Research outputs
Publishing (and getting credit for) your work is of key importance for all researchers, and as such is also an area that often presents challenges, and can result in disagreements.
Good practices in publication and authorship
We provide advice and guidance on good practices in the various aspects of publication, from deciding who should be given the status of an author on a paper, to managing the challenges that can arise when editing an academic journal.
They aim to help you ensure that you are aware of your own obligations and to avoid the pitfalls that can arise when publishing your work.
Open Research
Open research is one of the crucial aspects of the University's vision for research excellence ("Create an open research culture that values a range of contributions and delivers the highest standards and best practice in research integrity and ethics. We will adhere to the FAIR principles to the benefit of society (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable)". The Open Research webpages have more information.
Open Access publishing is when your research outputs are made freely available online, with as few restrictions as possible on how they can be reused, as long as you are properly acknowledged and cited. All research outputs can be freely deposited in our Open Access repository (White Rose Research Online - WRRO) via myPublications. The Research Publications and Copyright policy ensures that your journal articles and conference proceedings papers can be made available open access, and that they comply with the requirements of external funders.
If you need further advice please contact the Library Research Services Team at OAEnquiries@sheffield.ac.uk.
myPublications
myPublications is the University's research information management system. It is used by researchers to:
- Maintain their output lists and view up-to-date metrics and altmetrics.
- Deposit outputs into our open access repository (WRRO).
- Nominate outputs for the REF and Stocktake Exercises.
- Automatically keep their staff website and ORCID profile up-to-date.
- Maintain their grants list and and link them to the resulting outputs.
- Record details of professional activities, such as journal refereeing, prizes and awards, public lectures, and many others.
- Export data for use in CVs, grant applications or for other services such as Mendeley or ResearchGate.
The myPublications support site provides help and guidance will all aspects of using the system.
Citations and altmetrics
Metrics are quantitative measures designed to help evaluate research outputs, and there are many different types available.
- Citation metrics (often called bibliometrics): citations in academic journals are an indication of the interest in, and importance of, particular research papers within the scholarly community. A citation is the act of one author referencing the work of another and is usually an indication that a paper has influenced subsequent research in some way.
- Alternative or complementary metrics (often called altmetrics) are another way to assess the attention received by research outputs. They focus on online activity to reveal how research is being shared and discussed both within the academic community and beyond.
We have produced a Metrics Portal jointly with the Library to help researchers understand and track the attention that their research outputs have received.