Etsin – research data finder

What is Etsin?

Etsin - research data finder contains descriptions of research datasets, that is, their metadata. Metadata describes important aspects of data, for example authors, subject, format and license information.

Metadata enables anyone to search and browse existing datasets. Etsin also includes information on how the dataset may be utilized. Researchers and or-ganizations can use Etsin to document and share the existence of their research data, as well as find data from others via the versatile search features.

Etsin works independently of data storage location. Using Etsin is free of charge.

Etsin facilitates discovery and reuse of datasets: • Collects metadata of existing Finnish research datasets• Contains information about data distributors and how to access it• Increases the ability to find data via descriptive information and search• Supports meriting the researcher via increased visibility for data

Etsin facilitates description of datasets: • User interfaces guides the description of the data• Metadata model promotes common principles for data description• Service uses existing ontologies and vocabularies• Recommendations promote licensing practices

The better the dataset is described, the easier it will be to find and utilize. Etsin employs a metadata model that determines the minimum level of description.

Data owners decide on data openness and access. The descriptive metadata in Etsin will be published under CC0 license. It is recommended to solve the ownership and copyright issues of the data in the beginning of the research process. Nevertheless, providing your data openly is recommended. The rec-ommended license for open data is Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license.

More information about Etsin

Etsin research data finder etsin.avointiede.fi/en/

Etsin homepage openscience.fi/etsin

Etsin is a service offered to scientific community by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The service is produced by CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd.