Researcher User Guide
How Researchfish Works
Researchfish is a system used by research funders to gather information on the outcomes of the research they fund, and for researchers to report back to Funders on the outcomes of their research. This is done by selecting from a list of common outcome types and then completing an online form to add the selected outcomes. In some cases, there are additional questions to be completed, as required by each Funder.
Researcher User Guide
Note: Introducing Outcome Prioritisation
Outcome Prioritisation is newly implemented functionality in Researchfish that allows funders to indicate to researchers what type of outcomes should be prioritised when reporting against their award. This makes reporting easier for researchers by helping them ascertain what to include and exclude in their submission.
If you have previously used Researchfish and wish to read the guidance that pertains to this new functionality, please refer to the “Add outcomes to an award” and “Outcomes listing page” sections of this user guide.
Take the Tour
Take the Tour
On the main page, there is a step-by-step guide showing how that page works. You can access it by clicking on the About This Page button when you see it, in the top right corner of the page.
Creating an account
Creating an account
You can only create an account if you have received an email invite, either from your research funder (if you are a Principal Investigator (PI)) or from a PI. After accepting an invite to join you will receive an email invite like the one below.
- Click on the link provided and it will take you to the Accept Invitation page:
- Select the option that applies to you and just follow the steps provided:
- If you specify that you already have a Researchfish account, you will be taken to the login page
- If you specify that you do not yet have a Researchfish account, you will be taken to the account creation page shown below:
Connect to ORCID
Connect to ORCID
Select Connect to ORCID from the dropdown menu under your name in the top right corner.
You will navigate to the ORCID site to either register a new account or sign in to an existing account.
Once you complete connecting your ORCID ID to your Researchfish account, you will be taken back to the Researchfish interface. Your linked ORCID account can be accessed by selecting ORCID profile from the dropdown below your name in the top right corner of the page.
All publications on your ORCID account will be automatically added to your Personal Portfolio.
My Awards
My Awards
The main My Awards page is where you’ll land every time you log in.
During a submission period
If you are a PI, you will see some of the following statuses during the submission period.
Refer to the ‘Submitting an award to the funder’ section of this guide for further details.
Example of an award during the submission period:
Example of an award during the submission period, after it has been submitted:
Example of an award in in which submission is not mandatory, during the submission period:
If you only collaborate on an award as a researcher, you cannot submit it yourself, however the submission status and the next submission period will be stated in the table.
Add outcomes to an award
Add outcomes to an award
Click on the name of the award for which you wish to add outcomes.
Note that if you wish to add outcomes to more than one award, start the process from any award, and at the end, select all the awards this outcome should be attributed to.
You will be taken to the “Award Details" page for that particular award.
On the left, you will see “Common Outcomes”, which contains a list of outcome categories. This shows which categories the funder has indicated are normal priority and which are low priority. There is also a “Not required” dropdown that if clicked, allows you to view any outcome categories that your funder has specified you are not required to report. And finally, if your funder has assigned any additional questions to your award (bespoke questions that your funder wishes you to answer), these will also be listed.
Please note that even if your funder has specified that an outcome category is not required, you are still free to create outcomes within that category if you wish to do so (for example, if you wish to keep a complete record of all of your research outputs in Researchfish).
To report an outcome, click the name of the relevant category, and you will be taken to that category's outcomes listing page. Click on “Add new entry” to add a new entry for the outcome type you selected.
More information on the outcomes listing page can be found further below in this user guide.
You can find information on what to include and not include under each outcome section by clicking the What should I report in this section? link above the Add New Entry button.
Searching for & Importing Publications
Searching for & Importing Publications
If you are adding a new entry in the Publications category, you will see the Publication Look Up tool.
Here you can search for publications and import them. There is also an option to enter publications manually, however it is recommended to import publications wherever it is possible.
Below is guidance on how to use the Publication Look Up tool.
Change Source
To change the publication source, simply select one of the titles in the tabs across the upper part of the screen i.e. Scopus, Web of Science, ORCID etc.
Look up Publications
Once you are within the appropriate source you can look up publications using unique identifier(s). Simply begin inputting your IDs, if you have them. These can be input one at a time, or in bulk.
Please note that if you intend to bulk add these you will need to copy them from a pre-ordered list where one of the following criteria apply:
- All IDs are on separate lines (use Microsoft Word, Notepad, or similar)
- All IDs are within unique cells (use Microsoft Excel or similar)
- All IDs are comma-separated (use Microsoft Word, Excel, Notepad, or similar)
Example:
i. Select Yes from the Do you have PMID publication IDs? dropdown.
ii. Enter the IDs into the PMIDs to Import? box.
iii. Click the Search For Publications button to perform the search/lookup.
If you do not have IDs for the publications you wish to search for, you can search based on other criteria, such as Title, Author, Publication Year, etc. The search criteria fields present will differ depending on the publication source you have specified. After entering any search criteria, click on Search for Publications to perform the search/lookup.
Add Publications
Once the search results (either using IDs or manual search criteria) have been returned, you will be presented with a table similar to the following:
Select which of the publications you wish to add to the award using the checkbox to the left of the search result. The background will change colour, highlighting the selection.
- This selection is to inform you of any publications that have been marked for adding to your award/portfolio.
To remove an entry from this list simply deselect the check box from the table above. You can choose to attribute the selected publication(s) to any number of your awards by ticking the relevant awards. Attributing an outcome to an award ensures it will be included in your submission when you submit that award to your funding organisation.
Once you are happy with your selection, scroll to the bottom and click on the Add to Portfolio button to begin the process.
Common Error Messages
It is possible for your Searches to fail from time to time. If this happens you will be provided with an error code or statement to help diagnose where, and how the error occurred. The list below shows the most common errors.
| Error Message | Description |
|---|---|
| REASON_DUPLICATE_ID | The publication ID is already input into the search field. |
| REASON_ID_SYNTAX | The incorrect Syntax has been used. |
| REASON_ID_MISSING | The ID is recognised, the syntax is correct – the publication cannot be found. |
If you encounter an error other than the ones listed above please send a screenshot of the error as well as any relevant details about its creation to support@researchfish.com.
Outcomes listing page
Outcomes listing page
Each outcome category has it's own outcomes listing page. You can reach it by selecting an outcome category from the “Award Details” page. This page allows you to view all outcomes that have been created within that category, as well as identify which of them are or are not attributed to the award you initially accessed.
On the right side of the list of outcomes, there are two columns; “In this award” and “In personal portfolio”. Both have a “Yes/No” indicator for each outcome.
“In this award” indicates if an outcome is attributed to the award that you initially accessed (if you are uncertain, the name of the award you are currently accessing will be at the top of the page).
“In personal portfolio” indicates if an outcome is in your own Researchfish portfolio. An outcome that you have created personally is by default in your Researchfish portfolio, but if you are part of a Research Team in Researchfish, you and others can share outcomes with each other (more information on Research Teams can be found further on in this user guide).
You can click on a Yes/No toggle to switch between them.
Above the list of outcomes there is a search tool that allows you to search for a particular outcome; this can be useful if you have many outcomes within a single category and wish to locate a specific one.
There are also sort and filter options. “Sort” allows you to sort the order of outcomes according to one of the available options, and “Filter” allows you to view only outcomes that meet the criteria of the option you select.
On the right side of the page is a list of outcome categories.
This looks similar to the list of outcome categories present on the “Award Details” page, however please note that it functions differently. On the “Award Details” page, the priority of each outcome category would reflect what the funder of that award has specified for that particular award. Whereas on the outcomes listing page, the priority of each outcome category reflects the highest priority level any of your funders have specified for any awards you have access to.
For example, consider a researcher with access to three awards on their Researchfish account. The funder of one award has specified that the “Engagement Activities” category is normal priority, whereas the funder(s) of the other two awards have specified that the “Engagement Activities” category is low priority, not required, or a combination of both. In this scenario, the “Engagement Activities” category would appear as normal priority on the outcome listings page for that researcher.
This gives researchers a way of immediately ascertaining which outcome categories are low priority or not required across all of their awards.
If you wish to view a table that clearly shows the priority level for each outcome category for each award, you can do so by clicking “Table View of all Awards” directly above the list of outcome categories.
Download an award
Download an award
Click on the name of the award you wish to download.
On the award details page, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Download Award and Outcome Data button.
Select the template format you wish to use and then click on the Download Award button to initiate the download.
Delegates and Research Team Members
Delegates and Research Team Members
You can invite others to become Delegates or Research Team Members; who can assist with entering outcome data. Delegates and Research Team Members have different types of access, so it is important to select the correct one if sending somebody an invitation. The guidance below defines each.
Adding a Delegate (for Principal Investigators only)
A delegate is a person who inputs/updates your outcome data in Researchfish on your behalf. Any outcomes they input will belong to you, and be added to your Researchfish portfolio.
Click on the name of any award you are responsible for.
On the award details page, click on the Add Delegate or Team Member button.
Select the An assistant or delegate who does not do research of their own option.
Fill in the details of the delegate you wish to add and then click the Send Invitation button at the bottom of the page.
The person you have added will receive an invitation email and should follow the account creation steps in order to access the Researchfish system.
Adding a Research Team Member (for Principal Investigators only)
A Research Team Member is a person who does research of their own. You can specify which award(s) to grant them access to, which they can then attribute their own outcomes to.
Click on the name of any award you are responsible for.
On the award details page, click on the Add Delegate or Team Member button.
Select the A collaborator or team member with their own research portfolio option.
Fill in the details of the collaborator you wish to.
- Select if you wish this person to have access to your Personal Portfolio (they will be able to add your outcomes to their own Portfolio and attribute them to awards).
- Select which awards you wish this person to have access to (they will be able to add outcomes and attribute existing outcomes to other awards).
Click the Send Invitation button at the bottom of the page when finished.
The person you have added will receive an invitation email and should follow the account creation steps in order to access the Researchfish system.
Removing a Research Team Member or editing their access permissions (for Principal Investigators only)
Click on the name of the award for which you have granted a Research Team Member access to.
On the award details page, click on the name of the Research Team Member whose access permissions you wish to remove or amend.
On the edit team member page, de-select the awards you do not wish this collaborator to have access to and then click on the Update Team Member button.
- Alternatively, you can remove the user from all access by clicking on the Remove Team Member button.
Submitting an award to the funder (for Principal Investigators only)
Submitting an award to the funder (for Principal Investigators only)
When a submission period opens, special headers will be displayed on the ‘My Awards’ landing page and the ‘My Award page.’
Click on the Review & Submit button in the top right corner.
Click Proceed.
Check if all relevant sections are completed, then check the box to confirm that all of the information reported is accurate, complete, and up to date.
You may also have to check the box to accept the above terms and conditions if this is the last page.
If you have multiple awards to review, there will be a Proceed to next award button at the bottom of the page. Once you reach the last award, or if only one award is being submitted, there will be a Submit to Funder button at the bottom of the page instead. You must click on Submit to Funder to finalise your submission.
Personal Portfolio
Personal Portfolio
The Personal Portfolio area provides a repository of all outcomes that you have added yourself and/or added from awards for which you were given permission to use. The outcomes listing layout is very similar to that in the My Awards area.
Profile Page
The profile page provides an overview of your own personal portfolio.
- The Common Outcomes column shows a list of common outcomes categories and how many entries you have for each, on your personal portfolio. At the bottom of this column, you can see a few extra sections pertaining to your personal history, which can be used to help you build a CV.
- The Profile column shows your personal details as provided in the My Account area and a link to your ORCID account. It also provides a button for downloading your portfolio.
- On the right-hand side column, you can see how many total outcomes you have on your portfolio and if any of those outcomes are not attributed to any award.
Adding Outcomes to the Personal Portfolio
Adding outcomes to the Personal Portfolio is done in the same way as adding outcomes to an award (navigate to the My Awards > Add outcomes to an award section of this article for more information)
Downloading the Personal Portfolio
On your Personal Portfolio profile page, click the Download Personal Portfolio button.
Check the boxes to select which sections you wish to download, then press the Download Portfolio button.
My Account
My Account
Use this area to change your personal details and password.
