Researchfish overview

Researchfish is an external online system that collects details of research outcomes for a range of funders. This helps them track the impacts of their investments.

Researchfish is used by many public and charitable funders, including:

Submission deadlines and sanctions for non-compliance

The system is open all year round for data entry. However many funders set an annual submission window with a deadline by which a Principal Investigator (PI) needs to submit data to Researchfish.

The 2024/25 data collection periods were announced as follows:

Research Councils – submission period 3 February and 4pm on 13 March 2025
British Heart Foundation - submission period 3 February and 4pm on 13 March 2025
Cancer Research UK – submission period 3 February and 4pm on 13 March 2025
National Institute for Health Research - submission period 3 February and 4pm on 13 March 2025

It is important to note that some funders will apply sanctions if a Researchfish return is not submitted by the deadline. These can apply to the individual (e.g. PI is ineligible to apply for further funding) or at an institutional level (e.g. grant payments are withheld).

If there is nothing to report during the submission window, as PI, you are still required to click the “submit” button for a ‘null’ return on Researchfish. However, if you feel that no further outcomes will arise from an award, you can discuss this with the funder and request that the award is ‘closed’ in Researchfish. If you think this applies to you, notify RIS who will liaise with the funder on your behalf.

You can nominate delegates to help you complete information on your grants. However, the PI is responsible for the final submission on the system.

Researchfish drop-in sessions

Research and Innovation Services (RIS) will be running a series of drop in sessions where academics can complete their Researchfish submissions and ask questions as they go.

RIS drop-in sessions are available on Teams to support you with your submission:

Researchfish drop-in - Tuesday 18 February
Researchfish drop-in - Thursday 27 February
Researchfish drop-in - Monday 3 March
[Researchfish drop-in - Wednesday 12 March

If you would like to be sent an invite to any of the sessions please send a request to pure@bath.ac.uk and we will forward one to you.

See our help and support pages on Researchfish.

Further information from UKRI.

Problems with your Research Fish account: email support@researchfish.com At Bath: pure@bath.ac.uk

Using Pure to update researchfish

Researchfish now has a bulk upload facility which allows the upload of information from Pure directly to Researchfish. This facility is only available for outputs with a DOI or PubMed ID.

Data added to Pure before 31 January will be included in the 2024 submission period, after that date it will not be included but added for the 2025 data collection period.

To benefit from this, link publications to your projects in Pure. In many cases, the most convenient time to do this is when you first create your publication in Pure, but it can also be done retrospectively. The University will then upload this data into Researchfish on your behalf. See how to link content in Pure.

You will still be required to enter details of other publications and all other research outcomes into Researchfish and submit your return during the submission period.

Log onto Pure or See other Pure user guides.

Using ORCID to update Researchfish

If you add your ORCID to Pure and authorise Pure to update ORCID then details of your publications can be harvested by Researchfish. See how to add and link your ORCID in Pure. You will then need to log into Researchfish to associate your publications with the relevant awards.

You will still be required to enter details of all other research outcomes into Researchfish and submit your return during the submission period.

Gateway to Research

The data that you upload to Researchfish for Research Council awards will then be used to populate the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Gateway to Research provides a mechanism for businesses and other interested parties to identify potential partners in universities. This is to develop and commercialise knowledge, and maximise the impact of publicly funded research.

Help resources

Several Researchfish help videos are available for PIs and research administrators:

System support is provided by Researchfish weekdays from 9am to 5pm:

Webinars for researchers and Frequently Asked Questions are also available.

Researchfish

Researchfish collects information about the outcomes of your research, for demonstrating impact and value to funders.