Welcome to Library Research Support.
The Library team can help staff and PhD students manage your research profile and disseminate your publications, enabling you to meet University and funder requirements.
Overview of Library Support
The Library can provide general advice on:
- Open Access,
- Research Data Management,
- methods of measuring impact and increase citations.
The Academic Liaison team are skilled librarians who offer specialist support with your literature searching, locating hard to find sources and the management of information.
The purpose of a literature review is to position your own research in the context of the wider research that has already been undertaken in that field or topic. Through the examination, evaluation and critiquing of current literature on a topic, you can:
- Develop and demonstrate your knowledge and understanding
- Identify key theorists, issues or methodologies in the field, as well as gaps in the research
- Develop and justify your research question.
A literature review forms part of a dissertation or thesis; they also form the entirety of review articles and can be a requirement for other type of published research, for example as the introduction of a journal article.
Searching for literature requires a degree of focus and planning. The formality of planning will depend on the purpose of literature review and the nature of your research, but most search strategies will follow a similar structure.
Your academic liaison librarian can provide guidance and support when planning your search and developing a search strategy. They can also advise on the most suitable places to search for your research topic and ways to improve the effectiveness of your search.
There are a range of books in our collections that cover the literature review process. Check out Resources for Researchers for a list of recommendations.
Publishing with a Creative Commons licence means your research outputs are also free of most copyright and licensing restrictions, which promotes reuse. OA research outputs therefore, unlike those published in conventional subscription-based journals, are free at the point of use to anyone with internet access.
The benefits of OA publishing for the researcher are:
- Wider dissemination and increased readership
- Increased citations
- Compliance with funder requirements and research access exercises, such as REF.
There are two ways to make your research outputs open access - Green OA and Gold OA. Details are listed opposite.
Green OA is the preferred method used at the University and there is a requirement for all research active staff to deposit their outputs in the Falmouth University Research Repository (FURR).
Green OA
- Self-archive the research output in a institutional repository with a copy of the author accepted manuscript (AAM).
- No additional charges are payable, but a publisher embargo may apply. The output will not be accessible until the embargo period ends.
Gold OA
- Publish in an open access journal, or a subscription journal with an open access option. Research outputs are immediately OA on the publisher's website.
- An Article Processing Charge (APC) may be payable to make your article gold open access. Your funder may cover these charges.
- Alternatively speak to the Library about the Read & Publish agreements we have in place.
Depositing your research outputs in FURR:
- Ensures maximum impact through Open Access.
- Satisfies the Open Access requirements of many UK funding bodies including Research Councils UK
- Meets the requirements of Falmouth University’s submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
For Falmouth University Researchers, there is the requirement:
- To deposit all research outputs in the Falmouth University Research Repository.
- To submit published works, such as journal articles and papers published in conference proceedings, to FURR within 3 months of acceptance.
Falmouth researchers are strongly encouraged to submit all output to FURR at the point of acceptance to ensure it is eligible for future exercises, such as the REF.
Research outputs can include journal articles, book chapters and conference papers, as well as practice-based research including design and art exhibited in galleries.
All submissions to FURR will be reviewed and outputs must have the required supporting evidence before they can be deposited.
Details of the required supporting evidence and further information about repository policy, guidelines and how to guidance can be found at the following link.
Falmouth researchers are strongly encouraged to register for an ORCID identifier as:
- It ensures that your research stays assigned only to you and overcomes issues such as similar names, inconsistent name formats, legal name changes and common names.
- Reduces form filling (enter data once and re-use it often)
- Improves recognition and discoverability for you and your research outputs.
- Is interoperable (works with many institutions, funders and publishers)
Register for an ORCID identifier at orcid.org. The registration process is straightforward and free of charge.
You can link your ORCID iD to Falmouth's Research Repository using the Profile option in your FURR account.
Research data is the data behind research, such as surveys, observations and results of experiments. In the creative arts examples might include images, recordings, sketchbooks and prototypes.
Ensuring that this data is handled and managed efficiently is an essential aspect of responsible research practice.
Researchers are often required to make research data from publicly funded research available. These data sets allow validation of research and enable other researchers to build on the existing research.
UK researchers responsibilities for making research data openly accessible are outlined in the Concordat on Open Research Data
Data Management Good Practice
- Funded research often requires a data management plan
- Plan how you will manage any data during the project
- Make sure that data is secure and compliant with GDRP regulations
- Back-up data regularly
- Establish how data will be curated and preserved in the future
For information on how to make a a data management plan see: JISC Research Data Management Toolkit
Funder requirements
Archiving data
Bibliometrics measure bibliographic data, focusing on the number of times research outputs have been cited. This is often measured in conjunction with other information including funding received and peer review of the research output. They can be used to evaluate individuals, research groups, institutions, and journals.
Bibliometrics can be used to:
- determine where to publish
- provide data to support funding bids, job and promotion applications
- benchmark performance of individuals or institutions
- promote your research outputs online
Alternative metrics - or Altmetrics - measures the number of times research outputs are shared, downloaded or talked about on social media, blogs and websites. Altmetric.com can help you to track your research on various online platforms.
FURR Statistics
To view your research downloads from FURR, visit the FURR Statistics Report page.
Responsible Metrics
Bibliometrics measure impact based on citations, which is not necessarily a measure of quality, are limited in scope and can be misleading. For example, they do not take into account the context of the citation (i.e. negative citations or self-citation), focus on journal articles over other publications, may not be appropriate for disciplines, such as the Arts.
The research community has recognised the need to improve the ways in which research outputs are evaluated, across all disciplines, and the use of metrics in assessing research. Key papers on the use of metrics include:
It can also lead to collaboration, more citations, academic promotion, and funding, as well as developing your reputation as a researcher.
Deciding where to publish? Think Check Submit
It can help to consider where to publish before you begin writing to ensure you target the right publications for your research. Think. Check. Submit. is a useful online resource detailing some of the key issues when choosing where to publish your research.
Impact Factors
An Impact Factor is a citation metric used to evaluate journals, calculating the average number of citations during a given period - the higher the number, the higher the quality and prestige of the journal. SJR Scimago Journal & Country Rank and Google Scholar Rankings provide lists that you can filter by subject.
The impact factor is useful when evaluating journals within the same discipline. However, not all journals have an impact factor and the relevance of this measure varies between disciplines. For the Arts and Humanities subjects there is not a definitive list, so aiming to publish your research in a high impact journal can be difficult.
Promoting your research outputs
The more visible and widely disseminated your work, the more likely it will have an impact. While constantly promoting your work (and yourself) can be overwhelming, there are some quick wins to be made:
- Publish Open Access by depositing your research outputs in FURR and reach a wider audience.
- Sign up for an ORCID iD
- Use Social Media strategically - engage with the online research community, but choose your conversations wisely.
- Raise your Researcher Profile by signing up to main platforms for your discipline as well as LinkedIn and Google Scholar (My Profile).
- Share your Research Data
- Present at Conference
Get in touch
If you need help or have questions about any of the areas we support, don't hesitate to contact us.
- For support with OA or FURR, email: repository@falmouth.ac.uk
- For general research queries, email: ALLibrarians@fxplus.ac.uk
- For general queries about library services, email library@fxplus.ac.uk
If you require support with literature searching, finding or managing information, contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.
Postgraduate Researcher Support
PGR students can contact the Academic Liaison Librarian for their department. Contact details can be found in the Subject Guides.
Information about support can also be found in:
New Researcher Checklist
New to research at Falmouth? This handy checklist covers what you need to know about the library.
Find resources
Access a wide range of resources supporting all aspects of the research process.
Subject Resources
Resources for Researchers
Books and other sources covering everything from conducting a lit review to surviving your PhD viva.
Open Access Resources
Directories of open access books, journals and more, providing additional sources for your literature search.
Explore further
Additional sources of support for your research.
Study Hub: PGR Resources
Online guidance for the research process from writing to ethics to disseminating your research.
Copyright for Researchers
Copyright considerations you may need to be aware of.
1 to 1 Support
You can make an appointment to speak online with an advisor from ASK, EAP, Accessibility or the Library