[open-science] Finding data on funded research

Wed Sep 23 09:25:05 UTC 2009

Gavin -

There are various resources, but it is not a totally open area. 

One subscription product is the Community of Science funded research database. Their help page has a bit of info, but you need a username/password to access the database itself.
http://fundedresearch.cos.com/helpdocs/userguide.shtml

In the UK there is the NIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio:
http://www.ukcrn.org.uk/index/clinical/portfolio_new.html

MRC has its portfolio online:
http://www.mrc.ac.uk/ResearchPortfolio/index.htm

as do other UK Research Councils, e.g.:
http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/science/grants/index.html
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/AdvancedSearchPage1.aspx

There are also various clinical trial registries, e.g.
http://clinicaltrials.gov/

Frank Norman
NIMR
At 19:17 22/09/2009, Gavin Baker wrote:
>This is outside my expertise, so I thought I'd ask here:
>
>How easy is it to find information on funded research projects (e.g. by
>research agencies and foundations)?
>
>It seems to me that taxpayers (or foundations' donors) have a right to
>easily find out what research they're funding, from award through
>research outputs. This also seems like useful information for other
>researchers, especially prior to publication -- e.g. to minimize
>duplication, facilitate potential collaboration, etc.
>
>How good -- or how bad -- is current transparency in this area? What
>could be improved? What (if any) are the obstacles to openness?
>
>I'm reminded of the issue because of recent announcements by two U.S.
>research funders of new tools to search their grants:
>
>http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2009/09/new-transparency-tool-on-nih-funded.html
>http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2009/09/new-database-of-neh-funded-projects.html
>
>But I have little context about how novel these tools are or their
>strengths/weaknesses. What do you think?
>
>-- 
>Gavin Baker
>http://www.gavinbaker.com/
>gavin at gavinbaker.com
>
>You gotta give 'em hope.
>    Harvey Milk
>
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Frank Norman
Librarian, MRC National Institute for Medical Research
The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA,  UK
tel 020 8816 2227   fax 020 8816 2230   email fnorman at nimr.mrc.ac.uk  