About the database

ECEC-NB gathers quality-assured Scandinavian research on 0-6 year-old children in early childhood education and care. It is short for The Nordic Base of Early Childhood Education and Care. This database is e.g. for students, researchers, professionals within pedagogy and educational managers.

The database now contains all quality-approved studies from the period 2006-2023. The next time the database is updated is in 2026 with research from 2024.

Quality-assured research

The research is peer-reviewed according to international standards based on the EPPI system (developed at the University of London) supplemented with additional criteria aimed at qualitative research. The task is carried out by the Knowledge Center for Education at the University of Stavanger in collaboration with a Scandinavian research panel.

From 2006-2012 and from 2015-2017 the Danish Clearinghouse for Educational Research (DCU) was responsible for the task, while it was handled by SFI in 2013-2014.

  • You can find more information about the methodological basis of the research here
  • You can find the code scheme that was used here
  • User manual NB-ECEC - Data extraction and quality assessment

Comments & questions (GB)

The database is administered by the Danish Evaluation Institute. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have comments or questions concerning the database and its functions. You are welcome to contact can us at eva@eva.dk or call the Danish Evaluation Institute directly on + 45 35 55 01 01.

Nordic cooperation

The NB-ECEC database is the result of a collaboration between Denmark's Evaluation Institute (EVA) and the Norwegian Directorate of Education.

For the years 2006-2017, the Swedish Skolverket was a partner, just as the Norwegian Department of Education has previously been responsible for the Norwegian part of the funding.

Is a title or author missing, or do you have questions about the database?

The database is administered by the Udir. If you believe there are studies that should fall within the inclusion criteria but do not appear in your search results, please feel free to contact us at post@udir.no. The same applies if you experience other omissions or simply have comments or questions about the database and its functions.

Links to research maps

On this page you can find DCU and SFI’s annual publications of research maps, research assessments and research perspectives.

Go to the overview of research maps