The outputs module of the Research Information System (RIS) is now operational.

In the first 3 weeks since the outputs module went live over 540 new deposit requests have been input into RIS. 16,300+ output records (and files) held in the e-Prints system have also been transferred into RIS. Training sessions on how to make a deposit through RIS were provided by libraries staff in August and a further round of training will take place in September. Book a place on these training sessions here.

We have encountered a problem in matching individuals to all of their transferred e-Prints records. Within RIS all authors are being listed and can be searched for, but the system is not currently automatically recognising all University of Nottingham authors and making the expected links to all of their transferred outputs from the e-Prints system. We are therefore working in partnership with the supplier (Worktribe) to help us resolve this issue.

The next planned phase of the outputs programme is to transfer appropriate output records from the e-Staff profiles system into RIS. We have tested the import of over 50,000 publications from the e-Staff profiles system. The data quality of the original records is highly variable and when further data quality checks have been completed we will begin the transfer of appropriate records into the live RIS system.

The final step in this part of the RIS programme will then be to turn on the data harvesting from external sources, such as Scopus. Again, this step is currently undergoing testing.

Once the outputs module set up process is completed in RIS we will have a single source for all of our papers and the overall quality of our output records will significantly improve over the fragmented systems we have used in the past.

We have also started to test the new REF module in RIS. Preliminary assessments are very promising with the system providing new functionality for use in the REF Readiness Review. We will begin to pilot the use of this module to record scores for outputs and to build an optimised return in September – prior to the roll out of the module to all Units of Assessment in October.

With all of this work going on, at times the RIS system has run more slowly than we would ideally like and we have also taken it off-line for some evenings and weekends. We anticipate that similar issues may be encountered during September while we implement the e-staff profile data transfers and the data harvesting process. Staff are therefore asked to bear this potential disruption in mind when preparing their grant applications.

Notes

If you don’t already have a RIS account then you can register for one by accepting the terms and conditions on the Moodle RIS Learning page. Your account should be activated within two working days of registration.

Guidance about the new RIS deposit process can be accessed via the university’s Open Access web pages. RIS sponsor Professor Kevin Shakesheff also demonstrates how to make a deposit here.

If you require any assistance with ORCIDs or the new RIS deposit process please email openaccess@nottingham.ac.uk. For all other enquiries please contact RIS-Enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk.