FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I submit my information to the National Research Information Hub?

According to the current plans, the National Research Information Hub won’t have an option for manual information submission. All incoming information will be automatically redirected from their original sources.

How does a researcher get his/her information to the Information Hub?

Researchers publications, data, projects etc. information will be automatically redirected from their original sources. Universities and other research institutions have different systems for information gathering. In some of the organizations, researchers themselves manually submit their information in the organization information systems, while other universities employ centralized systems for information filing.

National Research Funding Database will at its first phase collect information directly from the funding parties. At a later point, it might be possible to transfer the information also from the research organizations.

All information that a researcher might have stored in various different organization-specific information systems will be combined in the National Research Information Hub.

At a later stage, the National Research Information Hub may also contain another researcher specific descriptive information, such as affiliations, the field of study, expertise, etc). This would mean, for example, that finding experts in a given field would become much more effective and accessible. This information, too, would not be collected directly from the researcher but via other, already existing sources, where researchers currently store their information (e.g. ResearchGate). The Hub would then merely enrich the already existing information. All possible information gathering and combining would be, however, made only by the original owners (i.e. the researcher) permission.

Is it possible to store research data and publications in the Research Information Hub?

The Research Information Hub will only contain descriptive information about research, for example, reference information or data content information. The Hub will not store full-text publications or data depository, but the descriptive information may include a persistent identifier (PID) to the original source.

Does the Research Information Hub mean more reporting responsibilities for authorities and more evaluation requirements?

The aim is not to increase reporting responsibilities and evaluation requirements. Quite the opposite, the aim is to lighten the bureaucratic workload. Thanks to the Hub, in future less manual information submitting needs to be done, and the once submitted information will flow more fluently between all parties.

At the moment, of all the original sources that will be transferred to the Hub, only publication information is currently already being collected by the authorities (MINEDU) on a yearly basis. The intention is not to add any additional reporting for authorities. In other words, as it seems now, only publication information needs to be reported to the authorities, but this is already being done anyway. The Hub will utilize this same information and enrich it.

Who is allowed to use the Research Information Hub information?

The aim is that all information in the Research Information Hub would be be public. Furthermore, all information should be in a machine-readable format, so that electronic systems and services would be able utilize the content too.

Isn’t it a waste of effort to recollect the same information from one system to another?

The Research Information Hub does not actually require recollecting information that’s already existing in some other system or service: the idea is that a copy of the already existing and already stored information transfers automatically to the Hub. In that way, no extra collecting effort is required. In other words, the Hub offers a single, open access point to a comprehensive picture of the research being conducted in Finland by utilizing information that already exists.

When is the Research Information Hub ready?

The Hub is being built in stages. Some of the original source systems are already in use (e.g. VIRTA Publication Information Service), and their information can be utilized in different services. Others are still currently in production (e.g. METAX research data metadata -warehouse, National Research Funding Database). The goal is to have all original source systems ready in the end of the year 2020.

Couldn’t find what you were looking for? Read more about the Research Information Hub from here.

You can also send your question by email to tutkimustietovaranto@csc.fi or use the contact form.