Open Research Systems
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What are Open Research systems?
Aligned with The University of Manchester’s strategic goal of cultivating an open and responsible research environment, The Office for Open Research is committed to identifying, piloting, and supporting access to Open Research systems for University of Manchester researchers.
We work with researchers to identify the challenges of opening up research, and explore tools, systems and other technical infrastructure which could offer solutions. If a system demonstrates potential benefits to Manchester researchers to open their research, we’re keen to explore it to potentially promote it, procure it, or establish a partnership with the supplier.
We aim to invest in community-led solutions, and non-profit and open -source initiatives, where possible. Find out more
If we recognise a technical need related to Open Research practice, and no commercial solution exists, we’ll explore the potential to develop our own in-house solution, working with University of Manchester Library developers.
Why are Open Research systems needed?
We’re committed to identifying and establishing access to credible, effective systems in order to support University of Manchester researchers to explore, try out, and potentially embed some of these systems into your research practice, increasing the openness, transparency, and FAIR-ness of your work.
Furthermore, following the 2023 cyber incident, the University is committed to developing a secure research environment. The Research Lifecycle Programme (RLP) is leading work to balance the development of secure processes with continued enablement of collaboration and research progress, to ensure that our funders and collaborators have confidence in our ability to deliver research in a secure way.
By identifying, assessing, and establishing institutional access to chosen systems, The Office for Open Research aims to empower you to explore how these platforms could potentially benefit your work, enabling you to openly share your research safely and with confidence.
What Open Research systems are available to me?
The Office for Open Research and other University departments have established institutional access for University of Manchester staff and students to the following systems:
Open Research management systems:
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OSF: Enables effective sharing of the research process by facilitating open, reproducible research pipelines from preregistration through to data collection and analysis.
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Protocols.io: Provides a space for sharing detailed protocols and research methods, as well as collaboration between researchers.
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Overleaf: an online collaborative writing and publishing tool that enables authors to create professional-looking documents using LaTeX.
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DMPOnline: A platform to help you write Data Management Plans and submit these for expert review.
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ORCID: A unique identifier that provides a definitive record of your research activities.
Open Research storage and sharing platforms:
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Pure: The University of Manchester’s Current Research Information System (CRIS).
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Figshare: The University of Manchester’s supported institutional data repository.
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GitHub: A platform for storage and discoverability of open software.
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The Conversation: A blog designed for academics to provide informed views on topical issues.
Research intelligence systems:
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The Open Research Tracker: Records open research activity at the University of Manchester, providing University staff with a real-time overview of Open Access compliance, including REF compliance information.
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Altmetric Explorer: Provides access to alternative metrics which provide a record of how research outputs are shared and discussed online.
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Dimensions Research Integrity app: Provides information on the integrity of research outputs. Please request access via the Research Indicators team: Contact us
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Overton.io: The world’s largest searchable index of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications and working papers.
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Scite: A research discovery and analysis platform which provides indicators as to how and why papers receive citations.
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SciVal: An advanced research intelligence tool which provides access to a wide variety of bibliometric indicators based on data generated by Elsevier's Scopus database.
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Scopus: A comprehensive abstract and citation database that provides access to a vast collection of scholarly literature across various disciplines.
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Web of Science: A multidisciplinary academic database that provides access to an extensive collection of scholarly research literature.
Find out more: Research Indicators service - research intelligence platforms
We also recommend the following systems, which are freely available to all interested users:
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OpenAlex: A rich source of research intelligence with extra coverage of humanities, non-English languages, and the Global South, developed by a non-profit organisation.
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GitLab: A platform to share your software and code.
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BitBucket: Another platform to share your software and code.
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Zenodo: A data repository which supports sharing your software in a citable format.
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Kudos: A tool to easily create a lay summary of your research papers.
We have developed an interactive guide to sharing research outputs throughout the research lifecycle which explains how these systems can be used effectively at different points in the research process:
Share your experiences
We value your insights and reflections on your experiences of using any of our Open Research systems to inform our roadmap for future development. Please contact us to share your experiences.
We’re also interested to hear of other systems which support and enable Open Research. If there’s a tool or platform that you use, and would recommend to others in your discipline, or more broadly, please let us know.