By June 2017, a partnership between Portland State University, Oregon State University, Oregon Coastal Management Program, Institute for Natural Resources, and OSU Libraries and Press was established as the OCOIN planning team to guide development of the Oregon Explorer Coastal Research site and the Coastal Research Explorer tool. In the summer of 2017, the OCOIN planning team reached out to 250 researchers with an online survey to collect research project information. The initial survey resulted in the identification of nearly 80 coastal and marine research projects. The survey remains open and accessible on the Oregon Explorer website so that new and existing users can continue uploading research projects.