Collaboration is part of the research endeavour, but a growing number of mandatory security requirements can take up precious time and resources for funders and research institutes. Dimensions Research Security can efficiently assess potential risk, complete compliance tasks and build trust.

In recent years, governments and policy makers have started noting the importance of issues related to research security and integrity and in the ethics and safeguarding of research. Several countries are putting in place a host of mandatory and emerging research security requirements. In the United States, for example, National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 lays out guidelines for funders and organizations to establish research security programs, Canada has established guidelines to build security capacity and the UK government has a collaboration advice team. Earlier this month, the White House released a memorandum with guidelines on common disclosure forms for use by Federal Research Funding Agencies to help identify conflicts of commitment and potential duplication with the work of foreign governments.  

Academic leaders and research institutions need to be proactive in assessing risks, as non-compliance can lead to fines, penalties, reputational damage and the potential loss of stakeholder trust and funding. And this is where Dimensions Research Security can help. The app, which has been developed with an advisory group of research security users, takes a data-driven approach to help protect research and researchers in assessing potential risk, completing compliance tasks and building trust, and all in a resource-efficient way.
In the Dimensions webinar ‘A Primer on Identifying Research Security Risks‘, speaker Jeff Stoff, founder of Center for Research Security and Integrity, demonstrated how Dimensions can be used to carefully scrutinize data to evaluate risks before engaging in any partnerships, formal or informal.

Jeff Stoff talks about how he drew extensively from Dimensions data to take a closer look at Sino-German (and other countries) collaborations

Because Dimensions Research Security is built on multiple bibliographic databases and collates up-to-date information related to global research. Publications are a core part of the dataset, with global coverage of traditional peer-reviewed research, but this is enriched and connected to many other related data sources.

Dimensions data provided insights into Canadian research collaboration with the ‘Seven Sons of the National Defence’ universities in China

Over 600 funders index their grant information in a searchable way, and preprints, clinical trials, patents and other outputs from grants are also included. 

Users can view an easy-to-use dashboard that gives them control over the data that is most important to them. It simplifies the process of making an informed decision and complying with the government or funder mandated requirements. The need-based search means it can be used for an individual, a research group or for international collaborations. The app allows users to quickly and easily see which international collaborations and potential foreign funding programs might be flagged and highlights where a closer look may be needed.

Jeff Stoff explains how scrutinizing data available on Dimensions can help evaluate the risks and potentials for international collaborations

The webinar by Jeff Stoff on ‘A Primer on Identifying Research Security Risks’ is available on demand. 

If you have questions about how Dimensions Research Security  could help you contact the Dimensions team for a demo. 
You can also get more information from the Dimensions Research Security product page, or sign up to  watch the webinar Research security and research integrity: Solutions for funding agencies.