About ResearchFish
It is a condition of Research Council funding to provide up-to-date details of the outputs and outcomes of your research and to submit this information via Researchfish® during the upcoming RCUK Submission Period (see the RCUK Researchfish compliance policy at http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/researchoutcomes/compliance/).
The RCUK Submission Period for 2016 will be open from Monday 1st February 2016 to Thursday 10th March 2016 at 4pm.
If you are new to Researchfish then please take some time to watch the Help Video, which introduces the system and explains how to use it. You can watch the help video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgwyXDGqeuQ. The video can also be found in the “Help & support” section of Researchfish (www.researchfish.com).
You are receiving this email as the Principal Investigator on a UK Research Council funded research grant/fellowship, or because you are a research student whose training is supported through a Research Council doctoral training grant. The Research Councils require up-to-date information about the outputs and outcomes arising from your Research Council-funded research, and collect this information through Researchfish.
If your award is quite recent and has not yet produced any outputs/outcomes you will still need to log in to Researchfish and submit a return; the Research Councils recognise that ‘null’ returns are likely from awards that have only recently started. Thank you for supporting the RCUK, by providing feedback on the outputs from your RCUK-funded research.
Below you will find some guidance that you may find useful to help you submit your research outputs and outcomes. The guidance covers the following topics:
• How do I log into Researchfish?
• The process of reporting outputs via Researchfish
• How can I get help using the system?
• Some information about using Researchfish that you might find useful
• How do I start entering output data?
• When do I have to finish entering data?
• My award has no outputs yet. What should I do?
• How will the Research Councils publicise what I submit to Researchfish?
Please do not hesitate to contact Researchfish’s support team if you are experiencing any technical issues using the system. For non-technical queries please contact the RCUK Research Outcomes Support Team. You will find the contact details for both support teams within the guidance.
Yours sincerely
RCUK Research Outcomes Support Team
Email: researchoutcomes@rcuk.ac.uk
Telephone: 0800 2922 478
Guidance for submitting research outputs and outcomes on Researchfish®
How do I log into Researchfish?
1. You may already have a Researchfish account and so will have set up your own username and password for https://www.researchfish.com/.
2. If you have forgotten your password you can request a new one by going to https://www.researchfish.com/helpwiz
3. If you experience difficulty requesting a password and getting in to your account you can contact the support team via live online chat (available 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday) or by email (https://www.researchfish.com/helpwiz).
4. If you have never used Researchfish before you can create a username and password when you register.
The process of reporting outputs via Researchfish
• Log in to Researchfish.
• If appropriate, consider delegating access to others who can coordinate the entry of outputs information on behalf of a whole project team, e.g. co-investigators, other research team members, or administrators. They will be able to enter data on your behalf and may be able to share with you outcome records already entered into Researchfish so you don’t have to re-enter the same data twice.
Tip: use the ‘Add New’ button in the ‘My Network’ panel on the home page to add a delegate.
• Navigate to your Portfolio using the ‘View Portfolio’ button on the ‘Your Research’ line on the home page.
• Record the details of your outputs/outcomes using the 16 ‘Common Outcomes’ sections for reporting each type of output, e.g. Publications, Further Funding etc. Please ensure that outputs are recorded once, under the most appropriate Outcomes category’
• Associate your outputs with your award(s) by “dragging” outputs (selecting and moving them across the screen) from your portfolio and “dropping” them into awards on the right hand side of the screen. Tip: you can associate an output with multiple awards in one action.
• Review and ensure that
i) previously submitted outputs have been updated (if necessary),
ii) new outputs have been entered, and associated with the appropriate awards,
iii) you are satisfied with any associations made by team members/co-investigators/other delegates.
iv) you have completed the ‘Additional Questions’ sections presented for your award(s)
• Between 1st February 2016 and 4pm 10th March 2016 submit your Researchfish return as complete for this submission period, by selecting the “submit” button on screen and then confirming that you are content with your information and have read the principles of use.
Further detail on using the system and completing your Researchfish return:
How can I get help using the system?
1. You can access a short help video which introduces the system and explains how to use it from the “Help” menu on every page. You can also watch the help video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgwyXDGqeuQ
2. Help and guidance is provided throughout the system, just click on the blue “?” marks.
3. If your question is not addressed by the introductory video or context-specific help, then raise this via the online help centre which can be accessed via the top of any Researchfish page. You can find a list of FAQs on the help centre pages, and also send your own enquiries direct from this page to the help desk. Once logged into Researchfish® there is also the option of “live chat” from 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday. Live chat provides you with the opportunity to instantly message the Researchfish® helpdesk.
4. If you have any questions regarding your award details or requirements to complete Researchfish then please contact the RCUK Research Outcome Support Team (researchoutcomes@rcuk.ac.uk).
Some information about using Researchfish that you might find useful
1. Researchfish includes the ability for you to manage your profile information (including adding your ORCID ID (http://orcid.org/) and making changes to your password and email address). You can do this via the “Profile” section of the system.
2. You can report URLs (website addresses) for each output, linking directly to policy documents, reports and online videos.
3. Multiple publications with DOIs can be recorded in the system at the same time through the DOI look-up tool in the publication section.
4. PIs can add others as team members on their award. This enhanced delegate functionality reduces duplication of effort by allowing you to permit collaborators and co-investigators to attribute to your award(s) outcomes already recorded in their own portfolios. They can also record and attribute new outcomes to your award(s), and they can attribute outcomes already entered in your portfolio to their own award(s) (if appropriate, and subject to your agreement).
5. If you hold awards from more than one funder using Researchfish then you will receive an invitation email for each funder, providing links that will import all their awards into your Researchfish® profile. For example, if you already have an EPSRC award in Researchfish®, and you have recently started an STFC funded award, you will receive an invitation email allowing you to link the STFC funded award to your portfolio.
6. If you have used Researchfish before you may notice that the Common Question set agreed by funders and used by Researchfish® has recently been updated. The new version including all changes made can be downloaded at https://Researchfish.com/questions. The most significant changes relate to academic conferences – RCUK and most other funders do not expect you to report this routine research activity, those that do wish you to report this using a new ‘Additional Question’.
7. Changes have also been made to the award-specific RCUK ‘Additional Questions’. These are mandatory and must be completed for each award, but there is now much less to do if you have no (or no new) information to provide. Details about the Additional Questions and the changes that have been made this year can be found at http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/documents/ResearchOutcomesFunderAwardspecificquestions.pdf
How do I start entering output data?
After you log on to Researchfish click the ‘View Portfolio’ button on the ‘Your Research’ line, then click on the ‘Common Outcomes’ button on the left of the page (below the ‘My Portfolio’ label). You can enter details of outputs by clicking on the relevant outcome section (Publications, Collaborations, etc.) and following the on-screen instructions. Your awards will be listed in the ‘My Awards’ panel on the right of the screen. It is important to associate your recorded outputs with the relevant award(s) as shown in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgwyXDGqeuQ&t=5m25s. If you do not do this the outputs you have entered will not be linked to your award(s) and will not be submitted to your funder(s).
When do I have to finish entering data?
For Research Council awards, it is important that all the data you wish to submit is recorded in Researchfish and attributed to your awards (as described in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgwyXDGqeuQ&t=5m25s), and that you complete the submission process during the next RCUK Submission Period (which runs from 1st February 2016 until 4pm on 10th March 2016). During the submission period a red ‘Submit’ button will appear on the right hand side of the of the ‘Portfolio’ screen. If you have grants from more than one Research Council you will see one red submit button for each of the Councils you have an award from. Successful submissions will be confirmed by the system via email, usually within a few minutes of submitting.
Note that Researchfish is open for you to add and edit output information all year, so that you can always keep your record of research outcomes, and the awards they are attributed to, up to date. We strongly advise you not to wait until mid-way through the RCUK submission period to begin updating your outcome records!
Note that other funders using Researchfish may not use the same the submission period as RCUK; if you have awards from non-RCUK funders you may need to submit outcomes to them at other times.
My award has no outputs yet. What should I do?
The Research Councils understand that research may have no tangible outputs or outcomes for a period after work begins. To make a return simply complete the ‘Additional Questions’ section for the award and click the red ‘Submit’ button. Do not report unrealised outputs or outcomes.
How will the Research Councils publicise what I submit to Researchfish?
Besides publications, which are pulled from Researchfish regularly and shared with Europe PubMed Central, only information formally submitted to RCUK will be published. Researchers should ensure that information they submit through Researchfish® is not confidential and is suitable to be published. A subset of the data submitted for each award, comprising almost all the data fields, will be available via the Research Council’s Gateway to Research website (http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/).
News about Researchfish will be added to the RCUK website at http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/researchoutcomes/