PURE is the University's Current Research Information System (CRIS). Information held in PURE relates to research staff and their publications, projects and activities information. PURE allows for relationships and associations to be created between research inputs and outputs, providing a broad picture of research activity at the individual, research unit, School, College, and University levels.

In addition to providing many of the University's current research management and reporting needs, data from PURE is also used to populate the Edinburgh Research Explorer, which provides a public view on the University's research activity. Units are also able to access data held in PURE to feed information into their own local web presence, such as publication lists and staff profiles.