor or administrator, the update is sent to DataCite and the record will be updated. 

Note: It is not possible to mint DOIs on the following:

• Research output where the visibility is ‘backend’ or ‘confidential’
• Research output that has been imported to Pure through an online source

Pure Portal

New Fingerprint Engine: Transitioning to the OmniScience thesaurus

With the 5.30 Pure version, all customers using the Fingerprint functionality who have not yet updated to the new Fingerprint Engine (OmniScience thesaurus) will be automatically upgraded. 

• OmniScience and Keyphrase thesauri will be enabled by default. You can adjust the settings on which thesauri are used in Pure at Administrator > Fingerprint > Configuration.
• Your preferred Fingerprint settings for the exclusion thesauri will remain in place.

What does the change mean in practice?

• If you are already using the OmniScience thesaurus, there will be no changes in settings for you.
• There will be a significant change in the fingerprint concepts: 
• There are more high-level groupings in the OmniScience thesaurus and their naming differs from that used by the old Fingerprint Engine.
• The fingerprint concepts themselves might have changed. 
  • Note that if you have previously excluded certain subject areas from your fingerprint, this will be reflected in the new fingerprint (as per the mapping). 
  • Individual fingerprint concepts that were removed will not reappear.

You can find out more about the move and the OmniScience thesaurus here.
Note that if you do not upgrade to the OmniScience thesaurus by the 1st of July, while the old fingerprints will remain on your Pure and Pure Portal, newly added content will not be fingerprinted.
 

Reporting

Reporting out of Beta

We are very pleased to announce that the Reporting Module is out of beta. We have added more than 400 new filters and values to ensure that Pure can create the reports that you need. This does not mean the end of development for the Reporting Module, we have many more features on the planning. This does mean that we will begin sunsetting the classic Reporting Module. From this release, the classic Reporting Module is entering a critical-updates-only phase, meaning that we will only address critical issues and security issues. 

From June 2025 the classic Reporting Module will be switched off. Dashboards will not be affected by this, and they will continue to function until further notice.

New flow for adding values

We have updated the UI and the flow for building data tables. With this update, we have made it easier than ever to build the workspaces that you need. It is now possible to add multiple values at once when building tables. This greatly speeds up the process of adding data to the workspace. We have also updated the UI for adding relations, making it much clearer to find the content type that should be added.  

More control on split values

The split function in the reporting module has also received an update. When defining a split, it is now possible to also include a total column and a remainder column. This enables new types of reports, where it is possible to split a number, for instance the number of research outputs per organizational unit, and then split that by type. With the remainder column, it is possible to see all the other categories in one, and the total column show the total number before the split.

Multiple languages

For those content types where multiple languages are supported, such as titles abstract etc., it is possible to choose the language of the selected value. This way, it is now possible to see where a translated title is missing, for instance. This also allows for more control on which language should be shown in the report.

Improved reporting of files for research outputs

With this new reporting type, it is now possible to report on more information about the electronic versions of the research output. This enables reporting on the number of files with different licences and more. Filters are also available for this type, such that reporters will be able to zoom in on specific types, for example, DOIs, links, or files. When added to a data story, easy, understandable overviews can be created on the types of electronic versions that are in Pure.

Reporter role change

A modification has been implemented for the reporter role within Pure. In the past, the reporter role had the ability to report on every user in the system. This functionality has been altered; the reporter role no longer have the capability to report on users. To maintain this functionality, users who are impacted must be assigned the Global reporters of users role alongside their existing reporter role, if they should still be able to report on users in Pure. This was implemented in 5.28.3.

Award Management Module

New content type: Contract

For Award Management customers, we are delighted to introduce Contract Management as our latest premium offering.

The contract content type is available for pilot access from v5.30.0, controlled via feature flag during initial release. Contact us for more information.

The new contract type supports centralized management and organization of contract records as part of the funding workflow. It allows creation of contract records directly, or through Applications, Awards, or Contracts.

Workflow and task management is included as part of the Contract type, and allows for contracts to be prepared and negotiated with project stakeholders and makes extensive use of recent developments, such as the Review and Milestone content types. 

The Contract type also allows for the management of contract assets, incorporating document version control, the ability to link to external file store's visibility controls.  

The workflow for Contracts has been initially implemented with a 5 step static workflow, with a planned expansion to use the Pure Process Manager capability. 

Known issues fixed in this release