In order to exploit ETD for research evaluation, ETD infrastructures, repositories and CRIS must connect and
exchange data. Needed are compliant metadata and formats,not data silos with specific features. Interoperability
problems are partly caused by non acceptance of a standard by the community (Peponakis 2013). All solutions
should therefore prefer accepted and already implemented standards, wheneverpossible. The well documented Novi
Sad project can serve as a model, withthe implementation of CERIF and the mapping of different formats and data
to the CERIF specifications. CERIF appears to be the best choice for flexibility and interoperability. Yet, the format
must be extended to integrate rich and complex metadataon ETD, in particular on the semantic layer enabling
classifications of entities (types of theses, roles of persons…) and relations between entities (person/organization…).