We’re excited to announce news that will benefit both the higher education and global research communities: Research Fish, the leading creator of research impact tracking technology, has joined Interfolio.
Research Fish is a Cambridge, UK-based company that makes it easy for researchers, universities and funders to gather, present, and evaluate the academic, social, and economic impact of their research. In fact, Research Fish is one of the only academic-oriented systems that provides a framework for assessing and evaluating both academic and non-academic impact, which goes well beyond traditional bibliometrics. They have pioneered a systematic and organized methodology for tracking research and reporting impact, and we feel this cohesive, definable approach can be the foundation of a global standard.
By joining forces, Research Fish and Interfolio will provide a comprehensive academic information system to track research, identify impact, and support unprecedented insights into the advancement of research and teaching, allowing researchers, funders, and institutions to make smarter, more strategic decisions.
Working alongside each other, Research Fish and Interfolio will further augment your ability to articulate the effect your faculty and institution have at the discipline level, as well as on campus, in the community, and in society more broadly.
Background
At Interfolio, we’ve long admired Research Fish as a leader of the research impact space—understanding, as well, the potential for US institutions to see the far-reaching effects of their faculty’s research if they apply a similar model.
About a year ago, I met with Sean Newell, Research Fish’s CEO, to discuss a potential partnership. We believe research impact has not been prioritized in the US to date because it has been difficult to bring non-academic impacts into consideration with traditional academic impacts, like bibliometrics and other publication-oriented data. Traditionally, research impact has been a hard thing to define, aggregate, and consolidate.
When we met, we realized how many values we share, and how similar our organizations are.
Shared mission
Research Fish and Interfolio’s shared values, culture, and vision make it easy to see how our joined companies might work together to serve funders, research centers, and higher education.
- Both companies provide pioneering, scholar-centered technology that helps funders, research organizations, and higher education institutions surface the value and impact of academic work.
- Both companies strive not just to help researchers and institutions meet their compliance or reporting needs; we also seek to provide real value to individual scholars and faculty as they build their career and scholarly portfolio.
- Both companies have a history of trust and expertise within the scholarly community. With a combined 30 years of experience, this partnership unites a community of 700k Interfolio Dossier users and 100k Research Fish users.
Finally, together both companies share a vision to cultivate a global standard for professionalism, diversity, and excellence in higher education information technology and research impact assessment.
Outcomes for you
For Interfolio, the ability to introduce research impact to higher education institutions in the US offers a potentially revolutionary path to documenting the importance of academia on society at a time when colleges and universities are under more pressure than ever from governing stakeholders and the public.
Equally as important, this partnership will offer individual scholars the ability to document the impact of their research and tell a more complete story of their scholarship to their institution and other stakeholders throughout their career.
And, to reassure our clients: this news will not impact our current product roadmap or client commitments. The Research Fish team will remain in the UK, continuing to work on delivering their own products and services. If anything, we believe this partnership will further solidify our investment in the priorities that you have reiterated to us: the ability to use academic-centric technology to better tell your scholars’ and institution’s story.
To answer any questions you have about the partnership, we’re offering a free webinar to our clients at 1pm EST on Thursday September 19th, 2019. We’ve also provided some answers to anticipated questions you might have. Finally, you can also reach out to us at rfquestions@interfolio.com with any specific questions.