Research.fi is a service provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture that compiles and shares information about research conducted in Finland. The service improves access to research information, researchers and experts, and increases the visibility and societal impact of Finnish research.

The service includes information on the Finnish research system, publications and other research outputs produced in Finnish organizations, projects funded by public and private research funders, researchers and experts working in Finland, as well as statistical data on trends in research personnel, funding, and the scientific impact of publications.

Research.fi is the public portal of the national research information hub. Both Research.fi and the national research information hub are implemented by CSC – IT Center for Science on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Finnish higher education institutions, research institutes, other research organizations, and research funders that produce research information are also involved in the implementation. Research.fi was launched in 2020. 

Feedback on Research.fi and the national research information hub can be submitted via the feedback form or by email to tiedejatutkimus@csc.fi.

Research.fi shows information on publications, granted funding, funding calls, people, data sets, infrastructures, organizations, science and research news, and projects coming from research performing, funding and supporting organizations. The contents and sources of the different types of information is described in more detail below.

Research.fi contains only descriptive information. For example, research data or publications are not stored in the service, but the descriptive information often includes a permanent link for downloading the publication or dataset.

Each organization submitting data is responsible for the accuracy, quality, comprehensiveness, and timeliness of its own data.

Publications

The publication data consists primarily of information submitted by Finnish universities, universities of applied sciences, and research institutes to the Ministry of Education and Culture’s publication data collection system.

The data is collected through the national VIRTA publication data service. Submitting publication data has been mandatory for universities since 2011 and for universities of applied sciences since 2012. 

For institutions other than higher education institutions, the submission of publication data is voluntary. University hospitals have been submitting their data since 2011, and research institutes have been participating in the publication data collection since 2014.

Some organizations also submit older publications retroactively.

Granted funding

Public and private research funders submit data on the funding they have awarded to research information hub.

The service contains comprehensive funding data from the Academy of Finland dating back to the beginning of 2020 and from Business Finland dating back to the beginning of 2018. In addition, the service includes all funding received by Finnish research organizations from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe framework programs. Data on funding granted to research organizations from the Structural Funds (ERDF, ESF) is from the previous programming period.

The service includes data from several private research-funding foundations starting from the date of their inclusion.

Funding calls

The service displays past, current, and upcoming funding calls from domestic research funding bodies. The information is obtained directly from the funding bodies, either through system providers or, if the funding body does not use a system provider, via a form.

The service’s homepage displays the calls that are closing next. You can search for calls more extensively on the individual funding call pages.

People

The service lists experts who have created profiles. Information about the experts is imported from their home organizations and the ORCID service.

Profile information includes, for example, contact details, education and qualifications, a description of one’s own research, and other research activities. Publications, materials, funding decisions, and other items already included in the service can also be linked to the profile. Users can choose the visibility of their information within the service. 

Research data

The service uses the national Fairdata services as its data source, which contain information on datasets produced in Finland. The Fairdata services include, among other things, metadata on datasets that have been uploaded by researchers themselves or transferred from organizations or other data catalogs.

Infrastructures

The service provides information on Finnish research infrastructures and the research infrastructure services they offer.

Research infrastructures are tools, equipment, data networks, software, databases, materials, and services available in a centralized, decentralized, or virtual manner, or as combinations thereof, that enable the conduct of research and the development of technology.

Research infrastructure services provide access to the research infrastructure in the manner defined by the responsible body.

Information on the infrastructures and their services is provided by the organizations responsible for the research infrastructures.

Organizations

The service provides detailed information about the organizations that conduct, fund, and support research and that submit their data to the service. Organizational data is automatically updated from the following sources:

• YTJ - Business and organization information system
• KANTO - Finnish thesaurus and ontology service
• Vipunen - Education statistics Finland
• Wikidata - Organization identifiers

Science and research news

The latest science and research news is automatically updated from RSS feeds provided by the organizations. Each organization decides for itself which news items are displayed on the service.

Projects

The service will be supplemented with data from research projects conducted by research organizations. In the initial phase, the service includes project descriptions imported from the former Hankehaavi online directory, which are not currently being updated.

Research.fi offers a variety of ways for users to make use of the information available on the service. The service can be used, for example, for the following purposes:

• Searching and browsing data: search results can be easily narrowed down using various filters.
• Utilising data: data can be downloaded in machine-readable JSON format via the Research.fi API.
• Importing data: universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutes, university hospitals, and research funders can import their data into a unified national service.

According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), personal data refers to any information that can be linked to an individual. Therefore, in accordance with this definition, personal data is stored in the service. Currently, the personal data collected by the service includes, for example, information on the authors of publications and research materials or the recipients of funding decisions, such as the person’s name, organization, and ORCID iD.

Read more: Privacy policy, cookie policy and processing of personal data

The service’s accessibility requirements are based on the national Act on the Provision of Digital Services (306/2019). Research.fi meets the critical accessibility requirements of WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The statistical content in the "Figures on science and research" section of the service may be problematic for screen reader users.

Read more: Accessibility statement

What is the Research.fi service and who is responsible for it?

Research.fi is a service provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture that collects and disseminates information on research conducted in Finland. CSC - IT Center for Science is responsible for the implementation of the service on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Culture in collaboration with Finnish higher education institutions, research institutes and other research organizations as well as research funders.

What is the difference between the Research Information Hub and Research.fi?

The National Research Information Hub collects, collates and provides descriptive information on research. It aims, for example, to simplify the process researchers use to submit reports to funding providers. Research.fi, on the other hand, is the external service of the Research Information Hub that provides easy access to the information.

The National Research Information Hub project was initiated in 2017, and the related Research.fi service was launched in June 2020. The development of the National Research Information Hub and Research.fi is ongoing.

How is personal data processed in the National Research Information Hub and on Research.fi?

According to the General Data Protection Regulation, personal data is all data that can be linked to a person. This means that the Research Information Hub also stores personal data. Currently, the service collects the personal data of, for example, the authors of publications and research data or recipients of funding decisions, including their names, organizations and ORCID identifiers. For more information, see the service’s privacy policy and cookie policy.

How accessible is Research.fi?

The accessibility requirements for the online service are based on the Act on the Provision of Digital Services (306/2019). Research.fi meets the level AA critical accessibility requirements defined in WCAG 2.1. Only the statistical contents of the portal’s “Figures on science and research” section can be problematic for users of screen readers. For more information, see the service’s accessibility statement.

How can I give feedback on the service?

You can use the feedback form on the Research.fi service to, for example, provide feedback on the portal’s functionalities or visual identity and report any errors or problems. Alternatively, you can send your feedback vie email to tiedejatutkimus@csc.fi.

What information does the service contain?

Currently, the service contains information from e.g. the Finnish research system, publications by Finnish organizations, funding granted by public and private research funders, as well as statistical information on the development of research staff and funding figures and the impact of scientific publications.

The service contains metadata that describes the research. Therefore, any actual research data or publications are not stored in the service. However, the metadata often includes a permanent address from which the publication or data can be downloaded.

Who is responsible for the accuracy of the information?

Each organization providing information is responsible for the accuracy, quality, completeness and up-to-dateness of its information.

Is the provision of information mandatory?

In general, the submission of information is voluntary for organizations. Only the submission of publication information to the Ministry of Education and Culture has been mandatory for universities and universities of applied sciences since 2012. For organizations other than universities and universities of applied sciences, the Ministry of Education and Culture collects publication information on a voluntary basis. For more information, see the instructions on submitting information to the National Research Information Hub (available in Finnish).

Can I limit my searches in the service to the sub-units of organizations?

Limiting your search by sub-unit will be included in a later update to the service. Currently, users cannot limit their queries by sub-unit.

What information does Research.fi contain about researchers and experts?

Information about the expert includes, for example, contact details, affiliations, education and qualifications, research fields, a description of your own research, and various expert roles. Users can also link publications, data, or projects already included in Reasearch.fi to their profiles.

Research.fi contains information about researchers and experts who have created a profile using the profile tool and given permission for it to be published on the Research.fi website. Public profile information makes it easier, for example, to find experts in a specific field of research in Finland.

Who can create a profile?

Any researcher or expert can create a profile.

Using the profile tool requires Suomi.fi e-Identification and logging in with an ORCID iD. The user must agree to the terms of use.

How do I import my information into Research.fi and the profile tool?

A profile is created using the profile tool, and users can link information from their home organizations and ORCID profiles to it. Creating a profile is voluntary, and you can choose which information to display in your public profile. 

In the profile tool, users grant permission for their information to be transferred from their ORCID profile. Organizations can transfer information on experts and researchers affiliated to them into the profile tool for users to select from. Users manage the visibility of their information on the Research.fi service via the profile tool.

Information on experts’ publications, data sets, and projects is obtained from other source systems maintained by higher education institutions and research institutes. Information related to funding decisions is obtained from research funders. 

How is the information edited?

Information is edited in the source systems, from which it updates to the profile. In the profile tool, users can manage the visibility of their information on Research.fi.

All information is marked with a source where changes can be made. Updated data is automatically synced to the profile.

Is my profile updated automatically?

In the profile tool, users can choose to automatically make new information transferred from source systems public on their own profile.

Changes to information that has already been set as public are automatically updated in the profile.

How can I hide my profile?

You can hide your public profile at any time. Hiding your profile means that your public profile will not be visible on Research.fi, but the information you have selected will remain in the profile tool. You can hide your profile by logging into the profile tool and going to the profile's Settings page.

You cannot change the selections you have made in your public profile while it is hidden. Information is only saved when the profile is published. You can log in to your profile at any time and make it public again.

What is an ORCID iD and why is it useful on Research.fi?

The international ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a permanent and unique identifier for researchers and experts. The ORCID iD is the most widely established method for identifying researchers worldwide.

ORCID is an open, public, international, and community-driven registry of permanent digital researcher identifiers. ORCID is an independent, non-profit organization. Anyone can create an ORCID iD for themselves.

The ORCID iD serves as a secondary authentication method in the profile tool, and users can use the identifier to link their research outputs to their profile.

Read more: ORCID

Why is strong authentication required to create a profile?

You always log in to the profile tool using Suomi.fi e-Identification. Suomi.fi e-Identification guarantees users reliable and long-term access to their own data. Strong authentication also reduces the risk of misuse and helps in investigating cases of misuse.

Login options provided by employers, such as HAKA login, do not allow, for example, grant researchers or individuals changing affiliations to authenticate.

Suomi.fi e-Identification is the only form of strong authentication in use in Finland. There are no parallel strong authentication options.

How is it determined which organization an expert belongs to? 

Users can select the affiliation information displayed in their profiles.

Research organizations report information about their own experts and determine which experts belong to that organization.

When creating a profile, an expert can also select their affiliation information from their own ORCID profile. 

Can a research group be listed on the service?

Only individuals can create a public profile. It is not possible to appear as a research group, but you can select information about group memberships for your own profile if it is available from source systems.

Can I enter or save information into the service myself?

Information is not entered manually into the service; instead, it is automatically retrieved from the systems of universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutes, university hospitals and research funding agencies. Research outputs that have not been recorded in the systems of these organizations cannot be entered or saved to Research.fi.

Research.fi is updated with information from the organizations that conduct, fund, and support research. The information is organized into different entities. The contents of the entities and how they are imported into the service are described in more detail in the section "What information does the service contain and where does it come from?"

Research.fi contains only descriptive information. For example, research data or publications are not stored in the service, but the descriptive information often includes a permanent link from which the publication or data can be downloaded.

How can a research organization or funder start submitting information?

Please contact us by email if you wish to start submitting information: tiedejatutkimus@csc.fi.

How often is information updated in the service from different source systems?

Each information provider decides on its own update frequency.

What should I do if there is an error in my information?

Each organization that submits information is responsible for its accuracy, quality, completeness, and timeliness. Please contact the information source directly – for example, your own organization – to correct any errors. The information source is indicated next to the displayed information.

Can I enter or save information into the service myself?

Information is not entered manually into the service; instead, it is automatically retrieved from the systems of universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutes, university hospitals and research funding agencies. Research outputs that have not been recorded in the systems of these organizations cannot be entered or saved to Research.fi.

Research.fi is updated with information from the organizations that conduct, fund, and support research. The information is organized into different entities. The contents of the entities and how they are imported into the service are described in more detail in the section "What information does the service contain and where does it come from?"

Research.fi contains only descriptive information. For example, research data or publications are not stored in the service, but the descriptive information often includes a permanent link from which the publication or data can be downloaded.

Can information be downloaded from the service, for example, in Excel format?

Information cannot be downloaded directly from the portal because the Finnish law on research information hub stipulates that information containing personal information may only be displayed on the portal.

Information can be downloaded in machine-readable JSON format via the Research.fi API. Using the API requires access rights.

Who can use the information via the API?

Use of the API requires approval from the controller of the research information hub which is the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Research actors (the Ministry of Education and Culture, organizations conducting research, and organizations funding and supporting research) may apply to the Ministry of Education and Culture for read access to the public information entities in the research information hub.

How can the business community and companies utilize Research.fi?

Companies use Research.fi, for example, to efficiently reach experts, utilize research information in product development, and facilitate, for example, project collaboration with research organizations.

Can I apply for funding or research support through Research.fi?

Research.fi does not grant funding, produce materials, or offer research support. Therefore, we do not process research or funding applications. Please contact funding agencies or research organizations directly.

Can searches in the service be filtered by organizational units?

You can browse publication information for organizational units via the organization-specific pages.