AI-Assisted Research Intelligence and Impact Analysis

Research & Development · Safety & Security

What it collects that can identify you

Sensitive personal information

Identifiable data

Researcher profiles derived from publication data, including author names, institutional affiliations, and declared areas of expertise — used to identify suitable peer reviewers and support due diligence assessments.

Also collects operational data, which is anonymized data.

Run by: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Where: No fixed location
Kept: Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with: Accountable organization, Vendor
Your copy: You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

Research & Development

Safety & Security

Dimension AI is a research intelligence platform used by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) employees to discover, analyze, and evaluate scholarly publications, grants, patents, and other research outputs. It supports bibliometric analysis, research impact assessment, reviewer identification, and due diligence for research security. The system is currently in development and is used internally by government employees rather than the general public.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data

Anonymized data

A vast, interconnected database of global research outputs including scholarly publications, grants, patents, and other research outcomes — sourced from public academic and governmental registries.

Sensitive personal information

Identifiable data

Researcher profiles derived from publication data, including author names, institutional affiliations, and declared areas of expertise — used to identify suitable peer reviewers and support due diligence assessments.

Processing

Search & Retrieval

Retrieves relevant scholarly publications, grants, and patents from a large interconnected global research database in response to user queries, enabling discovery and analysis of research outputs.

Classification & Prediction

Performs bibliometric analyses and calculates research impact scores, citation counts, and influence metrics for publications and researchers. Also classifies and ranks potential peer reviewers by relevance and expertise match.

What it does

Deciding (Analytical AI)

Human decides

Performs bibliometric analyses, scores research impact, and ranks potential reviewers based on publication data and expertise. Outputs advisory scores and rankings; human NSERC employees make final decisions on grant awards, reviewer assignments, and security assessments.

Understanding (Semantic AI)

Human decides

Enables users to discover and retrieve relevant scholarly content from a vast interconnected database of global research outputs, matching queries to publications, grants, and patents based on semantic relevance and expertise profiles.

Outputs

A recommendation or prediction

Identifiable data

Produces ranked lists of suitable peer reviewers based on publication data and expertise matching, and generates research impact scores and bibliometric analyses to inform grant and funding decisions.

Operational data

Anonymized data

Produces aggregated bibliometric analyses, research landscape summaries, and due diligence insights used to inform institutional decisions about grant awards, research partnerships, and security assessments — not tied to any single individual.

Run by

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

Federal government department responsible for deploying and operating Dimension AI for internal use by GC employees in support of research evaluation and due diligence activities.

Government of Canada AI Register — Dimension AI

Built by

Digital Science & Research Solutions

The commercial vendor that builds, supplies, and licenses the Dimension AI platform — an integrated research intelligence database of global research outputs including publications, grants, and patents.

Government of Canada AI Register — Dimension AI

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization

Outputs — including bibliometric analyses, reviewer recommendations, and due diligence insights — are available to NSERC employees (GC employees) who use the platform for internal research evaluation purposes.

Available to vendor

Digital Science & Research Solutions, as the platform vendor, has access to the underlying research database and platform usage data. The extent of vendor access to NSERC-specific query data is not specified in the register.

Not available to me

The platform is restricted to GC (Government of Canada) employees. Members of the public and individual researchers whose data is analyzed do not have direct access to the platform or its outputs about them.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data: Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data: Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data: The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides: This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes: This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous: This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

Right to Algorithmic TransparencyResearchers whose publication data and profiles are analyzed by Dimension AI may request general information about how the platform processes research outputs and calculates impact metrics by contacting NSERC. The system is listed on the Government of Canada's public AI register.
Right to Be Informed of AI UseResearchers subject to reviewer identification or due diligence assessments using this system may not be directly notified that their publicly available publication data is being analyzed by AI. The system's existence is disclosed through the Government of Canada's public AI register at open.canada.ca.

Risks and safeguards

Reputational harmResearchers may be incorrectly profiled, misidentified, or assigned inaccurate expertise or impact scores, leading to missed reviewer opportunities or adverse due diligence findings that damage professional reputation.Safeguard: The system is used by human GC employees who make final decisions, providing a human review layer. NSERC employees are trained on the system's limitations and outputs are treated as advisory. The system is currently in development, allowing for testing and refinement before full deployment.
Civil liberties harmBibliometric models and impact scoring may embed biases that systematically disadvantage researchers from under-represented groups, non-English-language publishing traditions, or institutions with lower publication volumes, affecting reviewer selection and grant-related assessments.Safeguard: Final reviewer and funding decisions rest with human NSERC employees. The system is in development, providing an opportunity to audit for demographic and linguistic bias prior to full deployment.