Researchfish includes 15 common outcome types, each with a standard set of questions. Researchers can create an outcome from these predefined options and attribute it to an award, signifying that the award's funding contributed to achieving that outcome. The 15 outcome types are:
 

•    Publications
•    Collaborations & Partnerships
•    Further Funding
•    Next Destination
•    Engagement Activities
•    Influence on Policy, Practice, Patients & the Public
•    Research Tools & Methods
•    Research Datasets, Databases & Models
•    Intellectual Property & Licensing
•    Medical Products, Interventions & Clinical Trials
•    Artistic & Creative Products
•    Software & Technical Products
•    Spin Outs
•    Awards & Recognition
•    Use of Facilities & Resources  

Previously, there was a 16th common outcome type called "Other Outputs/Outcomes." This option has now been removed. However, any data previously entered by award holders under this category will still be retained and available for download.
 

The common outcome types and the questions within in each section are determined by the stakeholders that use the system and utilise the data collected within it. For many years, there was a dedicated committee known as the Researchfish Question Set Subgroup, composed of funders and Researchfish staff who governed the question set. However, the process for overseeing the question set has now changed to enable broader involvement. Each outcome type is reviewed on a rolling basis to ensure it remains relevant and effective. As part of this process, stakeholders are invited to nominate the outcome types they would like to be consulted on. This approach allows parties to engage with the outcomes most important to them, while also enabling us to draw on specialist expertise tailored to each outcome type.
 

We regularly review the common outcome types to ensure that they continue to meet the evolving needs of our stakeholders and support an efficient data collection process. This includes improvements such as integrating data from other sources, incorporating unique identifiers, and linking to metadata where appropriate.
 

Stakeholders are encouraged to share feedback or suggestions for improvement at any time through their Customer Success Manager. For more information on these common outcomes, we recommend reviewing the Common Outcome Types Map with sub-types and the Common Outcome Overview.
 

Although these questions are designed to meet the needs of all clients, there is also the option of assigning one or more ‘Additional Questions’ to your awards. This is discussed in more detail in the following section. 
 

An additional question enables a funder  to collect information from award holders beyond the standard outcome categories. These can be made mandatory, preventing award holders from submitting unless they have responded.
 

These questions are customisable to each funder’s needs, provided they remain GDPR compliant, and are available at an additional cost. Organisations can create multiple AQ sections and assign them to specific awards. While there are no limits on how many AQ sections an award can have, we recommend balancing assignments to minimise the reporting burden.
 

There are also some Common Additional Questions that are used by multiple organisations. The purpose of these questions is to encourage consistent data collection across organisations, supporting benchmarking and data sharing, while also being mindful of the reporting burden placed on researchers. These common AQs are already set up within the system, meaning the questions are well tested and require minimal effort for an organisation to begin using them. Examples of current common AQs are Patient & Public Involvement, Animal Use in Research, and Academic Meetings & Conference Attendance. 
 

Interoperability is a term used in Researchfish to describe the exchange of information between sources and platforms. We take information that is available from various data sources and pre-populate this in the platform for award holders  . This minimises the reporting burden by saving the time they would have spent generating these outcomes themselves.
 

Interoperability is implemented in multiple ways in the platform; the different types of data entry are outlined in the table below and highlight the differing levels of researcher input needed:

We currently integrate with many different sources across many sections as shown in the table below:

[1] https://www.crossref.org/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

[3] https://clarivate.com/academia-government/scientific-and-academic-research/research-discovery-and-referencing/web-of-science/ 

[4] https://www.elsevier.com/products/scopus

[5] https://nielsenisbnstore.com/

[6] https://orcid.org/

[7] https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/

[8] https://inspirehep.net/

[9] https://datacite.org/

[10] https://bl.iro.bl.uk/collections/e492dc4b-82d9-4f8c-bb0a-2cdd8a62105d?locale=en

[11] https://www.openaire.eu/

[12] https://www.elsevier.com/insights/metrics/plumx

[13] https://ror.org/

[14] https://grid.ac/

[15] https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/

[16] https://worldwide.espacenet.com/

[17] https://clinicaltrials.gov/

[18] https://www.isrctn.com/

[19] https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/search

[20] https://www.who.int/tools/clinical-trials-registry-platform

[21] https://opencorporates.com/
 

These lists are not exhaustive, and we continuously seek new systems to enhance data integration. Our goal is to help award holders focus their time on reporting outcomes that are not already publicly available and require more personalised input. However, our ability to integrate data is limited by what is available and what has persistent, unique identifiers. As the research environment evolves and more data becomes accessible in standardised formats, our capacity to reduce reporting burdens and enhance insights will grow — collaboration across the sector is essential to making this possible.

It is essential for all stakeholders to understand who owns the data within the Researchfish platform at the different stages of the process, so that it is used in line with the ownership and the relevant governing principles.
 

Key Points on Data Ownership:
 

•    Researchfish acts as a Data Processor for funders, who load their information on their awards into Researchfish and ask their researchers to report to them using Researchfish.
•    Researchfish also acts a Data Processor for individual researchers who can add information on their outputs, outcomes and impacts and then submit the information to their funders using Researchfish.
•    Funders control both their own data uploaded by them into Researchfish and information on outputs, outcomes, and impacts attributed to their awards by their researchers, including both live and submitted data   . More details on the difference between live and submitted data is available in the section Submission Periods (below).
 

When an award holder creates an account, they agree to these Terms of Use, allowing the funder to use the data for internal and external purposes. There are standard terms of use made available for organisations to use when their award holders are submitting their data. However, stakeholders can use terms of use specific to their organisation and award holders. 

Sharing with Research Organisations
 

When a new award is added to the platform, an administrator user from the organisation can set its Sharing Status . This specifies if the award and its outcome data can be shared with each research organisation (RO) where the award is based (as each award can be based at many research organisations). The sharing status can be set to one of two options:  
 

Full Share
The research organisation (RO) hosting the award will have read-only access to its information:
•    They can download award details for all awards based at their institution.
•    ROs with a paid subscription can additionally view and download attributed outcomes to the awards.

Don’t Share
•    The award information remains private and is not accessible to the RO.

Sharing with Co-Funders

A single award can be funded by more than one funder. In Researchfish a funder setting up an award has the option to add any co-funders as part of the award information. The funder setting the award up is the primary funder, and they can set up many different co-funders. Co-funders cannot manage the award details, e.g. changing PI, setting a submission period, but they can access all of the information reported on the award. 

A submission period is a designated timeframe (e.g., one month) during which the funder requests that award holders submit their awards with the most up-to-date outcomes attributed to them. Many funders choose to align their submission periods, as researchers are often funded by multiple organisations. Submitting to all relevant funders at the same time helps to reduce the reporting burden on the research community.

As part of the submission process, award holders are presented with the Terms of Use for the funder(s) associated with their awards, which describes the purposes for which the information is being collected and how it may be reused. These terms must be accepted to complete the submission. 

Submitting an award allows the researcher to confirm that everything reported is accurate and complete at that point in time. Once they submit a copy of the data at that point in time is made for longitudinal analysis. 

Although the submitted data remains unchanged, some metadata, such as Open Access status, can be updated as required. You can find a detailed description of the difference between live and submitted data in the ‘Live and Submitted Data’ section of this guide.

The submission requirements for an award are determined by its response code, as outlined below:

You can download various Excel spreadsheets from the platform, each containing award or outcome data. To access these downloads, navigate to the Exports tab within the e-Val navigation pane.

The final data export depends on your selection of the available filters. Below are the key options you can configure:

Submission Period
This filter allows you to choose:
 

1.    Live Data
The most up-to-date information in the system.

2.    Submitted Data
Data captured at the time of submission for a specific submission period. The names of all your past submission periods will be listed.

3.    Most Recently Submitted
The latest submission available for each award, regardless of the submission period.
 

This feature allows for a more comprehensive dataset of submitted data. 

Export Type
Choose from the following export options:

1.    Award Details (RHT) 
This selection allows you to download a complete list of your awards along with their associated details. The specific awards shown depend on the selected Submission Period filter:
 

•    Live Data:
Shows all awards and their associated details.

•    Submitted Data:
Displays submitted versions of each award and their details for the selected submission period. If an award was allocated to that submission period but not submitted, it will not appear here.

•    Most Recently Submitted:
Shows the most recently submitted version of each award and its details. If an award has never been submitted, it will not appear in this view.
 

2.    All Available Outcome Types
This selection allows you to download the details of specific outcomes or additional questions. The specific outcomes shown again depend on the selected Submission Period filter:
 

•    Live Data:
Shows all entries for the selected outcome type that exists in your award holders’ portfolios.

•    Submitted Data:
Shows only the outcomes that were submitted during the selected submission period.

•    Most Recently Submitted:
Shows the most recently submitted version of each outcome.

For all export types except Award Details (RHT), an additional filter called Export Details will appear, offering three levels of detail:
 

•    Entries with award details:

With this selection, the entries will be unique at the level of the award. This means that a single entry may be attributed to multiple different awards and will therefore be displayed on multiple different rows in the data. Refer here for a more detailed explanation of attribution and uniqueness.

•    Entries with award details and funder/research organisation-specific categories (e.g., nodes):
This option provides the same view as the previous selection - Entries with Award Details - but also includes additional award information that is specific to your organisation.

•    Entries without any award details:
When this option is selected, awards are not included, and attribution to specific awards is not considered. As a result, any entry linked to multiple awards will appear as a single row in this view.

3.    HRCS Classifications

4.    Location(s) or Institute(s)

This final filter allows you to specify a research organisation or institution, enabling you to view data for awards or outcomes associated with that location.

In addition to the Exports tab, there are two other locations within Researchfish where you can download award details:
 
 

Award Details (RHT)

•    This provides a complete list of your awards and their details.   

To download:

- Navigate to e-Val → Awards

- Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Download Award Details (RHT). This creates an xlsx file containing the details of all of your awards.

- You can also download details of a specific award, or a group of awards in a docx format by first using the filters to find the relevant award(s). Then, select the award(s) with the check boxes and the use the “choose action” dropdown below the list of awards and select “Download Data” If multiple awards are downloaded, the files will be combined into a ZIP file.
 
 

Downloading Outcomes for a Specific Award

•    In addition to using the “Download Data” option on the e-Val – Awards page, you can also download the outcomes linked to any award directly from its award details page. 

•    At the bottom of the Award Details pane, click ‘Download Award’ to generate a docx document containing the reported outcomes. You can select all of the output types, or only those of interest. If you are only interested in publications there is an additional option to download that as an xlsx file. Downloads are available for either the live data or a specific submitted version, based on the submission period. This is the same document that can be generated by researchers themselves.

Built-in Analytics in the Platform

This section goes beyond accessing raw data, highlighting the pre-built analytics available within Researchfish. These ready-made insights allow you to view, explore, and download key analyses to support your internal reporting.

We will first explore the Reports section, followed by Search (currently in Beta), a powerful data exploration tool. Finally, we will explore the Activity section, which provides a valuable overview of researchers' outcome attribution activity.
 

1.    Reports

This section provides a quantitative analysis of the data reported by researchers. However, it is important to note that quantitative insights may be less meaningful when the number of awards or outputs is low or when there are significant qualitative differences in reported outcomes. For these reasons, results should always be interpreted with caution, considering the context and substance of the reported outputs.
 

To access the Reports section, navigate to the Reports tab in the e-Val navigation pane. The landing page provides an overview of the available reports. From here, you can either review the introductory sections or go directly to the analytics sections, starting with ‘Descriptives’.

Each report contains a variety of tables and charts, offering different insights into your data. These sections include:
 

•    The guidance text researchers see when reporting,
•    A table of contents for easy navigation and, 
•    Explanatory text detailing the graphs, charts, and the methodology behind them.
 
 

Customising Your Report

At the top of the page, three filters allow you to refine your view and tailor the report to your needs:
 

•    Section Filter (Leftmost) – Select the specific section of interest, such as Publications.

•    Research Organisation Filter – View analyses at the research organisation level, either focusing on a particular institution or comparing awards across multiple organisations.
 

•    Data Selection Filter – Choose the dataset used for the reports:

• Most Recently Submitted (default) – The latest available submission for each award.
• Specific Submission Period – Data collected within a selected submission period.
   

Exporting your reports

At the top of the page, you have the option to download reports either as a single section or as the full report in a Word document. Additionally, you can export all underlying data from the reports as an xlsx file for further analysis.
 
 

2.    Search (Beta)

The Search (Beta) feature is a powerful interactive tool that allows you to explore live data in a dynamic and responsive way. It serves as an excellent starting point for analysis and reference. To access this section, navigate to the Search (Beta) tab in the e-Val navigation pane.

Upon entering the Search (Beta) section, you will see four main datasets available for exploration:

•    Awards
•    Outcomes
•    Organisations
•    People
 

Clicking on any of these categories will display a summary of the relevant data. You can refine your results further using the filters on the right, which will adjust based on your selection. Clicking on an individual item within the summary will provide more detailed information.
 

The Search bar at the top functions similarly to a Google-style search for your data. You can enter any relevant search term and refine your search further by using the "Add a Field to Search" option that appears at the bottom of the search bar.
 
 

Searching Awards

1.    Select "Awards" as the dataset to explore. This will display a summary view of all awards.

2.    Enter a search term (e.g., cardiovascular) in the search bar at the top. This will display summaries of all awards containing that term in the award details e.g. title, abstract researcher name, etc.

3.    Refine your results further using the available filters on the right.
 

Searching for Outcomes

1.    Select "Outcomes" as the dataset to explore. This will display a summary view of all outcomes available to you.

2.    Enter a search term (e.g., cardiovascular) in the search bar at the top. This will display summaries of all outcomes containing that term

3.    Refine your results further using the available filters on the right, e.g. only further funding from the private sector containing the search term (e.g. cardiovascular).

This is a great tool for tracking researcher activity over customisable time periods. It is especially useful for monitoring submission activity during an open submission period.
 

This section provides high-level statistics on:
•    Number of attributions made and, 
•    Number of awards submitted.
 

In addition to these metrics, four interactive charts help visualise attribution and submission trends, making it easier to assess engagement and progress at a glance.

There are fifteen common outcome types in Researchfish. An award holder can create an ‘entry’ or ‘outcome’ within one of these types and choose to connect or ‘attribute’ it to one or more an awards. 

In the Researchfish platform, the term ‘attribution’ is used to describe the link between an outcome and its funding source. When an award holder attributes an outcome to an award, it means that the funding—either fully or partially—has contributed to that outcome. This allows a single outcome to be connected to multiple funding sources, helping stakeholders appreciate the complex relationships between research funding and the resulting outcomes.

A single award can have multiple entries attributed to it. Likewise, a single entry can be attributed to multiple awards. 

Due to this multi-attributive nature of awards and entries, the data available in your download of a specific outcome type can be non-unique. To understand what this means, consider the following rows of data. This contains a subset of columns that you will find in a download of any outcome type (with award details) and some anonymised data:

Key Points:

•    There are 5 rows of data in the table - this means there are five unique attributions for this outcome type.

•    There are 3 unique entries (W, X & Y) – this means that:
-    1 entry (X) is being attributed to 3 awards (grant_b, grant_c & grant_d) 
-    2 different entries (W & Y) are being attributed to the same award (grant_a)

•    There are 4 unique awards (grant_a, grant_b, grant_c & grant_d) – this means that 1 award appears twice (grant_a) because two different entries are being attributed.
 

Based on this, in any download of any outcome type, we can deduce the following:

1.    Number of Unique Awards that have attributions - count of the number of unique values in the Agreement ID column.
2.    Number of Unique Entries that are being attributed - count of the number of unique values in the pubid column. The pubid column does not exist for the collaborations outcome type or for additional questions. In this case, the Entry ID column can be used.
3.    Number of Attributions for the specific outcome - count of the number of rows in the export.

The data that you download from Researchfish can be either live or submitted.

Live Data 

All of the information that an award holder has in their portfolio that they have attributed to the award that you are funding. The award holder can add/remove information at any time and therefore the data contained in different downloads can vary.

Submitted Data

During a submission period, an award holder reviews their award and all the attributed information before submitting. Once submitted, a complete copy of the award and all attributed outcomes is created and stored. A timestamp of the exact time of submission is added as a suffix to the unique identifiers of the award and the outcomes. This copy can only be changed if the award holder chooses to amend their submission and re-submit within the same active submission period. In this case, the most recent submission will replace any previous submitted versions. This is the data that you get when you opt to download the data from a specific submission period.

Note: Should I use Live or Submitted Data?

When analysing data, it is recommended to use submitted data, as it has been reviewed and certified by the award holder as the most relevant and accurate at the time of submission. Submitted data is:   

•    Fixed and unchangeable , ensuring consistency in reporting. However, some metadata e.g. open access status of a publication may be refreshed
•    Validated by the award holder, making it a reliable source for analysis.
•    At the point of submission, the award holder agrees to funder’s terms for the use of the data and give permission to the funder to use the submitted data in line with those terms of use.
 

However, there are limitations to submitted data:
•    It only includes awards submitted within a specific submission period.
•    Not all award holders complete their submissions, meaning some awards may be entirely missing from the dataset.
 

Live data, on the other hand, includes all awards with the latest information currently attributed by award holders. While it provides a more comprehensive view, it:

•    Can change at any time, making it less stable for reporting.
•    Has not been explicitly certified by the award holder as a finalised version of their portfolio.
 

Ultimately, choose the dataset that best fits your needs, keeping in mind the advantages and limitations of both. Most importantly, maintain consistency in your choice to ensure reliable analysis and reporting.

Whether live or submitted, the data available for download via the Exports tab can include:

1.    Award Details,
2.    Data submitted for each of the common outcome types and, 
3.    Additional questions that are unique to your organisation.
 

Each download is tailored to your organisation depending on customisable features such as categories and additional questions. It will also include a second tab called ‘Field Descriptions’ which describe what data each of the columns contains.  However, we will highlight some important columns here that are essential to understanding your data.

Awards

Outcomes

Putting it all together

Using the knowledge we now have on the data structure in Researchfish, here’s how you can get some useful statistics on outcomes for all your awards all in one place. Let’s do this for live data but it can easily be done for a specific submission period.

Step 1: In the exports tab, select live data and perform a separate download of the Award Details and each of the 15 outcome types. You will have 16 downloaded files in total.

Step 2: Select the award details file as your main spreadsheet. Copy and paste the data from each of your downloads as separate tabs in this main spreadsheet and name each tab as the respective outcome type. (You can ignore the Field Description tabs but these can also be useful for reference if you needed more details on a specific column)

Step 3: Convert the data in each tab into a Table. This is not strictly necessary but is recommended. 

To convert to a table

•    Click on any cell containing data and press Ctrl + A (Windows) or Command (⌘) + A (Mac). This selects all the data on the page.

•    Then press Ctrl + T. This will automatically convert your data to a table.

•    Alternatively you can select any cell containing data and then Windows – go to the Home tab and select “format as table” from the styles group or Mac – go to the Table tab and select “add new table”.

•    In each case you will be asked to confirm the range of the table (the data that you would like to have in the table), whether it already includes headings for the data, and what visual style you would like to have applied.

•    It is good practice to name your table to make it easier to refer to the data in future. Bby default the name will be something like “Table_1”. Click within your table and select ‘Table Design’ in the menu at the top. To the far left, you will see Table Name. You can change the generic table name here to something more suitable. It can be easier to keep the “Table_” prefix to avoid any confusion in the future.

Step 4: In the first tab containing the award details, add a column at the end for each of the outcome types. In this column, we will add the number of attributions for each award (each row) for each of the outcome types. 

•    For example, let’s do this for the Artistic and Creative Products outcome type. The first column name can be set to Number of Creative Products

•    If the name of the tab with the creative products data = creative-products:
In the first row of this column, add the formula:
=COUNTIF(Table_creative-products[Award Reference],[@[Award Reference]])

•    Be sure to replace ‘Table_creative-products’ with the name that you have given your table with the Artistic and Creative Products data

•    Pressing enter should populate all the rows for that column within the awards table.

•    Repeat this process for each of the other outcome types

At the end, you will have 15 additional columns each with a count of the number of attributions for each of your awards
 
Step 5: Lastly, we may also be interested in determining the total number of attributions and unique outcomes we have for each outcome type. To do this, let’s add another tab to your spreadsheet called Summary

1.    Create a new table in this sheet with three columns:

2.    In the Outcome Type column, list the name of all the 15 outcome types, e.g. Publications
 

3.    If the name of the table with the publications data = publications:
In the Number of attributed outcomes column, enter the formula =COUNTA(Table_publications[Agreement ID])

•    Be sure to replace ‘Table_publications’ with the name that you have given your table with the publications data
 

4.    If the name of the table with the publications data = Table_publications:
In the Number of unique outcomes column, enter the formula 
=COUNTA(UNIQUE(Table_publications[pubid]))

•    Be sure to replace ‘Table_publications’ with the name that you have given your table with the publications data. For this final column, you will receive an error for any outcome that does not contain the pubid field, i.e. collaborations. Instead replace ‘pubid’ with ‘Entry ID’
 

You should now have a single spreadsheet with all your awards and outcomes in one place. The additional columns indicate the numbers of attributions both overall and at an award level. You also have a count of all the unique outcomes for all your awards. 

You can now explore your data more easily in a single location with some useful high-level statistics.

Additional Questions (AQs): questions/outcomes determined by funders to be responded by their award holders that are not included in the Common Outcome types. These can be tailored or personalized.

Attribution: an attribution is the action of associating an outcome to an award and therefore the award holder confirming that the funding has contributed either wholly or partially to the realisation of that outcome , e.g. entering a publication, an influence in policy, an engagement activity, etc. 

Award Holder: also known as principal investigator (PI), it refers to the lead researcher of an award and responsible for completing the Submission Process. 

Award Reference: an identifier defined by the Funder to an award. This is different from the title of the project. 

Award/Agreement: the grant of money given by a Funder for a research project or programme. 

Delegate: a user invited by an award holder who can input and attribute outcomes to an award on their behalf. The delegate is not able to complete the submission process in the platform. 

Outcome: attributed to an award - something arisen either wholly or partially from the funding/award being reported on. Researchfish has listed fifteen outcome types to be reported by award holders.  

Reporting Node: restriction tool that allows a department administrator access to the RF e-Val section, but the recipient will only be able to view awards assigned to that node. 

Research Organisation (RO): the physical location where the research is being conducted. This could be a Higher Education Institution or an independent institute by itself. 

Respondent Hierarchy Table (RHT): A spreadsheet of information to be completed by a Funder to bulk add/edit award data to be uploaded in Researchfish. 

Submission Period (SP): also known as ‘Reporting Period’, and ‘Data Collection Exercise’, it refers to a specific time-window within the year, decided by the Funders, who require their award holders, to report on their outcomes of their research via the Researchfish platform.

Submission: A submission is a captured and time-stamped capture of data completed by an award holder so that their Funder can collect and analyse it (in line with the terms of use of the data stated by the relevant funder of the award). To complete a submission, the award holder must click the ‘Review and Submit’ button in the platform and accept their Funder’s T&Cs. 

Team Member: an award holder invited by another award holder who can attribute outcomes to an award of theirs on their behalf and vice-versa. Can and only should complete their own submission process. 

Terms and Conditions (T&Cs): As an award holder is completing the submission process, the T&Cs are defined by the funder, which essentially grant permission to the funder to collect and analyse the data submitted by their award holders.  

Appendix 1 – Field Descriptions list (Publications)