Grant Source Configuration

AcaTrove's grant discovery features rely on connections to external funding databases. The grant source configuration page lets administrators manage which grant databases are active, configure API credentials, and control how funding opportunities are indexed and presented to researchers. Admin role is required.

Accessing Grant Source Configuration

Navigate to /admin/grant-sources from the admin sidebar.

Grant source configuration page with available databases

Available Grant Databases

AcaTrove can connect to several major funding databases:

• NIH RePORTER -- National Institutes of Health grant opportunities and funded projects. Covers biomedical and public health research.
• NSF Awards -- National Science Foundation funding opportunities across science and engineering disciplines.
• Grants.gov -- The central clearinghouse for U.S. federal grant opportunities across all agencies.
• EU CORDIS -- European Commission funding programs including Horizon Europe.
• Institutional databases -- Custom connections to your institution's internal funding databases or grant management systems.

Enabling a Grant Source

1. Click on the grant source you want to enable.
2. Enter the required credentials:
   • For public APIs (NIH RePORTER, NSF Awards), no credentials are needed -- simply toggle the source to Active.
   • For Grants.gov, enter your registered API key.
   • For institutional databases, enter the API endpoint, authentication credentials, and any required configuration.
3. Configure indexing settings:
   • Sync frequency -- How often AcaTrove checks for new funding opportunities (daily, weekly).
   • Discipline filters -- Optionally restrict indexing to specific disciplines relevant to your institution.
   • Minimum award amount -- Filter out opportunities below a specified funding threshold.
4. Click Save and Activate.

How Grant Sources Are Used

When grant sources are active, funding opportunities flow into AcaTrove's grant discovery features:

• Grant Finder -- Researchers can search and browse available funding opportunities from all active sources in one unified interface.
• AI-Powered Matching -- AcaTrove uses researchers' profiles, publication history, and stated interests to recommend relevant funding opportunities.
• Deadline Tracking -- Grant submission deadlines from active sources appear on researchers' calendars.
• Semantic Search -- Funding opportunities are embedded and indexed for semantic search, so researchers can find grants by describing their research in natural language.

Monitoring Source Health

Each active source shows its health status:

• Active -- The source is connected and syncing normally.
• Sync Error -- The last sync encountered errors. Click for details (common causes: expired API keys, network issues, API rate limits).
• Stale -- The last successful sync was more than twice the configured sync interval ago.

The sync history shows the timestamp, number of new opportunities indexed, and any errors for each sync run.

Deactivating a Source

To stop indexing from a particular source, click Deactivate. Existing opportunities from that source remain in the system but no new ones are added. Reactivate at any time to resume syncing.

Tips

• Enable NIH RePORTER and NSF Awards first if your institution primarily conducts federally funded research -- these sources require no API keys and provide immediate value.
• Use discipline filters to keep the grant database focused on your institution's research areas and avoid overwhelming researchers with irrelevant opportunities.
• Check source health after network changes or API key renewals to ensure syncing has not been disrupted.
• Coordinate with your grants office to determine which institutional databases should be connected.