A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Validating and Extracting Information from National Identification Numbers in R: The Case of Finland and Sweden
Authors: Kantanen, Pyry; Bülow, Erik; Lahtinen, Aleksi; Magnusson, Måns; Paananen, Jussi; Lahti, Leo
Publisher: The R Foundation
Publication year: 2024
Journal: The R journal
Volume: 16
Issue: 3
First page : 4
Last page: 14
eISSN: 2073-4859
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32614/rj-2024-023
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.32614/rj-2024-023
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/505865827
National identification numbers (NIN) and similar identification code systems are widely used for uniquely identifying individuals and organizations in Finland, Sweden, and many other countries. To increase the general understanding of such techniques of identification, openly available methods and tools for NIN analysis and validation are needed. The hetu and sweidnumbr R packages provide functions for extracting embedded information, checking the validity, and generating random but valid numbers in the context of Finnish and Swedish NINs and other identification codes. In this article, we demonstrate these functions from both packages and provide theoretical context and motivation on the importance of the subject matter. Our work contributes to the growing toolkit of standardized methods for computational social science research, epidemiology, demographic studies, and other register-based inquiries.
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Funding information in the publication:
LL, PK and AL were supported by the Research Council of Finland: decision 358720 (FIN-CLARIAH research infrastructure) and decision 352604 (Strategic Research Council, YOUNG Despair Research Consortium).