Introduction

Researchfish’s CRIS integration allows a Research Organisation (RO) administrator to upload outputs from a CRIS system into Researchfish using the Interoperability Uploader. As of July 2024, this feature, also known as "RO interop," supported uploading publication outputs.
A Researcher Record in Researchfish creates an association between a researcher and an RO. These records are created and owned by the RO.
Previously, outputs could only be added via the Interoperability Uploader where funder and grant attribution information was known. However, now outputs can be added and associated with a Researcher Record, making them available in the researcher's Personal Portfolio for award attribution.

Researcher Records

Overview of the process

The process for creating Researcher Records is as follows:
 

1. Gather information about your researchers for Researchfish.
2. Create Researcher Records in Researchfish, either through bulk upload or individually via the User Interface. This will trigger the immediate sending of invitations to the researchers.
3. Researchers accept invitations and link them to their Researchfish account (creating an account if needed). Note: Researcher Records are inactive until invitations are accepted, with the ability to resend invitations if necessary.
4. RO administrators can track invitation status and resend if needed.

Once invitations are accepted, Researcher Records can be used with the Interoperability Uploader. Uploads to Researcher Records require researcher acceptance to proceed, as this gives permission for the RO administrator to upload.

To use this functionality, RO administrators must have the "Upload Access" role.

• RO Full (Administrator) users can be granted the “Upload Access” role by an existing Researchfish administrator user at their organisation (navigate to e-Val > User Accounts, and then edit the permissions of the relevant administrator)
• RO Lite (Compliance) users need to contact rfclientsupport@elsevier.com to request the “Upload Access” role be enabled on their account

Initial preparation

As shown in the above overview, researchers only need to do a one-time task of accepting an invitation.

To ensure timely acceptance, we recommend that the RO sends preparatory emails from their own system. These emails should:
•    Explain the purpose (reducing reporting burden by enabling RO administrators to upload outputs from CRIS into Researchfish) and grant permission to the RO administrator.
•    Explain that this is a one-time task, of accepting the invitation in the email
•    Existing Researchfish account holders should log in during the invitation acceptance process.
•    New users can create a Researchfish account as part of the invitation acceptance process.
•    Provide details on when invitations will be sent, the sender's email address
(admin@researchfish.com), and encourage checking spam folders for missed emails.

For an example email template, see the Appendix (Template 1).

Viewing Researcher Records

Navigate to the e-Val section in the left-hand menu and select "Researcher Record" to view a list of existing records and see if researchers have accepted the invitations.

Creating Researcher Records

You can either create Researcher Records individually, or via a bulk upload mechanism.

Prepare a list of researchers:

A Researcher Record comprises the following details:
•    An internal persistent ID for the researcher in your system
•    The researcher’s name and email address
•    A start date (of their time at the RO), and optionally an end date. Note that these fields are to support future plans.

This information will likely come from your CRIS or HR system.

You can generate a list of researchers at your organisation who are Principal Investigators / award holders in Researchfish, by downloading the award details (RHT); however, note that this won’t include researchers who aren’t award holders but are research team members. You can filter this list using the Response Code and Submission Period start/end dates, if needed.

Adding data into Researchfish:

You can create Researcher Records either in bulk, or manually.

Organizations can create Researcher Records in bulk by accessing the "Researcher Record Uploader" menu item. Download the spreadsheet template, fill it with researcher data, and upload the file.

Any errors encountered during the upload process will be displayed for correction in the User Interface (or you can cancel the upload, fix the errors in the spreadsheet, and start the upload process again).

Note, when the Researcher Record is created, this will immediately send the invitation (as currently there’s no way to delay the sending of invitations).
 

Please note that exporting a list of Researcher Records is not currently available but is planned for future updates. We recommend saving your spreadsheet for future reference (if you lose this, contact rfclientsupport@elsevier.com who can help you with this).

If creating Researcher Records individually, use the "Create New Record" button to manually enter data into the form. Saving the form will immediately send the invitation to the researcher.

Researchers accepting Researcher Record Invitations

Researchers will receive an email inviting them to accept a Researcher Record invitation. Upon clicking the link in the email, they can log in if they have a Researchfish account or create one if necessary.

Researcher Records are currently used solely for the Interoperability Uploader and do not offer direct functionality to researchers. They are visible to researchers in a section at the bottom of the "My Awards" page.

Managing Researcher Records

You can update existing Researcher Records using the User Interface; bulk upload does not currently support this feature. This may be necessary for changes in a researcher's name or title. The start and end date fields in Researcher Records are for future planning and do not require regular updates.
RO administrators can monitor Researcher Records, check for pending invitations, and resend them if needed. Deleting Researcher Records is not possible for administrators; please contact support@researchfish.com for assistance with deletions.

Off-boarding and Researcher Records

Our client off-boarding process will be updated to address Researcher Records.

Researcher Records and the Interoperability Uploader

The Interoperability Uploader now allows uploading an Excel spreadsheet containing a mix of publications with funder/grant information or Researcher Record IDs. It is preferable to include funder and grant information where known, to minimise the reporting burden on researchers.

The upload process remains the same:
1.    Download the interoperability template
2.    Populate the template with publications
3.    Upload the outputs
4.    Once processed, download and review the feedback report and address any errors

The template column previously for Funder Grant Reference ID can now accommodate either a Funder Grant Reference ID or a Researcher Record ID.

Additional notes about the process:

• Each attribution is recorded on a separate row in the spreadsheet. For example, attributing an output to 2 award and to 3 Researcher Records would require 5 rows.
• Error checking now includes validation for Researcher Records.
• The upload process prevents duplicates when adding publications to grants or Researcher Records.
• Publications added to Researcher Records will show up in researchers' Personal Portfolios for award attribution.

Future candidate work

The following are future candidate areas to build out the Researcher Record functionality:

• Decoupling the creation of Researcher Records from sending invitations
• Support bulk actions for a user-selected set of Researcher Record invitations
• Bulk updates of Researcher Records via the upload mechanism
• Export of Researcher Records

Appendix: template email

Template 1: Research Organisation Researcher Record Communication
 

Timing: Email to be sent before the Researcher Record tool is used

We advise sending this first email at least 2 weeks before your organisation plans to use the
Researchfish Interoperability uploader tool, and shortly before creating researcher records. This is to allow sufficient time for researchers to accept their researcher record invitations, and to
allow you to send a 1-week reminder and re-send any researcher record invitations to those yet to accept to do this before outcomes are uploaded.

Sender: Research Office – Sent from University email domain outside of the Researchfish platform

Recipient: Researchers for whom a Researcher Record is going to be created

Subject: ACTION REQUIRED – Accept your Researcher Record Invitation for [Research Organisation]

Body:

Dear [Researcher Name],

We are writing to notify you that [Research Organisation] will be utilizing the Interoperability Tools available on the Researchfish platform to help you with your reporting during the next submission period.


Why is this happening?

This initiative aims to reduce the effort and time required from you to report the outputs and outcomes of your research funding.

The interoperability tools enable [Research Organisation] to upload and where possible attribute output and outcome information in Researchfish on your behalf where this data already exists in our [CRIS system], saving you time and duplication of effort.


What do I need to do?

You will shortly receive a Researcher Record email invitation from [Research Organisation], this will be sent to you via the Researchfish system so will come from an admin@researchfish.com email address. Please ensure this email address is on your safe sender list, or check the
junk/spam folder as it may be caught there.

1    – Accept the Invitation

Use the link in the invitation email to accept the invitation. If you already have a Researchfish account, select the option to login using your existing credentials so that relevant outcomes will be added to your existing Researchfish account by [Research Organisation]. If you do not already have an account, you will have the opportunity to set one up.

Please note you will only need to accept this researcher record invitation once to benefit from it every year, and you will not need to do any active reporting against your researcher record in Researchfish. It is important that you accept this invitation for [Research Organisation] to be able to upload outcome in information into the system on your behalf to save you time.

2    – Ensure your information is up to date in [RO CRIS System]

Please ensure that you have updated any relevant information in [CRIS SYSTEM] so that this can be included in the data upload.


Key Dates & Deadlines:

Please ensure you have accepted your researcher record invitation and updated any relevant information in [CRIS SYSTEM] before [DATE].

[Research Organisation] will be uploading outcomes into Researchfish on [DATE].

If you have any questions about this process, please contact us via [Research Office Email Address].

Kind Regards,
[Research Organisation]

Template 2: Researcher Record Invitation Email Text

Timing: Email will be sent automatically when the Researcher Records are created in Researchfish

Sender: Researchfish platform – admin@researchfish.com

Recipient: Researchers for whom a Researcher Record is created

Subject: Your Researcher Record at [Research Organisation] on Researchfish

Body:

Dear [Researcher Name],

This email is to confirm that [Research Organisation Administrator] is inviting you to accept a Researcher Record invitation. This will allow them to add records into Researchfish on your behalf, reducing the amount of reporting you need to do. Please use the link below to confirm this invitation and if necessary, set up an account:

[INVITATION LINK URL]

If you have any questions please contact [Research Organisation Administrator] in the first instance although we will be happy to assist with any problems.

Kind regards,
[Research Organisation]

If you have trouble accessing the link above your invitation code is: [UNIQUE INVITATION CODE]