SPARClink: an interactive tool to visualize the impact of the SPARC program

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Data Science
• Neuroscience

Background:

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program funds research into therapeutic devices for organ function modulation via nerve electrical activity.
• SPARC researchers generate extensive neuromodulation datasets, adhering to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) guidelines for public access via the SPARC data portal.
• Tracking the utilization of these datasets is crucial for researchers to demonstrate the impact of their SPARC outcomes and for the program to showcase the effectiveness of its data curation and sharing practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce SPARClink, a web tool designed to visualize the impact of SPARC-funded research outputs.
• To develop a system for automatically identifying and tracking published SPARC scientific outputs and external references.
• To demonstrate the positive impact of FAIR data principles on research visibility and community engagement within a large consortium.

Main Methods:

• Developed SPARClink, a web tool that continuously identifies new SPARC scientific outputs (datasets, publications, protocols) and their citations.
• Utilized publicly accessible REST APIs from Pennsieve and Protocols.io to query SPARC datasets and protocols.
• Integrated data from NIH Reporter API and NCBI Entrez system for citation retrieval.
• Implemented a novel knowledge graph structure to visualize query results and demonstrate research impact.

Main Results:

• SPARClink successfully identifies and links SPARC scientific outputs with external references, providing a comprehensive view of research impact.
• The tool visualizes the flow of information and influence stemming from SPARC-funded research.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of automated tracking and knowledge graph visualization in showcasing the impact of FAIR data principles.

Conclusions:

• SPARClink provides a valuable mechanism for researchers and the SPARC program to track and showcase the impact of neuromodulation research and FAIR data practices.
• The tool highlights the benefits of adopting FAIR data principles in fostering transparency and accelerating scientific discovery.
• SPARClink's success, recognized at the 2021 SPARC FAIR Codeathon, underscores the potential of data visualization tools in enhancing research dissemination and impact assessment.