What is Community of Science™?
Who can become a member of COS Community of Science?
Can individual researchers join Community of Science?
What are the benefits of membership in Community of Science?
How can my company gain access to the system without registering?
Who may use the Community of Science Web site?
What is the Community of Science copyright policy?
Does COS have a role to play in electronic research administration?
Is Community of Science for-profit or not-for-profit company?

What is Community of Science™?

Community of Science (COS) is the leading Web site for scientists and scholars to find funding, promote their research and collaborate with peers worldwide. COS enables R&D professionals to communicate across a Web network of shared research, funding information and comprehensive science and technology data, facilitating "virtual communities" whereby societies and scholars in selected disciplines can convene and collaborate on the Web.

Researchers in all disciplines are welcome to contribute information and use the system - biomedical experts, physicists, chemists, engineers, materials scientists, social scientists, humanists, and artists. COS has built and will continue to nurture an expertise database that covers all research disciplines.

Individual researchers, research universities, federal and private laboratories, and professional societies are all invited to become members of COS. COS members are typically involved in basic or applied research and associated with universities, federal or private laboratories, or professional societies. The researchers and institutions use COS for multiple strategic purposes on a global level, including internal research development and technology transfer.

Individuals involved in any way with the scientific community are encouraged to register at no cost with COS. Upon registering, new members must create a personal profile using a tool called COS Expertise. This research profile will be published in COS Expertise alongside information from other researchers from around the world.

As a member of COS, you are participating in a Web-based global research network of scientists and scholars. Most importantly, researchers who are members of COS have access to the largest Internet repository of funding opportunities of more than 24,000 grants. Members are also provided with the COS portfolio of services, such as the COS Workbench and COS Expertise, that allow you to customize your research and enhance your ability to communicate with your peers across a global web network.

COS offers three types of memberships: to research institutions, corporations and individuals. Institutions are able to build and maintain a verified internal information system, while having access to a massive, streamlined inter-institutional information resource. R&D Corporations gain competitive advantage by leveraging research expertise on the COS network. Individuals can promote their research and use an array of free services in addition to having access to funding opportunities in their respective fields.

R&D corporations, government agencies, and foundations typically do not contribute researcher profile information, but access the network for collaborative, peer review, and strategic assessment purposes. These companies are granted read-only access to COS services through subscription access. See our Benefits to Corporate Members section.

While COS is a tool used primarily by its members for advancing their research, individuals from .edu or equivalent Internet domains have free access to COS Expertise, the worldwide network of researcher profiles. All corporate members are granted read-only access to the network. All researchers who register on Community of Science are given a username and password, with which they can update their profile and access additional research tools.

COS copyrights the records in the COS Expertise and gives each member institution an unrestricted license to use the information that it publishes for internal research development and technology transfer purposes. Each member university (and each data-contributing individual) is the author of its information, and COS is the publisher.

As a Web consortium, COS gives all of its authors unlimited use of the information it publishes. The copyright permits COS to aggregate the information and sell subscriptions to leading R&D companies, thus underwriting a large part of the total cost of the service to member universities and laboratories. The copyright also protects the interest of the member institutions from third parties that might seek to access and redistribute the information for non-scientific purposes. For additional information, please see our Copyright Policies.

Yes. The COS faculty information system has powerful capabilities as a pre-award information discovery and dissemination system. Research administrators identify funding opportunities in a timely and comprehensive fashion, perform a "match" with individual researchers, and distribute the information electronically. COS has also developed an electronic Quick Form to aid in the preparation and submission of PHS 398 Biographical Sketch for NIH.

COS is a for-profit company headquartered in Baltimore, MD. Please click here to learn more about COS' investors and partners.