1. Research Outcomes Collection
and
Researchfish
Slides for use by research organisations in presentations to research staff
These slides provide information about the move to use Researchfish by all Research Councils. The slides seek to underline the importance of grant holders engaging with the new system to return information to us.
This is a slide set which research managers may wish to use in talking to their staff (for example at Departmental, College, Faculty, level, etc).
People may wish to add in their own slides on arrangements and support available at their own institution. 
People should feel free to shorten the presentation if they do not think some slides are relevant; also they may wish to use it to highlight examples of research outcomes and impact from RC grants that have been profiled recently by the institution.

2. Contents Research Outcomes Collection Why capture research outputs?
Research Council harmonisation
a) What is Researchfish?
b) More About Researchfish
The Common Question Set
Making information public
Impact of research
PI responsibilities
Submission periods
RCUK Website
Future developments
Harmonisation Timeline
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3. 1. Why capture research outputs?
Research Outcomes Collection
1. Why capture research outputs?
Why do Research Councils require details of Research Outcomes
The Research Councils have a responsibility to demonstrate the value and impact of the research they fund. RCUK uses information that researchers provide on the outputs, outcomes and impact of their Research Council funded projects to report to both the Government and the public. Collecting the outputs, outcomes and impact of research enables RCUK to:
provide a strong evidence base to support the continued funding of research in the UK
improve the quality of reporting research outcomes to Government, the public and other organisations
maintain a longer-term relationship with grant holders to capture new developments and impacts from research long after a grant has finished
open up communication with researchers and Research Organisations to offer new opportunities to explore how best to capture the results of research funding
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4. 2. Research Council Harmonisation
Research Outcomes Collection
2. Research Council Harmonisation
Previously AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and NERC used a system called ROS (Research Outcomes System) for capturing research outcomes.
STFC and MRC used Researchfish – this meant some multi-disciplinary researchers had to use both systems.
Maintaining 2 systems for outcomes collection was expensive.
Outcome data sets were misaligned making it difficult to compare across disciplines.
Research Councils wanted a single channel to present themselves to the wider world.
All seven Research Councils have now harmonised around the use of the Researchfish system for the collection of outcomes information from grant holders.
RCUK Research Outcomes Harmonisation project
Previously, five Research Councils (AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and NERC) used the Research Outcomes System (ROS) to collect outcomes, and two RCs (MRC and STFC) used the Researchfish system, along with many other funders (including CRUK, BHF, etc.).
Drive from BIS, feedback from external users greater collaboration, harmonisation, user experience and analysis and reporting. The RCUK Research Outcomes Harmonisation Project was established to oversee the implementation of a harmonised outcomes collection service for all Research Councils by September 2014.
On 4 June 2013 Researchfish Ltd was named as the supplier of the new harmonised service. In order to prepare data already in ROS for migration to the Researchfish® system, the ROS system was frozen on 30 April 2014 and no further changes to ROS data by users were allowed. Cleaned data which met the Researchfish® criteria has now been migrated into Researchfish®, which will go live Autumn 2014 and from that point researchers will again be able to add and amend their data.
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5. 3. a) What is Researchfish?
Research Outcomes Collection
3. a) What is Researchfish?
Researchfish is:
a sophisticated and user-friendly web-based outcomes collection system
used by 80+ funders
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6. 3. b) More About Researchfish
Research Outcomes Collection
3. b) More About Researchfish
To find out more about Researchfish a short introductory video is available on the Researchfish website.
More videos are available on a dedicated YouTube channel and Vimeo.
There is an online Help Centre available within the system, with FAQs, context sensitive enquiry functionality and Live Chat from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday–Friday).
Researchers can also sign-up for one of the Researchfish 10 minute training webinars at
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7. 4. Common Question Set Research Outcomes Collection
As part of the move to Researchfish, Research Councils have harmonised on a single framework for research outcomes information – the ‘Common Question Set’.
This Common Question Set covers outcome types for all disciplines within a single framework, and is thought to be a European, if not global first.
The Common Question Set is available on the RCUK website (Common Question Set), and also available in xml format on the Researchfish website to enable its use by other organisations and system developers.
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8. 5. Making information public
Research Outcomes Collection
5. Making information public
Researchfish enables grant holders to return information to us at any time, including after the grant finishes.
It is vital that grant holders return information to us on the outcomes and outputs from their projects, so that we can use this to make the case for investment in research.
Information returned to the Research Councils is also made available through the Gateway to Research, thereby raising the visibility of your research to the public and potential collaborators.
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9. 6. Impact of Research
Research Outcomes Collection
Each year the Research Councils invest around £3 billion in research covering the full spectrum of academic disciplines:
medical and biological sciences
maths, astronomy, physics, chemistry and engineering
social sciences, economics, environmental sciences
arts and humanities
The Councils support excellent research, as judged by peer review, that has an impact on the growth, prosperity and wellbeing of the UK.
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10. 7. PI Responsibilities Check data migrated
Research Outcomes Collection
7. PI Responsibilities
Check data migrated
Update Researchfish regularly
Submit outcomes data in the periods requested
Ensure inappropriate data is not submitted as it will be published (details of what is appropriate can be found in the Principles of Use statement) .
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11. Research Outcomes Collection
8. Submission Periods
Likely to be at the same time each year - mid-October / mid-November. Enables RCs to draw on the most up-to-date information for impact reports to Government.
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12. Research Outcomes Collection
9. RCUK Website
The Research Councils will maintain a website with a wealth of information including:
Researchfish training and tips including how PIs can check their migrated data
The Principles of Use statement
Plans for a harmonised Sanctions policy
Main differences that ex-ROS users will see
Contact details for Research Organisation
Future plans for Research Outcomes
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13. 10. Future Developments Research Outcomes Collection
Currently MRC has a sanctions policy in place for grant holders, but all Councils will adopt a harmonised sanctions policy from 2015.
Sanctions will apply to grant holders who do not make a submission to the relevant Research Council each year (ie a declaration of what outcomes and outputs, if any, have been achieved).
The Research Councils also expect to see the development of better interoperability with the research information systems used by Research Organisations (ROs) in the coming year (ie 2015).
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14. 11. Harmonisation Timeline
Research Outcomes Collection
11. Harmonisation Timeline
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15. Research Outcomes Collection
The End