fundedBy

FundedBy is a metadata field or property used to identify the organization or entity that provided financial support for a project, publication, product, or other work. It is commonly found in research metadata, grant databases, film and television credits, and software or open-source project documentation. The field helps attribute funding sources and can support accountability, impact assessment, and reproducibility.

In practical use, fundedBy can be a single funder or a list of funders. Values may be simple names or structured records that include the funder’s name, an identifier (such as a funder registry ID), and optional details like grant numbers or funding programs. Using a structured format improves interoperability across systems and facilitates disambiguation when funders have similar names.

Standards and related properties: Many data models align fundedBy with a standard notion of funders. In schema.org, for example, the funder property can be used to indicate organizations or people that provided support for a CreativeWork or other item. Some datasets also rely on external identifiers from funder registries or registries that uniquely identify funders. Data may appear in JSON-LD, RDF, or tabular formats, and aligned mappings can enhance cross-dataset linking.

Examples: A project record might include fundedBy: National Institutes of Health, grantNumber: R01-XXXX; or fundedBy: [Wellcome Trust, European Research Council]. Values can be updated as funding arrangements evolve.

Limitations and considerations: Not all works include funding information; funding names can change or vary in wording. Ensuring accuracy, provenance, and appropriate attribution is important, as is using standardized identifiers where possible to improve interoperability.