ResearchFish - Detailed Review
Research Tools
ResearchFish - Product Overview
Introduction to Researchfish
Researchfish is a comprehensive research outcomes system that helps funders, charities, universities, and research centers track, evaluate, and communicate the impact of their research projects.Primary Function
The primary function of Researchfish is to collect and enrich data on various research outcomes, enabling funders and institutions to assess the impact of their research beyond traditional academic metrics. This includes capturing data on publications, collaborations, further funding, policy influence, and a wide range of other outputs and outcomes.Target Audience
Researchfish is designed for several key groups:- Funders and Charities: To report on research impact and inform future funding strategies.
- Universities and Research Centers: To track the outcomes of research funded from various sources and evaluate the impact of their research portfolio.
- Researchers: To report research outcomes and manage their data across multiple funders.
Key Features
Data Collection and Reporting
Researchfish allows researchers to report once across multiple funders, reusing their data for their own purposes. The system captures data in thirteen easily recognized types, including publications, collaborations, further funding, influence on policy, and the development of products and interventions. It uses drop-down lists, radio buttons, and field validation to ensure accurate and efficient data entry.Custom Configuration and Flexibility
The system can be configured to meet the specific needs of individual funding organizations, charities, research centers, and universities. This flexibility enables granular tracking and data collection tailored to the requirements of each organization.Collaboration and Benchmarking
Researchfish facilitates collaboration and benchmarking among different organizations. It allows for the comparison of research outcomes with other institutions involved in similar research, helping to achieve more together and make research funding programs more effective.User-Friendly Interface
The platform features a simple, one-click environment for adding research outcomes. Researchers can add, edit, and delete entries, and attribute them to specific awards or their CVs. The system also includes features for delegating tasks to team members or collaborators.Comprehensive Reporting
Researchfish provides powerful reporting capabilities, including real-time dashboards, automated reporting, and the ability to generate reports in various formats (e.g., Excel, CSV). This significantly reduces administrative burdens and enhances the accuracy of data reporting.Integration and Partnership
Researchfish has partnered with Kudos to enhance the dissemination and promotion of research impact data. This partnership helps in creating showcases and portals that make research stories more accessible to broad audiences, including media, policymakers, industry, and educators. By leveraging these features, Researchfish helps in communicating the benefits of research, capturing holistic impact, and telling impactful stories that resonate with diverse stakeholders. ResearchFish - User Interface and Experience
User Interface Overview
The user interface of Researchfish is crafted with a strong focus on ease of use, accessibility, and a seamless user experience.
Intuitive Layout
The new user interface of Researchfish features an intuitive and clean layout. This design ensures that users can easily attribute outcomes to awards and identify what has already been reported. The layout is responsive, meaning it is accessible and usable across different devices, including tablets and mobile phones.
Accessibility
Significant efforts have been made to improve accessibility. The platform has been run through various accessibility tools to identify and address areas needing improvement. The new design adheres to accessibility guidelines, making it more user-friendly for those using screen readers and other accessibility devices. The colors and fonts are chosen to enhance readability, and the menu is positioned to the side for easier access.
Guided Tours and Assistance
To help users get started, Researchfish offers guided tours and hints and tips upon first login. This assistance includes information on where to find the user guide and how to use the platform effectively. This feature ensures that new users can quickly familiarize themselves with the system.
Search Functionality
Researchfish has introduced a new search functionality that allows users to explore and discover data within their accounts more efficiently. This feature enables users to search through various data entities such as funders, organizations, outcomes, and people. It also allows for filtering and bulk actions, making it easier to extract precise information and manage data.
Reduced Manual Input
The platform aims to reduce manual input by harvesting data from third-party sources where possible. This includes using IDs to prepopulate output records for publications, patents, datasets, and other outputs. Users can search across multiple fields, such as Crossref, PubMed, Web of Science, and more, to auto-populate information.
Clear Navigation
The navigation has been simplified, with all relevant options directly accessible from the side menu. This clearer navigation makes the submission and retrieval of data as intuitive as possible. The entire screen width is now usable, providing a clearer overall view of the page.
User Experience
Overall, the user experience is enhanced by the improved layout, greater accessibility, and reduced manual input. The platform is designed to be user-friendly, with clear and easy-to-read pages. The Researchfish Client Team also offers webinars to introduce users to the new interface, ensuring a smooth transition.
Conclusion
In summary, Researchfish’s user interface is designed to be intuitive, accessible, and easy to use, making it a valuable tool for researchers and funders to report and manage research outcomes effectively.
ResearchFish - Key Features and Functionality
Researchfish Overview
Researchfish is a comprehensive platform that helps researchers, funders, and research organizations track, report, and analyze the outcomes and impacts of their research. Here are the main features and functionalities of Researchfish:Automated Data Harvesting
Researchfish integrates with a vast number of external data sources, including publication repositories like Crossref, PubMed, Web of Science, and data repositories such as Datacite. This integration allows the platform to automatically harvest data, reducing the need for manual input. For instance, it can harvest around 108,000 publications, saving researchers significant time.Lookup and Auto-Population
The platform offers lookup functions for various types of research outcomes. For example, researchers can use IDs to auto-populate information for publications, intellectual property (patents), datasets, software, and spin-outs. This feature saves time and improves data accuracy by reducing manual entry errors.Multi-Award Reporting
Researchfish enables researchers to report outcomes across multiple funders and awards. This feature allows for a single submission process, eliminating the need for duplicate reporting. Researchers can attribute their outcomes to multiple awards, and team members can contribute to the same award, streamlining the reporting process.Delegation and Collaboration
Researchers can add delegates who can help prepare and submit their research outcomes. Delegates can create, edit, and attribute outcomes, making the reporting process more manageable. This feature is particularly useful for principal investigators who need assistance from team members or collaborators.Interoperability with ORCID
Researchfish allows researchers to link their ORCID accounts, enabling a single sign-on and bidirectional data synchronization. This integration helps maintain consistent logon credentials, especially for researchers who switch institutions.Conditional Field Presentation
The platform uses conditional field presentation, which means that only relevant data fields are displayed to the researcher. This, along with drop-down lists, radio buttons, and field-level validation, ensures that entries are completed quickly and accurately.Reporting and Analytics
Researchfish provides powerful reporting capabilities through its e-Val interface. Funding organizations can generate detailed reports on various categories, such as submission statuses, locations, and researchers. These reports can be represented graphically or downloaded in formats like Excel or CSV, significantly reducing administrative time and paperwork.AI-Driven Data Cleansing and Integration
While the platform does not explicitly highlight AI as a core component, it does use algorithms and data harvesting engines to collect and cleanse data from various sources. This automation reduces manual input and minimizes human error, making the submission process more efficient.User Interface and Accessibility
The platform is designed to be user-friendly, with continuous updates to improve accessibility and the overall user experience. The interface is simple and intuitive, making it easier for researchers to manage their research outputs and outcomes.Custom Configuration and Flexibility
Researchfish can be configured to meet the specific needs of individual funding organizations, charities, research centers, and universities. It supports a wide range of outcome types, including publications, collaborations, further funding, and more, allowing for holistic impact reporting beyond just publications.Conclusion
By leveraging these features, Researchfish simplifies the process of reporting research outcomes, enhances data accuracy, and reduces the administrative burden on researchers, ultimately helping to communicate the benefits and impact of research more effectively. ResearchFish - Performance and Accuracy
Evaluating the Performance and Accuracy of Researchfish
Researchfish is a tool used by funders, universities, and research centers to track and assess the impact of research. Evaluating its performance and accuracy involves several key aspects.
Data Collection and Accuracy
Researchfish collects a vast amount of data on research outputs, outcomes, and impact from various sources, including researchers themselves and external data sources. However, one of the significant challenges identified is the completeness and accuracy of the data inputted into the system. The report from King’s College London highlights that data integrity and quality are crucial for meaningful impact analyses. Researchfish has introduced initiatives to validate and correct the data, but there is still a need for continuous improvement and awareness among principal investigators about the importance of accurate data entry.
Data Analysis and Capacity
The platform allows for extensive data analysis, enabling funders and institutions to map the outcomes of funded research and compare them across different organizations or institutions. However, the capacity and capability of research funders and higher education institutions (HEIs) to analyze the data effectively remain a challenge. Larger funders have developed in-house evaluation teams, but smaller funders may lack these resources. Solutions such as training, forming consortia, or engaging external parties for data analysis have been suggested.
Data Connectivity and Sharing
To maximize the value of the data, Researchfish emphasizes the importance of data connectivity within the research ecosystem. This includes data sharing and interoperability between systems, as well as agreement on data standards. Efforts are underway to integrate data with publication datasets and patent databases, and the use of unique identifiers like ORCID to connect researcher-specific data.
Limitations and Areas for Improvement
Data Quality
Ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the data remains a significant challenge. Continuous validation and awareness campaigns are necessary to improve data quality.
Analytical Capacity
Smaller funders and HEIs may lack the resources and skills to analyze the data effectively, which can be addressed through training and collaborative efforts.
Data Sharing
While data sharing is crucial, it requires better connectivity between systems and agreement on data standards to avoid double data entry and ensure seamless integration.
User Engagement and Feedback
Researchfish has been successful in helping organizations like Cancer Research UK to conduct data-driven impact assessments. However, user engagement and feedback are essential for continuous improvement. The platform needs to ensure that users are aware of how their data is being used and the importance of accurate submissions. This can be achieved through engagement activities and clear communication about the analytical power available through data sharing.
Conclusion
In summary, while Researchfish is a powerful tool for tracking and assessing research impact, its performance and accuracy depend on several factors, including data quality, analytical capacity, and data connectivity. Addressing these areas can enhance the overall effectiveness of the platform.
ResearchFish - Pricing and Plans
Pricing Structure of ResearchFish
The pricing structure of ResearchFish is based on annual license fees, and it does not appear to offer multiple tiers or free options in the traditional sense. Here are the key points regarding its pricing and features:
Annual License Fees
- The cost of using ResearchFish is determined by annual license fees, which vary depending on the research intensity of the organization and the level of custom configuration required.
Custom Configuration
- The fees are influenced by how much customization the organization needs, which can include specific reporting requirements and data collection configurations.
Features
- Regardless of the specific fee, all users have access to a range of features, including:
- Research impact analysis
- Research evaluation tools
- Real-time reporting
- Collection of research outcomes and outputs
- Data curation and management
- Data harvesting and enrichment
- Interoperability with other systems
No Free Options or Tiers
- There is no indication of free plans or different tiers with varying features. The pricing is more about scaling to the needs of the organization rather than offering tiered plans.
Administrative and Support Costs
- Additional costs may be incurred for on-site training, which is otherwise provided remotely. Online documentation and remote training are included in the service.
In summary, ResearchFish’s pricing is flexible and based on the specific needs and research intensity of the organization, without predefined tiers or free options.
ResearchFish - Integration and Compatibility
Researchfish Overview
Researchfish, a cloud-based platform for tracking research and evidence impact, integrates with various tools and ensures compatibility across different platforms and devices in several key ways:
ORCID Integration
Researchfish allows users to link their ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) accounts. This integration enables the automatic harvesting of publication records from ORCID into Researchfish, and vice versa. This linkage simplifies the process of attributing publications to the relevant research awards and ensures data consistency across both platforms.
Data Harvesting and Enrichment
Researchfish can collect data from multiple online repositories and sources. It uses lookups and search functions to prepopulate output records from databases such as Crossref, PubMed, Web of Science, and others. This feature helps in linking data to other datasets and improving the quality of the submitted data. Similar lookups are available for patents, datasets, models, software, and other types of outputs.
Interoperability
The platform is highly interoperable, allowing it to be configured as required by individual funding organisations, charities, research centres, and universities. This flexibility ensures that Researchfish can adapt to the specific needs of various stakeholders, enabling them to track and report on research outcomes comprehensively.
Browser Compatibility
Researchfish is compatible with a range of web browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. It requires an internet-connected device and does not support browsers with disabled JavaScript or cookie functionality. This ensures that users can access the platform from different devices without significant compatibility issues.
Mobile Accessibility
The platform is designed to be accessible on both mobile and desktop devices, with all features available on both platforms. This ensures that researchers can report and manage their research outcomes conveniently from any device.
API Access
Researchfish provides a read-only API that allows clients to extract agreement and output records programmatically. While there is no write access to the database via this API, it facilitates the extraction of data for further analysis and reporting. API documentation and a test environment are also available.
Cloud Deployment
Hosted on Amazon Web Services, Researchfish leverages elastic cloud computing to auto-scale CPU with demand. This ensures that the platform can handle increased usage without compromising performance, making it scalable and reliable.
Conclusion
In summary, Researchfish integrates seamlessly with ORCID, various data repositories, and is compatible with multiple browsers and devices, including mobile platforms. Its API and cloud deployment further enhance its usability and scalability.
ResearchFish - Customer Support and Resources
Customer Support
- Users can contact the Researchfish help desk directly via email at support@researchfish.com for any issues related to logging in, profile management, or data-related questions.
- Technical support is available weekdays from 9am to 5pm, and users can also use the live chat feature for immediate assistance.
Additional Resources
- Help Videos and Tutorials: Researchfish offers several help videos specifically for Principal Investigators (PIs) and research administrators. These videos cover topics such as the PI interface overview, managing delegates and research teams, creating and attributing outcomes, and award submission.
- Webinars: Regular webinars are conducted for researchers to provide in-depth guidance and answer questions in real-time.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Detailed FAQs are available on the Researchfish website and through affiliated university guides, addressing common queries and providing step-by-step instructions.
- Delegate Management: PIs can nominate delegates to help complete information on their grants, although the PI remains responsible for the final submission.
System Management
- Users can manage their profile information, including changing passwords and email addresses, through the “My Account” section of the system.
These resources are designed to ensure that users can efficiently track and report research outcomes, communicate the impact of their research, and comply with funder requirements without encountering significant hurdles.
ResearchFish - Pros and Cons
Advantages of ResearchFish
Comprehensive Data Collection
ResearchFish allows researchers to report on multiple funding sources and track a wide range of research outcomes, including publications, collaborations, further funding, policy influence, and various other outputs such as medical products, software, and artistic creations.
Efficient Reporting
The platform enables researchers to report once across multiple funders, reusing their data and controlling who sees and accesses it. This reduces the administrative burden of evaluation and allows for accurate real-time reporting.
Automated Data Entry
ResearchFish includes features like direct lookups to PubMed, bulk upload capabilities, and autolookup fields, which simplify the data entry process and reduce manual input.
Collaboration and Benchmarking
The system facilitates collaboration and benchmarking among researchers and institutions, allowing them to achieve more together and compare their outcomes effectively.
Custom Configuration
ResearchFish can be configured to meet the specific needs of individual funding organizations, charities, research centers, and universities, providing flexibility in data collection and reporting.
Communication and Impact
It helps in communicating the benefits of research to stakeholders and generating powerful impact stories, which can spark further discussion and analysis.
Disadvantages of ResearchFish
User Interface Issues
Many researchers have criticized the user interface of ResearchFish, describing it as clunky, user-unfriendly, and requiring significant manual effort, particularly in uploading bibliometric and other data.
Time-Consuming
The system is often reported to be time-consuming, with researchers spending hours each year compiling and uploading data, which could be automated or simplified.
Privacy Concerns
There have been significant concerns about privacy and data protection, especially after incidents where ResearchFish shared critical comments from academics with their funders and employers, raising questions about how personal information is handled.
Heavy-Handed Response to Criticism
ResearchFish has been accused of bullying researchers who criticize the platform, including threatening to report their comments to funders. This has led to widespread criticism and calls for better engagement with the research community.
Limited Improvement
Despite criticisms, the system has seen little improvement over the years, with many researchers feeling that there is no incentive for the company to make significant changes since its use is mandatory for many funding grants.
Overall, while ResearchFish offers several benefits in terms of comprehensive data collection and reporting, it faces significant challenges related to user experience, privacy, and its response to criticism.
ResearchFish - Comparison with Competitors
When comparing ResearchFish with other tools in the research impact tracking and analysis category, several key features and alternatives stand out.
Unique Features of ResearchFish
- Comprehensive Data Collection: ResearchFish collects and enriches data from various sources, including the web, external data sources, and direct input from researchers. This includes a wide range of outcomes such as publications, collaborations, further funding, policy influence, and more.
- Custom Configuration: The platform can be configured to meet the specific needs of individual funding organizations, charities, research centers, and universities. This flexibility allows for granular tracking and data collection.
- Holistic Impact Reporting: ResearchFish goes beyond just tracking publications, capturing a total picture of impact that includes policy changes, drug development, teaching improvements, and other forms of impact.
- Benchmarking and Collaboration: It enables comparison with other organizations and facilitates collaboration and benchmarking, helping institutions achieve more together.
Potential Alternatives
While there aren’t direct competitors that offer the exact same suite of features as ResearchFish, here are some tools that serve related purposes:
For Literature Review and Research Mapping
- LitMaps, Connected Papers, and Inciteful: These tools help in summarizing research, generating literature maps, and illustrating the relationships between different papers. They are more focused on literature review and research mapping rather than comprehensive impact tracking.
For Qualitative Research Analysis
- Reveal, CoLoop, Inca, and Yasna: These AI-enhanced qualitative research platforms are designed for analyzing interviews, summarizing data, and identifying themes. While they are not directly comparable to ResearchFish, they can be useful for specific aspects of qualitative research analysis, such as theme identification and data summarization.
For General Research Assistance
- Elicit: This AI research assistant helps in optimizing database searches by suggesting related questions, subject headings, and keywords. It is more focused on assisting in the research process rather than tracking and reporting research impact.
Key Differences
- Scope of Impact Tracking: ResearchFish is uniquely positioned to track a broad range of research outcomes and impacts, making it a comprehensive tool for funders and research institutions. Other tools, like those for qualitative research or literature mapping, are more specialized and do not offer the same breadth of impact tracking.
- Data Aggregation: ResearchFish aggregates data from multiple sources, including direct researcher input, which is a significant advantage in capturing a holistic view of research impact.
- Customization and Benchmarking: The ability to customize the platform for different organizations and facilitate benchmarking sets ResearchFish apart from more specialized research tools.
In summary, while there are tools that can assist in various aspects of research, such as literature review or qualitative analysis, ResearchFish stands out for its comprehensive approach to tracking and reporting research impact across a wide range of outcomes.
ResearchFish - Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Researchfish, along with detailed responses to each:
What is Researchfish and who is it for?
Researchfish is a platform that helps funders, charities, universities, and research centers track and report on the impact of their research. It is designed for organizations that need to evaluate and articulate the outcomes of their research projects, beyond just academic publications. This includes universities, research funding organizations, and charities.
What types of outcomes can Researchfish track?
Researchfish collects and enriches data for various standard outcomes, such as publications, collaborations, further funding, engagement activities, influence on policy, research tools and methods, research databases and models, IP and licensing, medical products and clinical trials, artistic and creative products, software and technical products, spin-outs, awards and recognition, and other outputs and knowledge.
How does Researchfish collect data?
Researchers can report the outputs and outcomes of their research directly into the Researchfish platform. The data is collected from various online repositories and sources, and the platform also performs data harvesting and enrichment to ensure the data is comprehensive and accurate.
What are the benefits of using Researchfish?
Using Researchfish saves time and reduces the administrative burden for researchers. It allows for cross-attribution of outcomes and outputs, enables benchmarking across organizations, and helps identify pathways to impact. Additionally, it provides real-time reporting and data curation and management capabilities.
How is the data used in Researchfish?
The data collected in Researchfish is used to measure and assess the impacts of funded research. It helps organizations empirically show the value of their funded research, draw upon a large pool of aggregated data, and capture a total picture of impact in all forms. This data can also be used to inform future funding strategies and to communicate the benefits of research to stakeholders.
What kind of training and support does Researchfish offer?
Researchfish provides comprehensive training throughout the year, including administrative training for setup, communications with researchers, and submission period setup. Additional training is offered after the submission period to help users make the most of the collected data. Training can be provided remotely or on-site at an additional cost.
How does the pricing for Researchfish work?
Researchfish operates on annual license fees, which vary based on the research intensity and the level of custom configuration required by the organization. The costs can range from £50,000 to £1,000,000 per unit, depending on the specific needs of the client.
What are the system requirements for using Researchfish?
To use Researchfish, you need an internet-connected device capable of running supported browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge. The platform is not designed for use with browsers where JavaScript or cookie functionality has been disabled.
How does the onboarding process for Researchfish work?
The onboarding process involves working closely with each client to determine the set of grants on which output and outcome reporting will be required. This information is built into a spreadsheet and uploaded to the platform to establish the base data set. Training is provided throughout the onboarding process to ensure a smooth transition.
What happens to the data if a client decides to terminate their contract with Researchfish?
If a client decides not to renew their annual contract, they can download all their data directly from the platform via the administrative interface. Alternatively, the Researchfish team can download the data on the client’s behalf and make it available to them. All user accounts will be deactivated, and personal information will be deleted after a year.
Can Researchfish be customized for individual funding organizations or universities?
Yes, Researchfish has the flexibility to be configured as required by individual funding organizations, charities, research centers, and universities. It can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each client.
ResearchFish - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of ResearchFish
ResearchFish is a comprehensive platform that helps funders, universities, and research centers to track, analyze, and communicate the impact of their research. Here’s a detailed look at who would benefit most from using it and an overall recommendation.Who Would Benefit Most
Funders and Charities
ResearchFish is particularly useful for funders and charities as it allows them to report on the impact of their research investments beyond academic publications. It helps them inform future funding strategies and evaluate the effectiveness of their funding programs.
Universities and Research Centers
These institutions can use ResearchFish to track the outcomes of research funded from various sources, better evaluate the impact of their research portfolio, and articulate the benefits of their research to stakeholders.
Researchers
Researchers can benefit by making their research outcomes visible to stakeholders, signposting potential impacts to secure new awards, and building a personal portfolio of their research career.
Key Features and Benefits
Comprehensive Impact Tracking
ResearchFish captures a wide range of research outcomes, including publications, collaborations, policy changes, medical products, creative productions, and commercial spin-outs. This holistic approach helps in communicating the full impact of research beyond just academic publications.
Data Aggregation and Analysis
The platform aggregates data from multiple funding sources, enabling granular tracking and analysis. This data can be used to identify trends, evaluate research collaborations, and inform future funding decisions.
Custom Configuration
ResearchFish can be configured to meet the specific needs of individual funding organizations, charities, research centers, and universities. This flexibility ensures that the data collected is relevant and useful for various stakeholders.
Reduced Reporting Burden
The platform streamlines grant administration, reduces the reporting burden on researchers, and helps ensure compliance with funder requirements. This makes it easier for researchers to focus on their work rather than administrative tasks.
Engagement and Factual Accuracy
ResearchFish enhances engagement by providing a clear and comprehensive picture of research impact. It allows stakeholders to understand the benefits and outcomes of research through powerful impact stories and detailed data analysis. The platform ensures factual accuracy by collecting and enriching data for various standard outcomes that can be uniquely attributed to specific awards.
Recommendation
Given its extensive features and benefits, ResearchFish is highly recommended for any organization or individual involved in research funding, management, or execution. It offers a structured way to collect, analyze, and communicate research impact, which is crucial for making informed decisions about future funding and for demonstrating the value of research investments.
For those considering using ResearchFish, it is important to note that the platform requires some investment in data analysis and sharing capabilities to maximize its benefits. However, with the right skill set and capacity, ResearchFish can significantly enhance the evaluation and articulation of research impact, making it a valuable tool in the research ecosystem.