Methodology and limitations

ResearchFit combines public scholarly indexes and federal funding data. This page explains exactly how each number is derived and where the data falls short, so you can judge how much weight to put on it.

Primary sources

OpenAlex and Crossref — multidisciplinary literature metadata for the live finder.
Wikidata — entity labels and aliases for query expansion; vocabulary is not research evidence.
NIH RePORTER — federal award records for faculty, grants, and funding totals.
PubMed / NCBI E-utilities — publication records, abstracts, and MeSH terms behind the gap analysis.

ResearchFit is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the NIH or any listed university.

Methodology and limitations

Where does the faculty data come from?

Why are some faculty missing?

How are faculty matched to research topics?

How are programs ranked in search results?

How is the research gap analysis produced?

Can I cite a research gap in my application?

How current is the data?

Primary sources