All funders using the researchfish® reporting system have agreed on a question set. The question set is available throughout researchfish®.

Moreover, the Foundation has added additional questions to the question set.

Full version of the NNF reporting guidelines is available for download here: Researchfish Reporting Protocol – NNF May 2022

Research output

Publications

What should I report in ”Publications”?

All publications where the grant ID and NNF is acknowledged should be listed. Furthermore, there can be cases of publications with no acknowledgement to the NNF that are still to be reported, e.g. review articles or articles where the NNF grant has funded your work on a publication you have co-authored.

Remember that conference proceedings/papers are defined as publications and should be reported in this section. However, if you are invited as a keynote speaker for a conference, please register it under “Awards & Recognition”.

A publication can include the following types of documents:

• • Journal articles/review articles
  • Books –including book series and contribution of book chapters
  • Conference proceeding/conference paper
  • Technical reports and technical standards
  • Consultancy report
  • Manuals/guides
  • Policy briefing report
  • Theses
  • Working papers
  • Other relevant documents

You will need to include DOI when available.

Research tools & methods

What should I report in ”Research tools & methods”?

Record details of any new research tools or methods which you attribute to your grant from NNF and which have been created or commissioned by you or your team. The research tools or methods should make a significant difference to your research (or that of others).

NNF understands research tools and methods as:

• • New tools and methods that can be used in research labs and are specifically developed by your research team. For instance, a new animal model or a new antibody, new method to characterise protein interactions or new measuring methods.

Please only report on novel methods, where there has been a significant innovation. Thus, small, incremental adjustments of existing methods should not be reported. If a new tool or method you wish to record embodies new intellectual property covered by e.g. a patent application or a granted patent, then please ensure you also report that patent/application in the “Intellectual Property” section.

Tell us about:

• • Tangible new tools or methods generated by your research team (including e.g. a novel technique, a research questionnaire or observation form, a transgenic animal model).

If appropriate, update your commentary on the impact of outcomes previously reported in this section.

Do not tell us about tools or methods which:

• • Were not generated/commissioned by your research team.
  • Were obtained from other sources including collaborators.
  • Would be routinely generated in any properly equipped laboratory or research environment.
  • Should remain confidential.

Research Datasets, Databases & Models

What should I report in ”Research Datasets, Databases & Models”?

Record details of any new research datasets, databases and models which are making, or have the potential to make, a significant difference to your research (or that of others) and which you attribute to your grant from NNF.

NNF defines research datasets, databases, and (data)models as:

• • A structured collection of data that’s searchable and available to be used in research. It could be a dataset of gene sequences or protein structures or combinations hereof.
  • Specifically, computer models (algorithms), NOT animal/tissue models.

NNF asks you to enter the datasets, databases & models that you find note-worthy–i.e., the most significant ones that you believe can have a big impact on your research and/or the research community. For datasets, a DOI is highly recommended in order to add the entry. Thus, we encourage you to ensure that your datasets get a DOI.

If appropriate, update your commentary on the impact of outcomes previously reported in this section.

Tell us about:

• • Datasets, databases and models that are also part of a reported publication.
  • Datasets, databases and collections of samples/specimens that have been created as part of your work.
  • Novel data analysis methods or techniques that your work has significantly influenced.
  • Data handling and control systems that have applications outside of the original research area or technology (e.g. data matching, monitoring, modelling, grid infrastructure).

Do not tell us about:

• • Datasets, databases/models not generated by your team.
  • Datasets, databases/models obtained from other sources including collaborators.

Software & Technical Products

What should I report in ”Software & Technical Products”?

Record details of software and other technical products (such as new materials/devices/technologies) which you attribute to your grant from NNF. Remember that NNF may publish information submitted to Researchfish, so it is important that you only disclose details that can be made public, and which are either fully protected or require no such protection. Please consult with your local technology transfer office about whether any details can be disclosed publicly.

New protected intellectual property should also be reported in the Intellectual Property section.

Tell us about:

• • Details of any software or technologies that have been developed either for the first time or to a significant new stage.
  • Advances which have made new lines of enquiry possible, or which have significantly accelerated research progress.
  • Software and technical products that are fully protected and/or public.
  • Development of technical devices and software with a user interface. For instance, software like an app to use a specific database or an interface for a microscope use, or a web server.
  • New developments, like software going from a 1.0 to a 2.0 version. Going from a version 1.0.0-1.0.1 is not seen as “significant”. See www.semver.orgfordetails.

If appropriate, update your commentary on the impact of outcomes previously reported in this section.

Do not tell us about:

• • Details about software or technical products that should remain confidential.
  • Data analysis methods/techniques (use the “Research Databases & Models” section).

Medical Products, Interventions & Clinical Trials

What should I report in ”Medical Products, Interventions & Clinical Trials”?

Record details about medical products/interventions (whether developed or in development) and any related clinical trials which you attribute to your grant from NNF. If you need help in selecting the appropriate types or stages of product development, refer to the guidance sheets accessible here and here.

If you are reporting a clinical trial, NNF is interested in knowing, the clinical trial ID and the clinical phase the trial is currently in. Please include information about the phase stage in the open sub-question “Briefly describe the medical product or intervention, its current or most recent stage of development and the current or most recent main source of funding for this development.” It is especially important for us to know about Phase 1 clinical trials, so please use this wording (“Phase 1”) if the clinical trial in question is in Phase 1.

Products which are still under development can also be reported here. Thus, we are not only interested in hearing about products already introduced on the market.

Tell us about:

• • Drugs and vaccines.
  • Diagnostic tests, biomarkers and diagnostic imaging techniques.
  • Medical devices.
  • Surgical interventions.
  • Public health interventions.
  • Any other products that are or are likely to be marketed/distributed to a wider audience.
  • Veterinary products and interventions.
  • Clinical trials linked to any of the above.
  • Changes to the status and/or impacts of products and interventions previously reported.

Do not tell us about:

• • Products or interventions that have not been made public or cannot be disclosed prior to protection of intellectual property.

Collaborations and funding

Collaborations & partnerships

What should I report in “Collaborations & partnerships”?

Record information about any collaborations and partnerships which you attribute to your grant from NNF. NNF is only interested in knowing about formalised collaborations or partnerships. A collaboration or partnership can be formalised by a mutual agreement or contractual basis (not necessarily a legally signed document). I.e., only list collaborations and partnerships which are already up and running. Also, do NOT list your general network. Report collaborations or partnerships which are either a result of the grant or where the grant has changed the character of the collaboration or strengthened it.

Please describe which of the outcomes/outputs reported in the other sections of Researchfish that can be related to a given collaboration or partnership. If specific publications have come out of the collaboration and partnership, remember to further register these under publications.

If any of the collaborations or partnerships recorded also include additional funding for your research, please remember to also list these under “Further Funding” and add your share of the grant under the financial contribution of the collaboration/partnership. This is not considered double reporting, as the financial value of further funding and collaborations & partnerships is not aggregated. Regarding the size of financial contributions or in-kind contributions made by the collaborations or partnerships, please remember that if your funding is received by a consortium, you should only report your share.

Remember to update the status of previously reported collaborations or partnerships (e.g. any that are no longer active).

Tell us about:

• • Bi-lateral or multi-lateral partnerships that have resulted from or are directly linked to your grant.
  • Participation (by you or a member of your research team) as a result of the grant in a network, consortium, multi-center study or other initiative.

Do not tell us about:

• • Potential collaboration or partnerships.
  • Collaboration or partnerships at an early stage with no tangible output as yet.
  • Details of collaboration or partnership that are restricted by contractual confidentiality.
  • Successful funding applications (these should be reported in the Further Funding section).

Further Funding

What should I report in “Further Funding”?

Record details of additional funding to advance your research which you attribute directly to your grant from NNF.

NNF is interested in whether you have received further funding, e.g. initial co-funding, additional funding or funding that extends the project period beyond NNF funding. I.e., in this section only register funding with a known grant reference. Funding that does not have a grant reference should be reported under “Collaborations & Partnerships”. And finally think of further funding as funding that has arisen from your original grant. Do not submit the value of the grant you’re reporting on.

Tell us about:

• • Funding from any organisation
  • Funding awarded to you/your research team.
  • Your share of funding received by a consortium of which you are a member.
  • Scholarships, studentships and fellowships awarded to you or a member of your research team.
  • Travel grants.

Do not tell us about:

• • Financial contributions from collaborating partners (please record these in the collaborations section).
  • Funding received by you or a member of your research team as a sub-contractor.

Use of facilities & resources

What should I report in “Use of facilities & resources”?

NNF is interested to know if you (or a member of your research team) made use of any shared national or international research facility or service to identify the outputs you are reporting for your grant.

Tell us about:

• • Your use of national or international services/facilities/centressuch as:
  • High-performance computing
  • High-energy beamlines
  • High throughput sequencing hubs
  • Proteomics services
  • Bio/tissue/DNA banks
  • Solid-state NMR
  • Carbon-dating facilities
  • Computational chemistry software

• • Your use of shared resources such as:
  • Discipline-specific collections, archives and datasets, e.g. longitudinal cohort studies, climate records, patient cohorts, National Chemicals Database
  • Other archived datasets

Do not tell us about:

• • Research collaborations/partnerships (report these in the section called “Collaborations & Partnerships”)
  • Research materials that you have shared with others (report these in the appropriate sections of Researchfish)

Commercial activities

Invention Disclosure & Ownership

What should I report in “Invention Disclosure & Ownership”?

Record details of reporting on inventions and the ownership of this invention which you attribute to your grant from NNF. Remember that NNF may publish information submitted to Researchfish, so it is important that you only disclose details that can be made public, and which are either fully protected or require no such protection. Consult with your local technology transfer office if you are unsure whether any details can be disclosed publicly.

Tell us about:

• • Whether you have disclosed inventions to your institution.
  • If the ownership of the invention has been transferred to the institution

Do not tell us about:

• • Patents and patent applications, whether published, granted or allowed to lapse.
  • Discoveries that have been licensed to others as well as changes to the status of intellectual property previously reported. These are to be reported in the section “Intellectual Property & Licensing”.
  • Any details of discoveries or inventions that should remain confidential.

Intellectual Property & Licensing

What should I report in “Intellectual Property & Licensing”?

Record details of intellectual property which you attribute to your grant from NNF; this includes intellectual property embodied in outputs recorded in other sections (such as ‘Research Tools & Methods’). Remember that NNF may publish information submitted to Researchfish, so it is important that you only disclose details that can be made public and are either fully protected or require no such protection.

Please make sure to use a valid Patent Number or Application Number.

Tell us about:

• • Patents and patent applications, whether published, granted or allowed to lapse.
  • Discoveries that have been licensed to others.
  • Changes to the status of intellectual property previously reported.

If appropriate, update your commentary on the impact of outcomes previously reported in this section.

Do not tell us about:

• • Patent applications filed, but not yet published.
  • Spin-out companies (report these in the “Spinouts” section).
  • Any details of discoveries that should remain confidential (consult with your local technology transfer office if you are unsure whether any details can be disclosed publicly)

Spin Outs

What should I report in “Spin Outs”?

Record the establishment, development or growth of new private sector organisations, including for profit and not-for-profit organisations, which you attribute to your grant from NNF. Please remember to consult with your local technology transfer office about whether any details can be disclosed publicly.

Furthermore, NNF is interested to know which institution the given company has spun out from, i.e., the origin of the company/the parent organisation. Please register this under the sub-question “Briefly describe the company”.

Tell us about:

• • New private sector organisations(whether for profit or not-for-profit) established in part as a result of your research (e.g., spinouts, start-ups, or private sector social enterprises).
  • New or recently formed private sector organisations(whether for profit or not-for-profit), where your research has contributed significantly to the organisation’s development or growth (e.g. significant shifts in strategy or business model, impact on turnover).
  • Changes in the status and/or impact of private sector organisations previously reported (e.g., if they have expanded, merged, been acquired or dissolved).

Do not tell us about:

• • Details that are restricted under contractual confidentiality. If you are not the sole owner of the company, you may wish to contact your local administration for guidance on what information is confidential and should not be provided.
  • Interactions with established private sector organisations that are not covered by the guidance above. Please report these within the ‘Collaborations and Partnerships’ section.
  • New charitable, community or voluntary organisations that have been established as a result of your research. Please report these within the ‘Other Outputs and Knowledge’ section.

Activities aimed at the communication and policies

Influence on policy, practice & the public

What should I report in “Influence on policy, practise & the public”?

Record details of any significant influence on policy, practice, patients and the public which you attribute to your grant from NNF.

Tell us about influence:

• • At local, regional, national or international level.
  • On systematic reviews, guidelines and policy documents (e.g. in regard to recommendations).
  • Through membership of, or provision of advice to, a government/independent advisory committee or review.

If appropriate, update your commentary on the impact of outcomes previously reported in this section.

Do not tell us about:

• • Training developments for undergraduate courses.

Engagement Activities

What should I report in “Engagement activities”?

Record details of any activities in which you (or your team) have engaged directly with users of your research, special interest groups or the general public, to inform them about the research supported by your grant from NNF. NNF is especially interested in knowing about outreach for a non-peer audience.

Conference activity targeted research peers is not to be registered here but either under ‘Publications’ or ‘Awards & Recognitions’ –the only exception is conference activity for a non-peer audience.

Tell us about:

• • Activities supported or undertaken by you or a member of your research team, e.g. public talks, workshops, events, press releases, media interviews, newsletters, magazines, websites, blogs, social media channels, or TV/radio/film/podcasts.
  • Recurring activities (but only report them once).

If appropriate, update your commentary on the impact of previously reported engagement activities.

Do not tell us about:

• • Engagements which do not relate to research supported by a grant listed on your ‘My Awards’ screen.
  • Attendance by you or a member of your research team at academic conferences.

Artistic & creative products

What should I report in “Artistic & creative products”?

Record details of any significant artistic and creative output (in any format, e.g. physical, digital, analogue) which you attribute to your grant from NNF.

Tell us about:

• • Artefacts
  • Artworks
  • Audio Recordings
  • Compositions and Scores
  • Creative writing/performances/films
  • Exhibitions

If appropriate, update your commentary on the impact of outcomes previously reported in this section.

Do not tell us about:

• • Books, software or websites (report these in other sections of Researchfish as appropriate).

Other outputs/outcomes

What should I report in “Other outputs/outcomes”?

Record information about any research outcome which you attribute to your grant from NNF, and which cannot appropriately be included in any of the other sections of Researchfish.

Before you enter any data in this section, please check that it doesn’t belong in one of the specific outcome sections (e.g. “Publications”, “Further funding”, etc.). Use this map of all the outcome types and sub-type headings within each to check (outcomes map). If an outcome that should be recorded in one of the specific outcome sections is entered here instead, it is likely to be missed by NNF.

Do not record details of any outcome already reported in another section.

NNF kindly reminds you that a thesis/PhD, working papers and conference papers are all to be submitted under “Publications”, and NOT under “Other Outputs/Outcomes”.

Research team, education and related activities

Education & professional training

What should I report in “Education & professional training”?

Tell us about:

• • Students you have supervised.
  • Courses you or a member of your research team have taught.
  • Courses you or a member of your research team have been responsible for organising or have co-organised, including courses held at other institutions.

Don’t tell us about:

• • Courses you have undertaken as a participant.
  • Courses not organised or supported by you or a member of your research team.
  • Engagement and outreach activities.
  • Courses not related to the funding of this grant.

Research team-information

What should I report in “Research team-information”?

Use this section to record information about your research team. We are interested in knowing how many research individuals are supported by grants from NNF.

Please provide a list of names, positions and contact data on people employed by your grant from NNF. This is the only section where you are asked to provide positions, names and e-mail addresses. Note that this is fully compliant with current GDPR regulations, once you have obtained the individual team members’ consent to you providing this information to the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Data on research-team members will not be published or shared with any third parties.

Next Destination

What should I report in “Next Destination”?

It is important for funders and other stakeholders to understand more about how their activities are supporting capacity building and contributing to the workforce as a whole. Therefore, this section aims to capture information on the general mobility of individuals once the funding being reported against has ceased (or sooner, if there are any team members who may leave before then). Please note that this includes the grant recipient or principal investigator of the funding being reported against.

PhD students can be reported under the subcategory “Research fellow”.

For grants that are still active, tell us about:

• • Any individuals who have left your team, if their salaries and/or research were wholly or partly funded by the grant being reported on.

For grants that have ended, tell us about:

• • All individuals supported from the funding being reported against, including the principal investigator, any students, research assistants etc.(the PI should choose ‘research project leader’ as their role when they were supported by the funding).

In every case, tell us as far as possible about everyone’s next ‘established’ destination, rather than very short temporary positions or periods of unemployment between roles.

Awards & Recognition

What should I report in “Awards & recognition”?

Record details of awards and other significant forms of regional, national or international-level recognition received by you or members of your research team and which you attribute to your grant from NNF.

Tell us about:

• • Significant awards, honors, appointments or other forms of recognition.
  • Awards or appointments made at a regional level or above.
  • Invitations to conferences where you or a member of your team were individually named as a speaker or keynote speaker.
  • Research prizes or medals awarded to you or a member of your team.
  • Membership or fellowship of learned society.
  • Appointments to the editorial board of a journal or book series.

Do not tell us about:

• • Generic invitations to conferences.
  • Awards or appointments made below regional level (e.g. within your university).
  • Career progression (e.g. pay, promotion).

Summary and reflections

Project summary and reflections

What should I report in “Project summary and reflections”?

Summarise the activities and results the project has generated in the past year. If the project has ended, reflect on the results you have achieved. Please support your reporting with quantitative results and short anecdotal accounts.

Tell us about:

• • The purpose of the project.
  • The progress you have made toward achieving the goals.
  • The most important results.

For more information about the reporting requirements, please see the section of your grant agreement on reporting.

The information in this section should not replace the reported data in the other questions in Researchfish but may serve as a supplement to the other sections.

Frequently asked questions

• • “Where in researchfish should I report information about conference activity?”
  • “As a researcher, my most important success criteria is ’publications’. Is this the same for NNF?”
  • “My grant from NNF finished a long time ago -why is NNF still asking me to submit a report in researchfish?”
  • “My research is not biomedical and researchfish seems to be targeted at this type of research. If I am not able to make entries on several outcome types, will this make my research look bad?”
  • “How do I delete an entry?”
  • “Should I report outcomes that are part of an already reported publication, e.g., a dataset?”
  • “How do I decide if a research output, outcome or impact should be attributed to my grant from NNF?”
  • “Who will have access to the information I have reported in researchfish?”

“Where in researchfish should I report information about conference activity?”

Different types of conference activity should be reported under different outcome types:•

• • Keynote speaker: Should be reported under “Awards & Recognitions”.
  • Personal invitation as a named speaker at a conference: Should be reported under “Awards & Recognitions”.
  • Talks or presentations at conferences not given as keynote address or personal invitation: Should only be reported in cases where the talk or presentation builds on a publication, or where you have made a conference proceeding or paper for the conference. In this case, it should be reported under “Publications”. If you are invited to give a talk but there is no published abstract or conference proceedings, it should not be reported in Researchfish. This also include poster presentations, which should not be reported.
  • Conference attendance: Should not be reported in Researchfish.
  • Talks or presentations at a conference for a non-peer audience: Should be reported under “Engagement activities”.

“As a researcher, my most important success criteria is ’publications’. Is this the same for NNF?”

It is important for NNF to stress that all outcomes and output types are equally important for us. Thus, the NNF does not make a distinction between the value of different outcome types, and we sincerely hope that you will take your time to add all the outcomes and outputs of your grant instead of e.g. only your publications.

If you find it overwhelming to add all the relevant outcomes, please remember that Researchfish allows you to add entries throughout the year. It is advisable to make a habit of adding outputs, outcomes and impacts throughout the year as they appear rather than just before the deadline of the Researchfish submission period. Furthermore, Researchfish allows you to assign someone to enter data on your behalf to make the reporting more efficient.

“My grant from NNF finished a long time ago -why is NNF still asking me to submit a report in researchfish?”

The NNF recognises that the results of a grant can materialise long after the grant has ended. Therefore, we contact you for 3-5 years after the grant has ended, depending on the duration of the grant. In some cases, a natural endpoint may be reached where no further results are likely to materialise. If you consider that this may be the case, then please contact us for further discussion [email protected].

“My research is not biomedical and researchfish seems to be targeted at this type of research. If I am not able to make entries on several outcome types, will this make my research look bad?”

The NNF is aware that a small number of submitted entries is not necessarily equal to having performed poorly in grants. And furthermore, we are aware that there are grants that do not fit the standard format of Researchfish.

“How do I delete an entry?”

If you wish to delete an entry, there are several options:

1. 1. If you wish to delete an entry completely: Go to the page “Personal Portfolio” and find the specific entry. Under “In personal portfolio”, slide the button “Yes” to “No”. If the entry is not assigned to any grant, this will send the entry into the recycle bin.
   2. If you wish to delete an entry from a specific grant: Under the specific grant, find the entry you wish to remove. Under “In this award”, slide the button “Yes” to “No”. If you wish to delete the entry completely, you also need to slide the button “Yes” to “No” under “In personal portfolio”, so that the button is set to “No” in both places.

“Should I report outcomes that are part of an already reported publication, e.g., a dataset?”

Yes. It is not possible for the NNF to see whether a publication also contains other outcomes or outputs. Therefore, it is important that you remember to also report other results that are contained in a publication in the relevant sections, e.g., in “Research datasets, databases & models” or “Research Tools & Methods”. This is not considered double reporting but allows us to gain insights into the full range of the effects that our grants have.

“How do I decide if a research output, outcome or impact should be attributed to my grant from NNF?”

We understand that research outputs, outcomes and impacts may be connected to more than one grant from NNF and potentially to those of other funders. We are interested in understanding if you think your grant from NNF has contributed to some form of impact, and how and with what effect. For example, if you have produced a briefing document that refers to findings from your NNF-funded research alongside other related research, we would like to hear about it, just as we would like to hear about publications that are directly linked to the research, such as journal articles reporting findings from your grant activities.

As a rule of thumb: If you are in doubt as to whether an output, outcome or impact should be ascribed to a grant, the answer is probably no.

Researchfish Reporting Protocol – NNF May 2022

“Who will have access to the information I have reported in researchfish?”

In general, your Researchfish report is not accessible to the general public. Identifiable information will be seen and used by the NNF Impact Department and scientific officers in the Foundation.

The Foundation uses reported data to enhance and strengthen evidence and accountability. Furthermore, the Foundation uses these data to support strategic decision-making and to evaluate progress and impact, e.g., in its annual Impact Report. Hence, some of the information will be shared in the public domain, but only as aggregated data.

Your reported data can be handed over to third parties, either for processing on behalf of the Foundation or to researchers for research purposes. Personal data will be processed in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Danish Act on Data Protection and Personal Data. Please read more at our website.