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Impact tracking

Gather evidence of the wider societal impact of your work

Symplectic Elements blends both quantitative and qualitative data, allowing you to easily build reports and track progress against your institutional goals.

We go beyond traditional metrics with a dedicated Impact Module to support the capture of long-form, qualitative impact narratives, helping to put the work you do in a wider societal context.

The Elements Platform 2

Tracking impact

More and more funding agencies are asking institutions and researchers to provide qualitative evidence of societal, economic and environmental impact generated as a result of externally funded research. For many disciplines, to demonstrate the wider impact of their work they must go beyond the confines of traditional research metrics, unearthing the stories of how their work is impacting the world beyond research.

Impact doesn’t happen overnight, so our Impact Module allows researchers (or their proxies) to build up their impact records over time, adding narrative fields to capture events as they happen as well as adding associated files, links and references. Elements helps institutions build their own collection of structured, reusable impact records, ready to be curated into case studies, developed into news stories or included in reports to funders.

Impact tracking

Capture and track emerging indicators of impact

Our Impact Module provides an easy method for ongoing capture and collation of evidence of impact, be that a document, web link or written narrative. Impact records can be brief or extensive, giving researchers and institutions the tools to build up qualitative evidence over time through a centralised, codified process.

Records of impact can easily be connected to other types of data, including users, publications and grants inside Elements, external web links, or supporting documentation.

Impact tracking 1

Differentiate between types of impact 

There are many different pathways to impact, making measurement complex. Our stock and custom impact types help you get more granular when tracking and reporting.

  • Impact Narrative: Written descriptions of the effect of a piece of research.
  • Impact Plan: Information on intended impact and activities planned.
  • Impact Indicator: Early indicators such as industry engagement or news items.
  • Impact Case Study: Written records linked with associated researchers, outputs and activities.
  • Engagement Activity: Social mentions or other types of engagement.
Impact tracking 2

Track progress toward strategic goals or institutional initiatives

Used in conjunction with Elements’ powerful reporting tools, impact records can provide a powerful way of demonstrating progress toward more high level or nebulous goals; for example, a particular internal institutional initiative, or areas of research contributing toward meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Research Excellence Framework (the REF)

Gathering impact statements for national assessments

Governments around the world are increasingly recognising the importance of tracking the wider societal impacts of research and institutional work. Our Impact Module can be used to collate and curate impact case studies for national assessments such as the REF and ERA, making it easier for you to build submissions and provide evidence to funders.

It is critical to our state’s economy that we utilise every aspect of our knowledge
and innovation talent across the public and private sectors. We’re incredibly proud
of what we’ve created with OIEx − better connecting the experts and resources at our
state research universities to the industries that can utilise them to push their breakthrough ideas to fruition.

John Carey, Chanceller, Ohio Department of Higher Education

We wanted to create a single, multi-university resource that provides
enhanced visibility into expertise, equipment and research
support services and available IP.

Tim Cain, Ohio Innovation Exchange

This tool connects our scholarly and research expertise with audiences like media,
prospective graduate students, and academic collaborators, while simultaneously
helping faculty keep track of the very important work they do. It is a game-changer for U of T.

Associate Vice-President Research, University of Toronto

The deeply integrated environment we now have will greatly enhance
our ability to manage the range of repository activities and strengthen
our position in preparing for any future research assessment exercises.

Digital Development Manager, University of Sussex

It helps keep us organised and keeps everything in one place.

Peter Fisher, Worldwide Cancer Research

Researcher profiles and end-to-end funded research
project management all now take place in the one interface,
which has huge benefits to our researchers.

Liam Cleere, University College Dublin

The discovery module has provided a delightful and fantastic
searchable public interface to our to our faculty.

Paul Bergen, Tufts University

The rate of deposit has increased by 1000% within 12 months following the switch-on of
the publication prompt in Elements and discussion about the HEFCE Open Access policy.

Queen Mary University of London

Elements impressed us with its simplicity, flexibility and control
for individual faculty members, and great responsiveness with customer service.

Clarke Iakovakis, Oklahoma State University

I think the most important feature Symplectic Elements came with was interoperability
The fact that it had that flow through profiles to the repository was really, really valuable for us.

Research Advisor, La Trobe University
Symplectic

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