Certification for the Research and Scholarship (R&S) Category is a straightforward process involving you, your institution, and InCommon.

  1. You ensure that your SP or IdP meets the requirements set forth in the Research and Scholarship Entity Category definition and the InCommon Federation Participation Agreement (Section 9, in particular). In brief, the primary requirements are:
    1. IdP
      1. The institution operating the IdP agrees to transmit the following information, upon request, to SPs that have been certified for the R&S Category: shared user identifier, person name, email address, and (optionally) affiliation. See Research and Scholarship IdP Config for information on how to configure your IdP to do this.
    2. SP
      1. The service enhances the research and scholarship activities of some subset of the user community.
      2. Service metadata has been submitted to the registrar for publication.
      3. The service complies with specific technical requirements addressing issues of security and operational maturity.
    3. See Research and Scholarship Entity Category  for more information and the complete set of requirements for both IdPs and SPs. The application forms linked below are good checklists for what you need to do to comply.
  2. You complete an online application form. There are different forms for IdPs and SPs:
    1. Research and Scholarship Application Form for Identity Providers
    2. Research and Scholarship Application Form for Service Providers
  3. InCommon reviews your application. You may be contacted to resolve any questions or issues that arise.
  4. Assuming the review is successful, InCommon generates a metadata update for your IdP or SP.
  5. Your site administrator approves the metadata update, and the process is complete.