Changing governance structures in research also led to changing information needs, e.g. on research performance of the various players in the German science system. This has resulted in almost completely un-coordinated and repeated efforts in gathering relevant information for evaluation, for systems of performance based funding (esp. the Leistungsorientierte Mittelvergabe, LOM), for internal and external accounting and reporting purposes etc. These multiple and repetitive inquiries pose a severe additional workload to the affected scientists and administrations alike. Typically, data is collected and used for a single purpose only. Data generated in these ad-hoc collections usually cannot be used in a sustained fashion and is incompatible between institutions. The Research Monitors’ purpose is to provide participating institutions and/or scientists an infrastructure that addresses these problems. It allows the generation of structured micro data under the control of the scientists themselves, which is re-usable for multiple purposes.

The Research Monitor will allow for sustainable monitoring of publicly funded research based on scientifically well-founded and newly developed indicators. Its function is to facilitate the collection, use and storage of valid data and information.

The Research Monitor´s purposes and goals are:

• Service for the German Research Foundation (DFG): support of reports on Graduate Schools and Excellence Clusters.
• Service for funded projects: Support of project managers and simplification of reporting.
• Service for Scientists: Storage and dissemination of data on research activities and academic career.
• Provision of a data pool for evaluations and research projects carried out by iFQ.
• Data provision and panel maintenance for further projects (esp. iFQ-project ProFile).

In Mai 2009, the Research Monitor has been launched, initially for use in iFQ-project ProFile only.