Research support

• Subject resources, including databases
• Find specific documents, including journal articles, theses, manuscripts
• Advice on literature searching and keeping up-to-date
• Advice on using the library
• Recommend a purchase

• Use other research libraries and their catalogues (via MetaLib)
• Use Inter-library loan to get hold of items not held by Bristol University Library or available online

• Citing references and reference management software - account for your sources, and store your references for future retrieval
• Style guides / Guides to writing - prepare documents for submission or publication
• Copyright, plagiarism, and ethical research
• ISBNs, ISSNs and DOIs - explanations of standardised book and journal identifiers

Research data management involves the organisation and preservation of research data and is a core area of research integrity. Well managed research data allows reliable verification of results and enables data sharing among the wider research community, thus enhancing the long-term value and impact of the work. Most Research Councils and funding bodies now have policies in place that encourage or mandate the creation of a research data management plan and the deposit of research data in a recognised data repository.

• data.bris (University of Bristol, Research Data Repository Service) is a pilot project, running from October 2011 to March 2013, that aims to establish a research data repository service at the University of Bristol.

• If you are new to an area of research you could ask the other researchers in the area about the key journals in the subject or the key publishers of books. Also, there are tools which aim to compare journal 'impact' through the use of citation analysis. A number of Journal impact factor tools are available via MetaLib including Journal Citation Reports, covering the sciences and social sciences. There are criticisms over the use of these measures of journal impact, which are highlighted in a discussion paper on Quality and impact of scholarly communication in an Open Access environment.
• Also consider using Sherpa RoMEO, a searchable database of publishers' copyright and self-archiving policies for pre-prints and post-prints.

These pages offer help to University of Bristol researchers who need or want to publish their research by open access methods.

• If your research is funded by RCUK please see our Guide to RCUK Open Access publishing and funding.
• If your research was funded by the Wellcome Trust please see our Guide to Wellcome Trust open access funding.
• If you wish to publish in PURE, the University of Bristol institutional repository, further information and instructions are available.
• General open access information is available.

You may find it worthwhile to check your papers on key databases such as Web of Science to ensure that they have been entered correctly and citation details are correct. In Web of Science it is important to use the 'Cited reference search' option and compare this to the 'Times cited' number given when you look up a paper in the normal way. The 'Cited reference search' often shows additional citations to your papers which do not show up in the 'Times cited' (usually this is because the citing author has made a mistake in their reference to your paper, but sometimes it is a mistake made by Thomson, who compile the database). If you notice mistakes on Web of Science you can use an online form to request a data change or correction. Other databases will normally have a corresponding facility.

Pure is being set up to harvest / import citations for UOB researchers automatically based on name and institution from online sources such as Web of Science and PubMed. UOB researchers will then only need to accept these citations as theirs within Pure.

ResearcherID is a free online tool dedicated to accurate author identification within Web of Science / Web of Knowledge. By adding publications you have authored to the "My Publications" list within your ResearcherID profile you will aid in increasing the accuracy of author identification in Web of Knowledge. You can build your online publication list in a number of ways including direct export to ResearcherID from Web of Science search results. ResearcherID can also be used to analyse your citations. For full details of what ResearcherID can do for you, and instructions on how to register and use the service, please see the links under the heading 'Learn more' on the ResearcherID home page.

You can carry out citation-based evaluation of your research by using Web of Science, assuming your subject area is well covered by this database, or through the related ResearcherID service (see above). Pure also has the potential to import citation information from Web of Knowledge.

The REF (Research Excellence Framework) will take place in 2014, and is the successor to the RAE2008, the most recent UK-wide assessment of research quality, conducted by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The RED (Research & Enterprise Development) website includes a section of advice for UOB researchers on REF2014 (UOB only). Part of the REF may include citation-based analysis. Individual researchers can calculate the H-index and other citation measures by using Web of Science or ResearcherID, but comparison of groups and institutions requires specialised tools such as InCites (details on the Thomson Reuters website). RED have taken out a subscription to InCites.

Our theses and dissertations collection page includes a section on how to Submit your thesis.

• Subject Librarians and other Library contacts
• Useful University of Bristol websites:
  • RED (Research & Enterprise Development)
  • Bristol University | Research website
  • Bristol University | Research Staff website - has links to details of academic staff courses and to online training (UoB only), including "Reviewing, managing and using literature" and "Writing papers for publication" developed by the Careers Service.
• Information skills learning opportunities including library video tutorials
• Downloadable library guides
• Library jargon buster
• Library website A-Z

• The informed researcher - a 10 page booklet which offers practical approaches for managing and getting the most from information
• Information Literacy lens - a 2 page summary of information literacy and how developing this skill will help the researcher
• Engage - an 'interactive research resource for bioscience undergraduates' which could be useful for other subjects.
• Internet Detective - an online Internet skills tutorial, including how to evaluate websites, and how to avoid plagiarism.