Thanks Carolyn,

This is very helpful. I will pass it along to the PI.

Pam

Carolyn Elliott-Farino wrote:

>Pam,
>
>I just had a faculty member ask about this and I posted a question to
the listserve and was directed to the archives where I found the
following (from October 07):
>************************************************************************
*********************************
>
>When UA's Institutional Research dept briefly looked into the site, the
following was her thoughts on the actual site. If anyone has additional
information regarding the site or organization, please post to the
list. It seem the current consensus is not favorable toward the site, I
would be hesitant to encourage any PI's to provide information. -- Dawn
Wall, University of Alaska
>+++++
>
>Dawn, (cc: Pat, Misha)
>Thanks for bringing this web site to our attention.  The data presented
for Alaska does not accurately represent what the site leads one to
believe.
>
>I think that showing confusing/misleading data is sort of a 'bait' to
get people to pay for memberships and provide information in order to
correct what is displayed.  Reading the site's FAQ, the only data they
present is a combination of NIH-reported funding data back to 1992, and
some foundation data dating back to 1958, in addition to what
researchers self-report.  However, the data displays lead one to
believe the site addresses ALL grant activity.  There is not
methodology information available, though perhaps this is available
once you become a paying member.
>
>My two cents..
>Gwendolyn White
>Director, Institutional Research & Planning
>University of Alaska System Office
>PO Box 755260 Fairbanks, AK 99775-5260
>(907)450-8192 http://www.alaska.edu/swoir
>The company is Innolyst, based out of San Mateo, CA. Kyle Brown, CEO.
They are compiling information based on what they get from public
sources & feed back directly from grantee organizations. It appears
that they are a grant source search engine like InfoEd or PubMed. Their
data seems well presented, but I don’t know if it is accurate or
complete. I looked at some Boston area data sets & I can see that some
are incomplete, at least. Another thing that they are going to do is
connect patients with researchers. With any new product, it s smart to
be guarded, but their aims appear to be above board.James
CappellucciResearch FinanceBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center330
Brookline Avenue, BR109, 2nd FloorBoston, MA  02115P. 617-667-4280F.
617-667-1110
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On
Behalf Of Charlie Hathaway
>Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 2:57 PM
>To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
>Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Looking for info about Research Crossroads Why
even investigate further?  These teasers of "potential collaborations"
and "making pharma aware of your work" have been around ever since the
big 3 funding databases began offering the research profiles/email
alert options.  But do these collaborations and magical corporate
funding offers ever happen?  I mean if you were a scientist looking for
someone to collaborate with, or a biotech firm looking for someone
doing a certain kind of research, would you go to researchcrossroads,
InfoEd, COS, etc BEFORE you looked at PubMed or CRISP or society
abstracts???
>
>CH
>
>
>At 02:24 PM 10/10/2007, you wrote:
>
>We had a PI recently receive their solicitation e-mail, too. I checked
around here with a few people, and no one knew much about this
organization, on either the pro or the con side.
>
>However, we all were concerned about PIs updating their profiles, that
the result would be data-mining by others and the receipt of more
unsolicited, probably not-too-helpful e-mails.
>
>Note that their URL is .com NOT .org, this indicating that they are
likely more of a commercial enterprise than not.
>
>Finally, when I looked at their FAQs, specifically, "Who has access to
my funding data", the answer is, "Only other foundation members of
ResearchCrossroads and subscribing corporations have access to your
detailed award data." What's a "subscribing corporation"? I very
suspicious of that one.
>
>Although most of the data that a PI is likely to provide would be
publically available, one way or the other, I would advise
investigators against responding to this until more is known.
>
>-- Evelyn
>Evelyn J. Ford
>Director, Sponsored Research
>Center for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics
>School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
>103C Blockley Hall
>423 Guardian Drive
>Philadelphia PA 19104-6021
>voice 215.573.1360        fax 215.573.5518
>xxxxxx@mail.med.upenn.edu
>http://www.cceb.upenn.edu/
>
>At 01:54 PM 10/10/2007, Kristy Ford wrote:
>
>This company does not appear to be very reputable, in my opinion.  I
>just went to their website, and the funding data they have posted for
>both Georgia institutions where I've worked and currently work are
>incorrect.  Being the kind of person that I am, I sent them an e-mail
>through their "contact us" page informing them of their erroneous data
>and made some suggestions for correction:)
>
>Just from my brief glance at their website, I wouldn't trust them.
>
>Kristy
>
>Kristy Ford
>Grant Management Manager
>Office of Sponsored Programs/MHUMC
>4750 Waters Ave. Suite 212
>Savannah, GA  31404
>(912)350-6379
>
>
>>>> "Pamela T. Plotkin" <xxxxxx@CORNELL.EDU> 10/10/2007 1:13 PM >>>
>Hi -
>
>I am curious to know if anyone has any insider info on the company
>â€*Research Crossroads† http://www.researchcrossroads.com/
>
>They are sending our faculty email solicitations, listing all of the
>faculty memberâ€*s federally funded grants, and asking them to update
>their information on the Research Crossroads website.
>
>This is what is written on their website:
>
>Research Crossroads was created to provide transparent access to the
>world of publicly funded research. Researchers can find potential
>collaborators, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies gain insight
>into publicly funded research. Foundations can leverage each others
>scarce research dollars by funding only unique research and sharing
>insights. Good afternoon,
>
>All participants are critical to the vision of bringing researchers,
>foundations and the public closer together in the understanding of
>disease and the research being performed. The graph below outlines the
>
>process for populating and curating the data contained in Research
>Crossroads.
>
>Any info is gratefully appreciated.
>
>Best,
>
>Pam
>
>
>--
>Pamela Plotkin, Ph.D.
>Deputy Director, Sponsored Program Services
>Cornell University
>120 Day Hall
>Ithaca, NY 14853
>607-254-8329
>xxxxxx@cornell.edu
>
>---------------------------------------------------
>
>
>>>> xxxxxx@USFCA.EDU 5/29/2008 12:44:47 PM >>>
>Has anyone heard of "Research Crossroads"?
>
>They sent this message to one of our researchers:
>
>"We have created a profile of your research by collecting data from
>NIH, NSF, ClinicalTrials.gov, Grants.gov and disease research
>foundations.  We are providing this free service as a method to improve
>the access and quality of data available under the Freedom of
>Information Act.  All content is taken from public sources.  Our
>motivation in creating this website is to provide better access to
>publicly funded research.  By creating a social network of researchers,
>we hope to increase collaboration and speed discovery. "
>
>The researcher is given a password and directed to go to their site and
>update his info.
>
>Anyone know anything about it?
>
>
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