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New edition of
popular LC pamphlet
now available
Funding intelligence tool: Launching soon to provide a better grip on the funding landscape
Josine Stallinga
As a scientific publisher, we recognize the importance of providing support at every step of the research process. To do this, we like to engage closely with researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the researcher’s workflow. How do researchers spend their time, and what are the challenges they face? What keeps them awake at night, and what do they dream about accomplishing? Answers to these questions allow us to learn what solutions they need to pursue their research objectives.
Our market research shows that the researcher’s workflow entails three major objectives: securing the right amount of funding, performing cutting-edge research and getting published in the best journals. However, no matter how relevant or groundbreaking the research is, researchers rely on research grants to accomplish their work. Bluntly speaking, no funding usually means no research.
Obtaining research funding is challenging
In addition to being a crucial element of the researcher’s workflow, obtaining funding is unfortunately a very time-consuming and challenging task. Moreover, the success rates of submitted proposals are very low: In the US, only one out of every five proposals is granted. I remember a conversation with an accomplished researcher at a very prestigious US institution who had submitted 10 funding proposals that year without any success. Can you imagine his frustration at putting his valuable time and energy into those proposals without getting anything in return?
It might come as no surprise that obtaining research funding is most often regarded as the number one pain point of researchers across the globe. Beyond the primary need to support research, funding is also an important indicator for evaluation and performance measurement. University leadership depends on funding information for internal and external reporting, and is increasingly using it for strategic decision-making purposes.
What our research showed
We conducted a large study of the research funding process to understand its complexities and get detailed insight into needs of the different stakeholders involved. Researchers often rely on research administrators to support them in the funding process. Librarians are another key stakeholder group, as they are often consulted by researchers looking for information sources to help analyze funding opportunities and prepare research proposals.
It might come as no surprise that obtaining research funding is most often regarded as the number one pain point of researchers across the globe.
Our research encouraged us to develop a solution that could make a difference, and the idea of the funding intelligence tool was born. Our overarching objective has been to develop a solution that could add substantial value to the efficiency of the research funding process and possibly increase submission success rates. We have come to learn that by integrating funding data with publication and researcher data, we could do just that.
Clearing the path and creating opportunities to increase funding
With public funding levels flat in many parts of the world, and research becoming increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative, access to reliable funding information is more critical than ever to competing successfully for research funding. The funding intelligence tool can help researchers and research administrators find the most relevant funding opportunities and help them be more effective throughout the funding process. With the funding intelligence tool, institutes provide their researchers with a single access point to comprehensive and reliable funding data, and maximize their chances of getting their projects funded.
The tool offers its users three key benefits:
- A comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date funding opportunity database, with an intuitive interface allowing for targeted searching and browsing.
- Personalized funding opportunity recommendations matched on prepopulated research profiles. These profiles are based on Author Profiles from Scopus, a citation database containing over 20 million author profiles across all fields.
- Consolidated and integrated historic award data, linked to publication information.
User feedback has taught us that this last benefit, the “funding intelligence” as we like to call it, is of prime importance. Specifically, it allows researchers to estimate their chances, better position themselves and find collaborators, or learn about the competition. Moreover, it provides research administrators with easy access to crucial data for evaluation, performance measurement and strategic decision making.
Following are comments from Elsevier’s User Centered Design Group (UCD) interviews with users involved in early testing and evaluation of the tool:
- “I can see how this funding intelligence data could be of critical importance to determine our funding strategy.”
- “It allows you to research the value of opportunities, and evaluate whether they are worth applying to.”
- “Yesterday I spent 2 hours with a faculty member just trying to figure out the best keywords to set up an alert. This is much simpler; you only have to enter your name, and your publications are captured automatically. That is terrific!”
User centered design and collaborative development
Elsevier will launch the funding intelligence tool in the US in mid-2009. We decided to introduce the product to the US market first, because in the States funding is highly decentralized and user needs are most immediate. However, market research also tells us that there is a large and growing need in other regions as well, and we intend to start rolling out the tool to Canada and the European and Asia-Pacific regions shortly. Further, we’re committed to ongoing product development and intend to further enhance the tool’s capabilities and collaborative capabilities.
Already, we’ve worked with a small group of Development Partners, whose input has been instrumental to the development of the tool. In fact, our UCD Group has collaborated closely with these partners to match the tool’s design and functionality to user needs, and moving forward we'll continue to work with these same partners to improve the tool. Also, before the launch of the funding intelligence tool, we’ll organize a beta testing program for a select group of US institutes.
At Elsevier, our responsibility doesn’t just
begin when a paper is submitted: Our role
starts with supporting researchers and
institutions in the earliest stages of the
researcher’s workflow. It is important
for everyone at Elsevier to use our
knowledge and experience to assist the
academic community, and we’ll continue
to explore innovative ways to support
the advancement of research. 
