Research collection and retention system

A method for managing research produced by outside research vendors, said method comprising:

• establishing a relationship between an organization and a first research vendor to perform research and produce first research reports;
• accessing a first data repository operated by the first research vendor, the first data repository storing the first research reports;
• establishing a relationship between the organization and a second research vendor to perform research and produce second research reports;
• accessing a second data repository operated by the second research vendor, the second data repository storing the second research reports;
• collecting the first and second research reports from the first and second repositories of the first and second research vendors, the first and second research reports having content with first and second visual layouts, respectively, wherein the first visual layout is different from the second visual layout;
• reformatting the content of the first research reports from the first visual layout into a third visual layout;
• reformatting the content of the second research reports from the second visual layout into the third visual layout, the first research reports and second research reports thereby having content with the same visual layout;
• storing the reformatted first and second research reports in a central data repository;
• providing access to the first and second research reports with content in the third visual layout to members of the organization;
• and
• wherein, in response to a member of the organization requesting to search for a research report in the first and second research reports stored in the central data repository, further searching for the research report in the first and second research reports stored in the central data repository.