It’s really important that all submissions due in ResearchFish are made on time so that we avoid penalties (sanctions) on the University and/or the PI. Reporting in ResearchFish is also a good time to check up on tools available to help manage papers and other outcomes of funding, most especially Symplectic. Even if you do not have to report directly in ResearchFish yourself, it can be really helpful to be up to date with these.
Which grants need to be reported in ResearchFish?
- Research Services have a good summary of which awards from which funders need to be reported and how well Oxford did in 2018: https://researchsupport.admin.ox.ac.uk/reporting/funders/researchfish
- UKRI (including BBSRC and MRC), CRUK, BHF and NIHR all ask for reporting via ResearchFish both during and after an award.
- Wellcome Trust have joined for the first time, for awards finishing on or after 1st October 2018. Older grants use the existing end-of-grant forms and PIs should have already been contacted about those; grants still running use Wellcome’s own progress reporting.
- UKRI students in their third year and above are also expected to make a submission and this is usually in their name, not the supervisor’s.
- Please note that data submitted through Researchfish will also be published on Gateway to Research. Therefore please ensure that there is no intellectual property, personal or confidential information in the outcomes reported.
Ways to make it easier
- ResearchFish has had some new search options added for 2019. If you find one that’s really useful, let us know.
- You may find ResearchFish has already found some of your papers, especially if they had your ORCID and grant acknowledgement, or if you’ve already associated them with your grant in Symplectic. Any new links must be created in ResearchFish but will be exported back to Symplectic.
- Claiming or rejecting papers in Symplectic is a great thing to catch up with at the same time: it can make it easier to download a publication list, a set of DOIs (via export to Excel to take to to Researchfish), may populate your departmental webpage in many cases, and can help us understand better what support is needed for Open Access compliance.
- Never used Symplectic? Start here: https://researchsupport.admin.ox.ac.uk/reporting/symplectic
- Even if your publication is already in ORA via ‘Act on Acceptance’, if another Oxford author did the submission it may still be in your ‘pending’ list and thus not yet fully attributed to you also.
- Did you know that if you use your ORCID in manuscripts, Symplectic can be sure it’s yours and not have to ask you to confirm? Haven’t got one? Get it here: https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ORCID including how to link to Symplectic.
- You can add team members (Collaborator, specific to a grant) and delegates (all grants) to help you assemble information, but the PI must still submit the return for each funder. Look under ‘Submission help’ - https://userguide.researchfish.com/submit-award.html
- Submit early! The submission system can really slow down before the deadline and it may be harder to get help quickly and thus resolve issues before the deadine. No-one wants you to miss the deadline and be at risk of sanctions.
Where to get help
- Funders and ResearchFish will not be answering telephone calls during the collection period but there is a lot of online help available and almost certainly good experience in Departments. Please contact research@medsci.ox.ac.uk if you have queries about an institutional awards (e.g. IAA, CiC).
- NIHR have a webinar, Researchfish guidance and FAQs and can be contacted at evaluation@nihr.ac.uk.
- BHF have guidance at https://www.bhf.org.uk/for-professionals/information-for-researchers/managing-your-grant/research-evaluation
- CRUK similarly here: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/manage-your-research-grant/research-evaluation
- ResearchFish have an online user guide and a PI interface overview video
- For technical questions about using the Researchfish system contact the Researchfish team via email or live chat: https://app.researchfish.com/helpwiz/contact
How to get started with ResearchFish
PIs should go to https://www.researchfish.net/ under the ‘My Account’ section and use your own username and password to log in
- If you have forgotten your username or password you can click on the appropriate link to obtain a new one.
- If you don’t yet have a Researchfish account you can click on the ‘Don’t have a Researchfish account yet?’ link and request an invite. If you’ve had an invitation from a funder then we try accepting the request there: you can always associate it with an existing account.
- If you can’t find a grant you’re expecting to see, look out for the link ‘Don't see an award for which you are responsible?’ and seek help via your Dept or the Divisional team if this doesn’t resolve the issue. Only PIs are associated with the award by default.