What you need to report
You need to create records in categories called common outcome types in order to report. Common outcome types cover:
- outputs: such as publications, exhibitions, new research tools or methods
- outcomes: such as new or improved products, processes or public policies
What you need to report will depend on the outcome type. Generally, you will need to describe the output or outcome and, where possible, its impact. Impact includes if it has led to changes that benefit:
- the economy
- society
- culture
- health
- the environment
- quality of life
You will also be asked to record:
- patents and other intellectual property you apply to protect
- spinout companies you set up as a result of your research
- collaborative work with industrial or academic partners
- how your work has contributed to public policy development
- how non-academic audiences have been informed about or involved in your work
You can attribute your records to more than one project. Even if there are few or no outputs or outcomes to record, you must confirm that your information in Researchfish is accurate and up to date.
Always check your offer document and your funder’s terms and conditions for any additional or different reporting requirements.
To help you understand which sections apply to your project, check the Researchfish list of common outcome types with sub-type (PDF, 136KB).
To see the kinds of questions you may be asked, download the common question set from Researchfish.
As well as recording your outputs and outcomes, you must answer any additional questions from your funder. Read more about the additional funder’s questions.
How to report
Unless you’ve agreed to a different method, you must report your project outcomes and outputs in Researchfish.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) usually adds new awards to Researchfish six to nine months after an award has started, but it can be sooner for awards of a short duration.
- If this is the first time you are receiving an award from a particular research council, Researchfish will send you an email. Check your junk folder if you have not received anything.
- Click on the link in the email to confirm the award is yours. You must do this to link your award to your Researchfish account.
- If you do not already have a Researchfish account, you’ll be asked to create one.
How to use Researchfish: user guide.
There are ways to make submitting outcomes easier for you and more useful to others, for example by having Researchfish automatically import information. See our advice for making a high quality submission of outcomes to Researchfish.
By submitting your outcomes you acknowledge and agree to UKRI’s principles of use for research outcomes collected in Researchfish.
If your project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
If you receive funding from EPSRC, there may be different rules for reporting outcomes – depending on the type of grant you receive. Read about reporting outcomes for EPSRC-funded projects.
If your project is funded through Je-S under the Horizon Europe guarantee
If the UK’s Horizon Europe guarantee, administered by UKRI using grants hosted by EPSRC, has been used to fund your European Research Council or Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project, there are different expectations for reporting outcomes. Read the guarantee specific guidance on the Horizon Europe guarantee funding page.
Please note that EPSRC are not involved in the processing of the awards and any queries should be directed to eugrantsfunding@ukri.org and not to EPSRC.
If your project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
If your project is funded by ESRC, read the:
- Researchfish guidance for ESRC grant holders
- completing the key findings report in Researchfish
- reporting narrative impact in Researchfish
Key findings and narrative impact reporting for ESRC
We expect the key findings to be fully completed in the first submission period after an award ends, and the narrative impact to be fully completed during the second submission period after an award ends.
We will remind principal investigators of this requirement ahead of the submission period and check it has been completed after the submission period ends. We reserve the right to apply sanctions for any incomplete reports until the issue is rectified, in line with the UKRI sanctions policy.
If your grant is a public engagement award funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Please see the guidance for recording the results of public engagement funded by STFC, which provides help to grant holders for reporting data to Researchfish.
If your grant is a linked award funded by STFC
Please see the guidance for STFC Outputs Collection – Large projects and linked awards, which provides help to grant holders for reporting data on linked awards to Researchfish.
If your grant is related to Official Development Assistance projects (ODA)
Please see the UKRI guidance for outcomes reporting of Official Development Assistance projects (ODA) 2024 via Researchfish, which provides information specific to reporting requirements for ODA grants (the Newton Fund and Global Challenges Research Fund).
If you have more than one project to report
If you have had more than one project funded by a council, each funding award will be listed in your Researchfish account.
You must submit records for all of them – you cannot choose to submit records for only some. You must make sure that all records attributed to each project are up to date before submitting them.
You can only submit your outcomes to one council at a time.