This month, Research England revealed Clarivate Analytics™ as the company who will be supplying assessment panels with citation data for REF2021. The announcement marks a change from REF2014 when the data was provided by Clarivate's rival, Elsevier.
We know that one source cannot tell the whole story about a research output, which is why panels will still use expert peer review as their primary means of assessment. However, for those disciplines where citation information is considered to be well represented in WoS, (namely Main Panels A and B) it will be in the interest of those authors to ensure data about their outputs is as accurate as possible within this contracted source of REF citation data.
ORCiD is recognised by WoS, but to be certain that your papers are being correctly identified (especially historical papers without your ORCiD published on them) you may also be advised to sign up for a WoS ResearcherID. A ResearcherID enables authors to manage their publication list in WoS.
Much like registering for an ORCiD, getting a ResearchID is a 30 second job especially if you already have a WoS account. Sign in to WoS through the ResearchID webpage and complete a few additional fields to verify your affiliation.
If you contribute to peer review, and also want WoS to recognise these academic contributions, you will be prompted to link a Publons account to your ResearcherID. You will also be prompted to link your ORCiD with your ResearcherID. If this is sounding complicated, rest assured that setting up these identifiers does make your life A LOT easier in the long run!
Once you have your ResearcherID you can either manually enter more detailed information about yourself and your publications, or, if you have an updated ORCiD pass information automatically between those two profiles. Starting to see those benefits of ORCiD yet?
If not all of your publications are listed on your ORCiD profile, you can search WoS and claim them or, if you having them stored in a reference management software, you can import them into your ResearcherID profile.
What does this mean for REF?
We know from previous guidance still out for consultation (REF 2018/01 Section 281) that some panels will consider the number of times an item has been cited to aid their assessment of that output for the REF. We now know the source of that data provided will be ISI Web of Science™ (WoS), a product owned by Clarivate Analytics™.We know that one source cannot tell the whole story about a research output, which is why panels will still use expert peer review as their primary means of assessment. However, for those disciplines where citation information is considered to be well represented in WoS, (namely Main Panels A and B) it will be in the interest of those authors to ensure data about their outputs is as accurate as possible within this contracted source of REF citation data.
What does this mean for researchers?
The means by which to give a scholarly database the best chance of capturing your publications and citations accurately is to get yourself a persistent identifier. ORCiD is the identifier which is recognised globally across over 500 scholarly systems. If you don't already have an ORCiD, register for one here. If you do, make sure it is kept updated with your basic CV information and enter your ORCiD onto every future paper submission to ensure it is published on your final output.ORCiD is recognised by WoS, but to be certain that your papers are being correctly identified (especially historical papers without your ORCiD published on them) you may also be advised to sign up for a WoS ResearcherID. A ResearcherID enables authors to manage their publication list in WoS.
Much like registering for an ORCiD, getting a ResearchID is a 30 second job especially if you already have a WoS account. Sign in to WoS through the ResearchID webpage and complete a few additional fields to verify your affiliation.
If you contribute to peer review, and also want WoS to recognise these academic contributions, you will be prompted to link a Publons account to your ResearcherID. You will also be prompted to link your ORCiD with your ResearcherID. If this is sounding complicated, rest assured that setting up these identifiers does make your life A LOT easier in the long run!
Once you have your ResearcherID you can either manually enter more detailed information about yourself and your publications, or, if you have an updated ORCiD pass information automatically between those two profiles. Starting to see those benefits of ORCiD yet?
If not all of your publications are listed on your ORCiD profile, you can search WoS and claim them or, if you having them stored in a reference management software, you can import them into your ResearcherID profile.
 |
| Screenshot from Clarivate Analytics™ of data exchange between ORCiD and ResearcherID |
 |
| Screenshot from Clarivate Analytics™ of the available options to upload publications to ResearcherID |
 |
| Screenshot from Clarivate Analytics™ of example ResearcherID completed profile |
In conclusion
As the census date for REF2021 approaches, now is a good time to get yourself a persistent identifier and tidy your Web of Science profile with accurate professional and publications information. Help is on-hand from the Research Services Team in the Library, please email or phone us on +44 116 252 2310. Look out for future workshops on this topic from the Researcher Development webpages.