For the time being, information has been difficult to locate and use, and databases and information systems containing metadata are not linked with one another. Anyone needing data has to search in several different places, because there is no one cohesive access point for research being conducted in Finland where the information is organised in easily accessible and understandable entities.
Considerable resources are used in the collection of information. At the national level, the use of information has thus far primarily put an emphasis on its use as a criterion for the distribution of funds as well as in the evaluation, steering and statistics compilation of research.
Researchers use numerous online services, which also collect information on research. However, at the moment, researchers are still forced to enter the same information, for example, on their publications, in several different places, such as research data systems, publication archives, CV services, researcher funder systems and various impact services. In addition to this, when changing organisations, they may also have to re-enter their data in the systems of several different organisations.
Targets
The National Research Information Hub can be used to link the currently separate data warehouses and databases with one another. Consolidating the metadata of these discrete data warehouses into a single research information hub will provide a single, uniform, open and comprehensive access point for all the research being conducted in Finland, and the information will be available for everyone*. The goal is not to increase the amount of reporting and administrative work, but rather to compile and share existing information.
The research information hub is not a single website - it is a service entity, in which research metadata is collected and interlinked in a form that allows it to be easily used in any other service.
Using standardised terms and definitions, the research information hub compiles and shares commensurate, open and linked data with other services. The machine-readable interfaces of the service allow for the seamless transfer and use of information in different services and processes, thus enhancing the commensurability of information and reducing the manual entering of information in several different places.
In the research information hub, research metadata can be examined from a variety of perspectives, thus making it easy to gain access to data sources.
* some limitations may be placed, e.g. personal research information details