Open Research

Research Outcomes Reporting

Outcomes Reporting

Every year, UKRI, Cancer Research UK and several other UK funders contact staff, students, and supervisors with past or present grants or studentships to ask them to provide ‘research outcomes’. Examples of research outcomes are:

• publications
• details of collaborations
• public engagement activities
• development of medical, technical and artistic products
• examples of policy influence
• use of shared facilities
• (for students) any placements or internships

These funders use a system called Researchfish to collect this information. If you have any problems, for example with login, or if you register but cannot see any grants, please use the online help within Researchfish or contact the Researchfish HelpDesk. 

Some funders require all award holders to participate, others make a selection. Please note that you may be required to complete a submission for an award that ended several years previously. The exact reporting period after the end of awards varies by funder and award type. 

If you are required to participate, you will receive an email asking you to register to use the Researchfish system. Outcomes information can be updated at any time after registration. However, each funder will set a submission period when you must log in to the Researchfish system and:

• check that the research outcomes listed are complete.
• ensure that outcomes are properly attributed to awards.
• check that the information to be submitted is NOT sensitive or confidential. 
• press the submit button.

If you do not have outcomes to report, for example if your award has not finished, you must make a nil return declaration. 

The Library will bulk upload the details of publications from Enlighten to Researchfish to reduce manual keying. If your papers are on Enlighten but are not linked to the relevant awards, please let us know in good time and we can fix that before the bulk upload. If your papers are not on Enlighten nor on Researchfish, you can easily add them on Researchfish by DOI or PubMed ID.  

You can also record knowledge exchange and impact information in the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Repository. Please note that these are not automatically uploaded to Researchfish. 

If you are unable to submit, check if there are warnings about missing mandatory data on the home screen and on each outcome. You can do this by clicking the pencil icon next to each entry to bring up the edit screen, which shows which fields are mandatory for each outcome type. 

You can delegate administrators and colleagues to add information. You must login yourself to check what has been entered is complete, and press the submit by the deadline. 

The next multi-funder submission period will run from 5 February 2024 to 16:00 on 14 March 2024.

The library can help with outcomes reporting. Contact us at research-outcomes@glasgow.ac.uk if you need assistance, such as: 

• you receive an email and do not know anything at all about the award. 
• you want to ask for an exemption to making a return, e.g., because of long-term sickness leave. 
• you have any other questions. 

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