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Etsin is a research data finder. In the service you can search and find data from various fields of research. Etsin gathers metadata about existing research data from various external sources and also provides a web interface to enter metadata directly into the service. Actual research data is never stored in Etsin and as such it can be stored anywhere at the discretion of the owner of the data. However, by gathering the metadata in a single service Etsin allows anyone to easily discover the data.
Comprehensive description of data plays a very important role in the visibility of the data. Etsin encourages this by adapting a common set of discipline-independent metadata fields and by making it easy to enter new metadata. The service also promotes adding unified information about the availability, ownership and licensing of data. Increased visibility and findability of the data promotes data reuse and helps bring merit to researchers. It also makes the results of research more transparent to funders.
Etsin is provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland. Etsin is maintained by CSC — IT Center for Science Ltd. The service is discipline independent and free to use.
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