Introduction
CSC - IT Center for Science is establishing the National Research Information Hub at the behest of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The planned service will serve as a warehouse for metadata on, for example, publications, research data, research infrastructures, researchers, projects/projects and research groups.
The amount of different research being produced is increasing rapidly along with the advent of research digitalisation and open science. The number of the systems where the produced research outputs and other information are stored is alike increasing, resulting in wide range of separate and disintegrated information systems. The National Research Information Hub targets to integrate and connect the currently disintegrated systems and registers to complement each other.
The sensible and easy management of research outputs requires a uniform specification for research metadata and its seamless processing. Metadata is used in research work and administrative processes related to research, such as information retrieval, funding applications and reporting, publishing, the compilation of statistics and other dissemination of research data.
The rationalisation of information flows lightens the administrative workload and makes the information more accessible and easier to find. This will benefit researchers, research organisations, funders and parties making decisions based on data. In addition, research outcomes will be more accessible to citizens using it.
"The administrative workload will be lightened when existing information become more accessible and easier to find. This will also enhance the impact of research," says Counsellor of Education Erja Heikkinen of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
"Properly executed, the research information hub will offer an outstanding opportunity to, for example, observe how different research infrastructures are used in research across disciplines and between them, without increasing the reporting load for researchers," explains Pekka Lehtovuori, Director, Services for Research at CSC.
The amount of different research output is increasing along with the advent of a digitalisation and open science. Research metadata is used in research work and its attendant administration, such as funding applications and reporting, information retrieval, publishing and the compilation of statistics.
At present, data is stored in numerous information systems. The goal of the research information hub is to enhance the usage of existing data. When procedures are standardised and automated, administrative work is made easier. The goal is that we will no longer be required to enter the same data into several different systems.
Everyone benefits from the Research Information Hub
The new service will benefit researchers, research organisations, funders and parties making decisions based on information. For example, management and evaluation of research in organisations will have consistent, up-to-date data at their disposal. Researchers will be able to use their own data more flexibly in different services. Different research output can also be more effectively interlinked, and the transfer of data between organisations will be made easier.
Funders will also gain greater exposure for the research they are funding, and research output will be more accessible to citizens and the media using it.
Executive and steering groups to oversee development of the Research Information Hub
The MINEDU has appointed executive and steering groups to oversee development of research information flows and the research information hub during the period 2017-2020. The executive group will, among other things, decide on a developmental path for the service, consider approaches to lightening the workload for researchers and administration, and identify the information needs of research administration. It will also promote cooperation between actors.
The steering group oversees development of the service and coordinates national cooperation. The group works in cooperation with the Network of Research Services and Administration (TUHA).
In the executive group, CSC is represented by Director Antti Mäki and Development Manager Hanna-Mari Puuska, who is also a member of the steering group.
"There is already an enormous amount of information being collected on research, but the fragmentation of discrete systems compromises our ability to take advantage of this information. The information hub offers countless new uses for data already in place," explains Puuska.
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Background
Authorities, research funders, higher education institutions, research facilities and other parties conducting research are constantly collecting enormous amounts of metadata on research being conducted in Finland. This metadata is collected in several different locations, such as:
- Universities and other research organisations
- Ministry of Education and Culture's data collection campaigns
- Research data archives
- Research funder registers
- Project registers
- Scientific publisher services
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
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