Public funding accountability: a linked open data-based methodology for analysing the scientific productivity and influence of funded projects Articles uri icon

publication date

  • March 2014

start page

  • 5841

end page

  • 5868

issue

  • 10

volume

  • 129

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0138-9130

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1588-2861

abstract

  • Although funding acknowledgements (FAs) have been around for nearly three decades,
    there are not yet enough theoretical and practical studies of them to enable FAs to be considered a consolidated area of research. Fortunately, newly published fndings and promising data sources presented in recent years have helped better our understanding of the process of scientifc creation and communication and provide evidence of the importance of
    FAs. This paper seeks to help demonstrate the crucial role FAs play in evaluating research
    funding"s performance. A methodology based on the use of linked open metadata from
    diverse sources is presented for this purpose. The methodology highlights the important
    work analysts do to increase the accuracy, solidity, and diversity of the results of FA-based
    quantitative studies by gathering and analysing the data furnished by funding organisations. Lastly, the projects funded by the Spanish National Science and Research Agency
    from 2008 to 2020 are evaluated to verify the method"s usefulness, robustness, and reproducibility. Also, a new unit of analysis is introduced, funders, to create a new type of cooccurrence network: co-funding. In conclusion, funding agencies" experts and analysts will
    fnd that this methodology gives them a valuable instrument for boosting the quality and
    efcacy of their activities, complying with transparency and accountability requirements,
    and quantifying the scope of funding results.

subjects

  • Computer Science
  • Information Science
  • Library Science and Documentation

keywords

  • public funding; linked open data; co-funding networks