Researchfish
Information and guidance on reporting on research projects through Researchfish®
The 2025 submission period will run from 3 February to 13 March 2025.
The 2025 submission period for Research Councils (UKRI), Cancer Research (CRUK), British Heart Foundation (BHF), National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and Wellcome. will run from 3 February to 13 March 2025. See sections below for information on specific funder requirements. Further updates and information will be added to this webpage as necessary.
About Researchfish®
Researchfish® is an online reporting system used by funders to collect information on the outcomes and the impact of their research.
Researchers can add their outputs and outcomes throughout the year and must submit their reports during funder collection periods.
Researchfish® is currently used by the Research Councils (UKRI), Cancer Research UK, NIHR, British Heart Foundation, Wellcome Trust (end of grant reporting) and many other public and charitable research funding agencies. For a full list please see the Researchfish® website.
The Research Councils, as well as a number of other funders such as Cancer Research UK, impose sanctions for those who do not complete a full Researchfish® report. This may result in no future payments on existing grants and no further grant applications being accepted if a return is not completed.
The Research Councils publish Researchfish® returns on the Gateway to Research, giving greater exposure to researchers’ work. The outcomes reported are used to shape future funding opportunities, generate case studies and, crucially, to make the case to government for continued funding of the research areas that UKRI covers.
For some funders, including the Research Councils, Researchfish® has replaced the traditional end of award academic reports. For others (eg Parkinson’s UK), it is in addition. Researchers should check with their individual funder or the award conditions if in doubt.
Funders use the data submitted by researchers into Researchfish® to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of the research they fund.
Charitable funders need to demonstrate to their supporters that donations are being effectively spent and the outcomes are used to plan their research strategies.
UKRI use the data to produce analysis reports to lobby the government for continued funding for the scientific areas covered by the Research Councils. UKRI also publish the data on the Gateway to Research, as part of their open access policy.
Note: Ensure that information submitted via Researchfish is not confidential or personal and can be published. If there is sensitive information that you wish to make the Research Council aware of, you should contact your funder directly.
Funder reports
A list of recent reports produced by funders can be found on the Researchfish® website.
After the 2016 collection the Research Councils and MRC produced reports that look at outputs reporting from Oxford compared with the national figure. The reports are based on the Researchfish® question set and look at publication, collaboration, dissemination and a range of other outputs measures. See below for the Researchfish® analysis reports.
Using Researchfish®
When your funder uploads your award details to Researchfish you will be sent an invitation to create an account. If you lose this invitation you can request a new one on the Researchfish® website.
If your award details are incorrect (your award title, email address, funding end date etc) please go to Researchfish online help and click the 'Award details incorrect' icon and they will arrange for your funder to update the information.
No, only a PI can submit the outcomes for their award, but others can be given access to add outcomes on behalf of the PI.
There are two types of access a PI can grant:
- Delegate access: a PI can grant another person (eg administrator or assistant) access to all their awards. The delegate will have the same functions as the PI, with the exception being able to submit.
- Research team access: a PI can grant another person (eg co-investigator or research assistant) access to a particular award. A research team member can view all outputs associated with an award and can re-use outputs in their own portfolios, as well as attributing outputs from their own portfolio into the PI’s award. A team member can only edit and remove outputs that they have entered.
To set up a research team click the ‘Manage’ button to the right of the Research Team title and then click ‘Add member’. Enter the member's name and email address and select which access to grant. After clicking ‘Send invitation’ they are then notified by email that they have been invited to join your research team.
UKRI has traditionally asked for a submission of research outcomes from holders of doctoral studentships from the third year of their studentship, and for three years after it ends. For the 2025 Research Outcomes submission period, UKRI are pausing the collection of studentship data and will not be adding any new students to Researchfish.
This decision comes as part of UKRI's plans to explore the most effective ways to gather the research outcome data they require while minimising administrative burden on organisations and individuals they support. UKRI continue to value the outcomes of all UKRI-supported research and will be looking to refine and improve our methods of collecting data from studentships in the future.
Any studentships already on Researchfish will remain on the system for the usual duration and UKRI welcome the submission of any new outcomes on a non-mandatory basis.
- Researchfish® provide helpful information in their FAQs.
- For technical help with the system contact the Researchfish® support team.
- Researchfish® run webinars for PIs, researchers and delegates. These may also be of interest to administrators.
- For queries on what outcomes to report please contact your funder directly.
Oxford Researchfish® support team
Research Services have established a support team to help answer any questions that you might have about Researchfish® or research outcomes collections. Please contact us at: rs-oxford.outcomes@admin.ox.ac.uk
Links between grants and publications created in Elements are uploaded to Researchfish® to prevent duplication of effort in both systems. Any links between grants and publications recorded in Symplectic Elements by 6 January 2025 will be uploaded to the Researchfish system prior to the collection opening (subject to a matching DoI and grant reference). Links created directly in Researchfish will not be affected. See Symplectic Elements at Oxford
Major funders in Researchfish®
The 2025 submission period for Research Councils (UKRI), Cancer Research (CRUK), British Heart Foundation (BHF), National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and Wellcome will run from 3 February to 13 March 2025. See sections below for information on specific funder requirements. Further updates and information will be added as necessary throughout the year.
PIs
PIs who are in receipt of funding from the Research Councils are expected to submit a comprehensive record of their outputs on Researchfish®. The requirement to report outputs for PIs is the lifetime of an award and a minimum of five years thereafter.
It is also important to note that in most cases awards that started after 1 October 2024 are unlikely to have been uploaded to Researchfish® yet, and therefore no submissions can be made against them. These awards will normally be added to the system ahead of the 2026 exercise.
See UKRI's website for further information on reporting research outcomes.
UKRI have produced some helpful hints and tips on how to reduce the time it takes to complete a good quality submission.
Sanction policy
UKRI general policy is that all Research Councils apply sanctions to those who do not submit. UKRI policy is that all current grant monies held by a PI are stopped and a PI is prevented from making further applications until a submission is made.
For further information see UKRI’s compliance and sanctions policy under the ‘guidance for researchers and research team'.
Students
UKRI has traditionally asked for a submission of research outcomes from holders of doctoral studentships from the third year of their studentship, and for three years after it ends. For the 2024 Research Outcomes submission period, UKRI are pausing the collection of studentship data and will not be adding any new students to Researchfish.
This decision comes as part of UKRI's plans to explore the most effective ways to gather the research outcome data they require while minimising administrative burden on organisations and individuals they support. UKRI continue to value the outcomes of all UKRI-supported research and will be looking to refine and improve our methods of collecting data from studentships in the future.
Any studentships already on Researchfish will remain on the system for the usual duration and UKRI welcome the submission of any new outcomes on a non-mandatory basis.
Sanction policy
Students are not currently subject to sanctions, but the University strongly encourages all students to submit their research outcomes on Researchfish® as this contributes to the Research Councils' annual studentship analysis report. The report demonstrates to government the importance and impact of funding postgraduate and early career researchers.
Compliance
PIs
2024 compliance rate for PIs = 99.43% (7 awards were not submitted during the original submission window).
*2 PIs did not submit in the 2024 submission period. As of 11 August 2024 2 award holders are due to be sanctioned this year.
**5 PIs who had response code 1 awards in the 2024 submission period (Feb-Mar 2024) submitted outside of the submission window so no sanctions will be applied to these awards.
| Number of awards expected to submit by close of submission period | Number of awards submitted by close of submission period | % awards submitted by close of submission period | Non-submissions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AHRC | 58 | 58 | 100% | ||
| BBSRC | 149 | 149 | 100% | ||
| ESRC | 66 | 65 | 98.48% | 1 submitted post-deadline** | |
| EPSRC | 327 | 327 | 100% | ||
| MRC | 430 | 425 | 98.84% |
2 non submission* and 3 submitted post-deadline** |
|
| NERC | 101 | 100 | 99.01% |
1 submitted post-deadline** |
|
| STFC | 88 | 88 | 100% | ||
| All Councils | 1219 | 1212 | 99.43% |
Students
For the 2024 Research Outcomes submission period, UKRI paused the collection of studentship data and did not be add any new students to Researchfish. For the 2024 submission period therefore compliance rates for the 2024 student submission period are not available.
Researchfish® analysis reports
UKRI/University of Oxford Researchfish® analysis reports are available upon request from Oxford Researchfish support team.
Cancer Research UK require an annual Researchfish® submission from all eligible researchers for the duration of an award and for three years after an award has ended. Submissions are not required for awards less than six months from the start date.
CRUK also require all CRUK funded students to report for the duration of their studentship and for one year after completion - this allows CRUK to ask you about your career next steps. These have been assigned a Response Code 1 to encourage submission by the students but will not be included in organisational compliance statistics
Researchers and students can check if an award is included and re-send their invitation via Researchfish
CRUK use Researchfish® to capture the outputs and impacts of the research they fund. This information helps CRUK to understand the success of their research strategy, demonstrate the results of their donations to supporters, and help researchers have the greatest impact on cancer patients.
Failure to comply with a valid annual Researchfish® submission will result in CRUK withholding payments to the host institution as detailed in their sanctions policy.
The guidance sheet below will help researchers report their outcomes:
Further information
PIs
2024 compliance rate for PI awards = 100% submission rate – 81 awards
| Number of awards expected to submit | Number of awards submitted | % awards submitted |
|---|---|---|
| 81 | 81 | 100% |
Students
2024 compliance rate for student awards = 82.4% submission rate – 24 awards
| Number of awards expected to submit | Number of awards submitted | % awards submitted |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 24 | 72.73% |
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) require reporting on Researchfish® as a condition of the grant and submissions are expected from all grants that have been uploaded into Researchfish®, regardless of when the award funding ended.
BHF use the Researchfish system to collect data on outcomes and impacts arising from all our awards (with the exception of Infrastructure Grants, Strategic Initiatives, BHF Centres of Research Excellence and BHF Centres of Regenerative Medicine). BHF ask for information during the lifetime of the award and for 5 years thereafter.
For help and guidance please see:
2024 compliance rate for PI awards = 100% submission rate – 149 awards
| Number of awards expected to submit | Number of awards submitted | % awards submitted |
|---|---|---|
| 149 | 149* | 100% |
NB: no student awards for BHF
*1 PIs submitted outside of the submission window.
For further information on how BHF use this data, please see their latest annual evaluation report.
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) require feedback from researchers and trainees during an award and for five years after the contract has ended.
The information from researchers and trainees on the outputs, outcomes and impact of their NIHR funded projects is used to:
- provide a strong evidence base to support the continued funding of health research in the UK
- improve the quality of reporting research outcomes to the government, the public and other organisations
- maintain a longer-term relationship with award holders to capture new developments and impacts from research after an award has finished
Please notice that from 2025 onwards, the section “Other Outputs” is no longer part of the NIHR reporting requirements. If researchers have questions about where to allocate certain outputs, please refer to NIHR's guidance or contact NIHR. This is a step towards reducing researchers' reporting burden and it has been agreed in collaboration with other UK funders.
Sanction policy
NIHR have a sanction policy for award holders who do not submit a Researchfish return in accordance with their contractual requirements. A PI may be ineligible for consideration for further NIHR awards and payments on current awards stopped, if a report is not submitted by the deadline.
Further information
PIs
2024 Compliance rate for PI awards = 100% submission rate – 312 awards
| Number of awards expected to submit | Number of awards submitted | % awards submitted |
|---|---|---|
| 312 | 312* | 100% |
*4 PIs submitted outside of the submission window.
Students
2024 Compliance rate for Student awards = 0% submission rate – 0 awards
| Number of awards expected to submit | Number of awards submitted | % awards submitted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0% |
Wellcome are using Researchfish® for their end-of-grant reporting, for most of their science and humanities and social science grants.
Please note that Wellcome have not made any changes to their annual progress reporting. They will continue to ask for this update once a year using Wellcome Trust Grant Tracker. It is only end-of-grant reporting that has changed to use Researchfish®.
Grant holders will need to use Researchfish® if:
- their grant end date is 1 October 2024 or later and
- they hold one of these grants:
- Investigator Awards
- Collaborative Awards
- Fellowships (except PhD Training Fellowships for Clinicians and Public Engagement Fellowships)
- University Awards in Humanities and Social Science
- PhD Studentships in Humanities and Social Science
- Human Heredity and Health in Africa Awards
- International Research Scholar Awards
- Longitudinal Population Study Grants
- Strategic Awards
- Project or Programme Grants (except Innovator Programme Grants)
- Innovations Grants and Awards (except Health Innovation Challenge Fund Awards)
- Wellcome Major Award
- Affordable Healthcare in India Awards
- Innovative Engineering Awards
- Assessing Practical Science Skills Awards
- Research Awards for Health Professionals
-
International Exchange Programme in Humanities and Social Science
-
International Research Scholar Award
-
Learned Society Curation Award
-
Policy Engagement Award
-
Snakebite Grant – Next Generation Treatments
-
Therapeutics Accelerator
-
Early-Career Awards
-
Career Development Awards
-
Discovery Awards
For grants not listed above, grant holders will continue to use end-of-grant forms.
Wellcome will also be asking grantholders for an update of their Researchfish report, two and five years after they first submit it. You need to submit your update during the annual submission period which will run from 3 February 2025 until 13 March 2025 (5pm). This information will help enrich the data Wellcome collect and address the time lag between a grant ending and the realisation of research outcomes.
Submission dates
Wellcome have aligned their submission period with other major research funders, such as UKRI. This helps both Researchfish® and Wellcome manage the submission process and so give better support to grant holders and research organisations.
The 2025 submission period will run from 3 February 2025 until 13 March 2025 (5pm).
During the 2025 submission period this means that grant holders whose grants end between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025 need to submit during this Researchfish®'s submission period (3 February to 13 March 2025).
Please note: this means some grant holders will be submitting reports a few months before their grant ends. This is so that grant holders use the submission window that is as close as possible to their grant end date. Grant holders will be asked to update their report with any new outcomes two years after submitting their original report via Researchfish®.
If a grantholder needs to change their end date, they should read Wellcome's webpage and follow the process that they set out.
Sanctions
If grant holders do not submit their Researchfish® report, Wellcome will not award them any more grants until they do submit a report.
Further information
For queries about how to use Researchfish® or access issues, please refer to the Researchfish® support centre.
For other queries, contact the Wellcome Grants Information desk.
More information about end-of-grant reporting can be found on the Wellcome website.
2024 compliance rate for PI awards = 100% submission rate – 90 awards
| Number of awards expected to submit | Number of awards submitted | % awards submitted |
|---|---|---|
| 90 | 90 | 100% |
NB: no student awards for Wellcome Trust
Need help?
Contact the Oxford Researchfish support team
For technical help with the system contact the Researchfish® support team
