UM IMPACT Overview

UM IMPACT is a new platform to capture and showcase the full spectrum of Research and Creative Scholarship (RCS) activities of University of Montana faculty. Using the Elsevier “Pure” information management system and searchable database, UM IMPACT will help faculty track and broadcast their annual productivity within their discipline; optional outputs can include production of CVs, exportable data for IPR reports, or biosketches for grant applications. Departments, programs, and colleges can use UM IMPACT to develop reports to donors and accreditation bodies. UM IMPACT will also capture, visually display, and enhance the impressive collaborations of UM faculty across the world.

In short, UM IMPACT will trumpet the varied and prolific accomplishments of faculty across disciplines to tell the story of our work from the local community to the global scale (e.g. contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals).

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*We currently do not have UM-specific videos developed. For now this link will take you to a series of videos created by NYU, which are very helpful. If you have questions, please reach out to Wendy Walker. 

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About UM IMPACT

Editing User Profile

Adding Scholarly Work

About UM IMPACT

WHAT CAN I DO WITH UM IMPACT?

• View your career accomplishments as captured from online scholarly databases, and add additional content that’s not pre-populated
• Update and curate your profile to reflect RCS interests and areas of expertise
• View infographics of local and global collaborations by you and your colleagues
• Identify potential collaborations with other UM colleagues
• Produce output in the form of CVs, biosketches, and formatted data for IPR activities (optional, see following question)

DOES UM IMPACT AFFECT MY DEPARTMENT’S INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD (IPR), UNIT STANDARDS, OR FACULTY EVALUATION PROCEDURES?

No. As described above, UM IMPACT (sponsored by the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship), is intended for the purposes described above: to help faculty across disciplines describe their RCS story and trumpet their achievements.

See the next FAQ regarding Interfolio, a platform also owned by the Elsevier company that is in early stages of adoption by the Provost’s Office to help with IPR-related activities.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UM IMPACT AND INTERFOLIO?

The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship (ORCS) has been working for several years to create a user-friendly, comprehensive platform to elevate and disseminate the remarkable RCS contributions of UM Faculty across disciplines. UM IMPACT, the publicly accessible portal built on the Pure research information management system developed by Elsevier, has been designed for this purpose and supports ORCS’ goals for collecting and showcasing the accomplishments of UM Faculty.

Interfolio, also an Elsevier product, is in early development by the Provost’s office. Its purpose focuses on Individual Performance Reporting, annual review, promotion and tenure, and hiring. The Provost’s office will coordinate with Deans and Departmental Chairs to implement Interfolio and will train faculty in its use. Interfolio and Pure are complementary systems and have unique functions. Both will support faculty in highlighting their work for distinct internal and external audiences, respectively. Implementation teams for both platforms will work together to streamline efforts and assist faculty in their use.

WHO IS INCLUDED IN THE UM IMPACT PORTAL?

UM IMPACT contains profiles for a selection of active, full-time tenured and tenure-eligible faculty and those with research title series appointments. While it does not contain profiles for all faculty and staff, it is intended to be inclusive, populated with profiles from scholars across disciplines. UM IMPACT is new to us, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to grow the number of profiles in the system. If you or someone you know has questions about adding a profile please send an email to umimpact@mso.umt.edu. 

HOW WERE THE INPUT “METRIC” CATEGORIES DEVELOPED?

Through multiple discussions with groups of UM faculty to capture the core elements of what RCS means for their discipline. For some disciplines, RCS focuses on journal publications and grants, while others focus on presentations and performances, and still others emphasize outreach and finding on-the-ground applied solutions to societal problems. UM has never had a system to capture and proclaim these diverse contributions of faculty RCS to the university, local community, state of Montana, and the world.

After a couple of years of meetings with panels of faculty across disciplines, the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship (with great help from Mansfield Library) engaged the Elsevier Pure platform to help capture and broadcast these “RCS Impacts”. We consider the current list of metrics to be a ‘living list’, and we are open to adding critical metrics categories as needed. If you’d like to have a conversation about this living list, please send an email to umimpact@mso.umt.edu.

WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY CATEGORIES IN UM IMPACT?

You can use a data entry form to add items related to your research. In all cases, add an item by clicking the plus sign next to its type. From there you can further specify the item's category and fill in a form with all the information you have. If you are unsure about where to enter the information about your item, please send an email to umimpact@mso.umt.edu.

• Publications and Performances includes more than just traditional textual publications, such as journal articles, conferences papers, and book chapters. In addition to different kinds of textual outputs, you can add information about digital or visual products, performances, exhibitions, and more.
• Engagement includes oral presentations, editorial and peer review work, public engagement, work as a consultant, committee membership, or any other professional activity you would like to highlight. If you want to add an activity and can't find a type that fits, contact Wendy Walker for assistance.
• Prizes include any type of medal or award, as well as competitively awarded fellowships.
• Press/Media items include public comments and appearances you make as an expert in your field. When possible, include a link to the item.
• Grants/Funding are automatically imported from Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) records, which include grants you receive from external funders. You can add grants from internal University of Montana sources or grants that are administered outside of the University. Adding grants to your UM IMPACT profile is especially useful if you want to link your research outputs with the grants that funded the research. Note that if you add a grant, it must be linked to a Project (next bullet point) if you want it to appear in the UM IMPACT portal.
• Projects in Pure are usually associated with Grants, but can stand alone. Projects are useful for grouping together related work or collaborators. If a Grant is imported from OSP, there will be a Project with the same name.

WHAT IF I HAVE NOTHING TO REPORT FOR A PARTICULAR CATEGORY IN UM IMPACT, OR MY RCS INCLUDES OUTPUT NOT INCLUDED IN UM IMPACT?

That’s expected, and totally fine! UM IMPACT is intended to capture the rich diversity of RCS impact across the breadth of disciplines at University of Montana. By definition this means that any particular individual, or discipline, will have nothing to report in some (or many) of the metrics categories. Likewise, we know that not every RCS metric for every discipline could be included. If necessary, additional categories can be added in manually by the faculty member for now, and we can add new metrics categories to the front-end module as needed.

WHO CAN HELP ME WITH UM IMPACT?

• General questions, concerns, or technical assistance: umimpact@mso.umt.edu
• Questions about using UM IMPACT in conjunction with our funding prospecting tool, Funding Institutional: Katherine Swan
• Questions regarding this web page: umimpact@mso.umt.edu

WHAT SOURCES SUPPLY CONTENT FOR UM IMPACT?

UM IMPACT relies on a number of sources, including:

• Grant and contract data from the University of Montana Office of Sponsored Programs.
• Scopus, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science
• Manual data entry from users, especially for RCS outputs that are difficult to automate (performances, visual exhibitions, etc.)

WHAT CONTENT IS INCLUDED IN A USER PROFILE?

• Basic professional profile information such as individual title(s), RCS interest descriptions, keywords, work contact information and educational background
• Research and scholarly output, including but not limited to, publications, digital and visual works, plays, exhibitions, patents administered through the University of Montana and scholarly works
• Awarded extramural grants and contracts administered through the University of Montana
• Organizational unit profiles

WHO CAN ACCESS UM IMPACT?

Anyone may view content on the public portal (https://umimpact.umt.edu/).

To update profiles, add new content or correct existing information, users can log in to the administrative portal (https://umimpact.umt.edu/admin). 

HOW OFTEN IS UM IMPACT UPDATED?

UM IMPACT is updated nightly. Please note various data sources are updated at different times.

HOW IS UM IMPACT DIFFERENT FROM GOOGLE SCHOLAR?

Google Scholar uses a web crawler, or web robot, to identify files for inclusion in search results. It indexes traditional forms of scholarly literature that are available online, such as peer-reviewed online academic journals, books, conference papers, and abstracts. Therefore, Google Scholar covers only one slice of a much larger range of RCS activities at UM.

In addition to those traditional scholarly outputs, UM IMPACT also includes non-traditional, offline, and emerging forms of RCS. In short, UM IMPACT allows you to input and showcase a much fuller array of RCS activities and accomplishments.

HOW IS UM IMPACT DIFFERENT FROM SCHOLARWORKS?

UM IMPACT can include a full (or curated) list of the full range of your RCS activities and accomplishments. UM IMPACT will provide all the bibliographical information about your RCS activities, but it will not include the files associated with those activities. Please DO NOT upload files to UM IMPACT.

ScholarWorks is where files should be uploaded. ScholarWorks is a repository that provides open access to the files associated with your RCS activities. In other words, ScholarWorks provides access to the tangible content, such as journal articles, reports, datasets, and other types of RCS output, not just to metadata about that content. For more information about ScholarWorks, or to inquire about adding your content to ScholarWorks, please send an email to umimpact@mso.umt.edu.

WHAT ARE THE PRIVACY POLICIES FOR UM IMPACT?

UM IMPACT is meant to publicly showcase your RCS activities and accomplishments via a professional profile. Your profile includes your name, position title, departmental affiliation(s), and as much information about your RCS activities as you would like to include and make public.

You should not include information such as your personal phone number, personal email, or any other private information. If there are RCS activities that you deem private, you do not need to include them in your profile.

WHAT ARE THE “UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS”?

One especially strong impact at UM is global work across disciplines on sustainability. In 2016, world leaders at the United Nations adopted one of the most ambitious and important global agreements in recent history: Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (see https://sdgs.un.org/goals). At the heart of the agenda are 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals; sometimes called “Global Goals”), which capture priorities and aspirations to guide countries in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges. Already there has been strong uptake of the SDGs within the UN, national governments, business, NGOs, youth, civil society, philanthropic organizations, and development banks. Importantly, many universities are aligning strategic goals with the SDGs and evaluating progress in contributing to SDG achievement. UM should be especially well positioned to contribute to the development and application of these interdisciplinary, globally-relevant SDG initiatives.

As with all input into UM IMPACT, different faculty will contribute to this metric in different ways, or perhaps not at all. That is fine. There’s no requirement to ‘fill in’ all categories, no expectation for any person to have accomplishments in this (or any other) particular category, and no implication that work in this one area is more important than work in other topic areas.

HOW DO I ADD THE UNITED NATIONS SDGs TO MY PROFILE?

The UN SDGs can be added in two different places in UM IMPACT. You can apply one or more SDGs to your UM IMPACT profile. (See the section directly below on editing your profile.)

You may also apply one or more SDGs to any or all of your publications in the UM IMPACT Publications and Performances category. (See the full list of UM IMPACT categories listed above.)

Editing my UM IMPACT Profile

HOW DO I ACCESS UM IMPACT?

UM IMPACT is managed by single sign on. Go to https://umimpact.umt.edu/admin, then login using your NetID credentials to view, update and edit an existing profile.

Trained college and departmental staff may also have access to update or edit your profile. Find your college or department’s designated “superuser” here. To grant access to a delegate user, please send an email to umimpact@mso.umt.edu.

HOW DO I MODIFY MY PROFILE?

You can edit or remove most of the fields in your profile by clicking Edit Profile after you have logged in. You will land in the Metadata window, where you can edit the fields by using the instructions in the following seven questions.

HOW DO I ADD OR EDIT A PHOTO?

• Log in and click Edit Profile 
• Select Add image under the Profile photos heading

• Add a photo by following the on-screen instructions. Please use only medium or high-resolution headshots for your profile picture, as low-resolution headshots are often blurry and pixelated. 
• In the Category drop-down menu, select Portrait. This will make your photo visible on UM IMPACT.
• Click the Save button in the Edit Profile window to retain changes.

HOW DO I ADD TITLES, POSITIONS, AND QUALIFICATIONS?

• Log in and click Edit Profile 
• Select the Add Title button to add a title after your name (Ph.D., Sc.D., M.D., M.A., etc.). Select the Save button in the Edit Profile window to retain changes.

You can also add qualifications, licenses, directorial or external editorial positions. In the Edit Profile section, scroll down and select the Add External Position button. If the organization doesn’t appear when you type their name in the field, you may create a new organization by selecting the Create New option. Select Save in the Edit Profile to retain changes. 

HOW DO I ADD AN ALTERNATE NAME OR NICKNAME?

Log in and click Edit Profile. Select Add Name Variant. Use the dropdown menu and select the appropriate variant type (i.e.: “known as” or “former/maiden name”). Select the Save button in the Edit Profile window to retain changes. 

HOW DO I ADD PERSONAL WEBSITE LINKS TO MY PROFILE?

Login and click Edit Profile. Select the Add Link button to add external website links which will be displayed under your profile photo. Select Save in the Edit Profile section to retain changes. 

HOW DO I ADD A PERSONAL PROFILE AND RCS INTERESTS?

Login and click Edit Profile. Select the Add profile information button under the Curriculum and Research Description section. Enter the new information into the text box provided. Select the Save button in the Edit Profile window to retain changes.

HOW DO I ADD AN ORCID ID?

Login and click Edit Profile. Select the Add existing ORCID button. Select the Save button in the Edit Profile window to retain changes. 

HOW DO I ADD PROFILE KEYWORDS?

Profiles include a section where individuals can add searchable keywords, like free tagging. To add keywords, login and click Edit Profile. Scroll to the Keywords heading and select the Add Keywords button. Select the Save button to retain changes. 

HOW DO I ADJUST MY USER FINGERPRINT?

Each database profile automatically includes a "Fingerprint," a set of weighted terms based on a text analysis of publications in Pure, as well as other information added into your profile. You can remove Fingerprint terms that are no longer relevant, but you cannot add Fingerprints. Additional information entered a profile is indexed, weighted and added into the Fingerprint algorithm.

To remove Fingerprints:
Login and click Edit Profile. Select Fingerprints in the menu on the left. By hovering over a Fingerprint with your mouse, or by using the Tab key to navigate to the chosen Fingerprint, you will see a red X appear on the tag allowing you to remove it. Select the Save button in the Edit Profile window to retain changes. 

WHY CAN'T I EDIT SOME FIELDS?

Synchronized fields that are preset to refresh daily are not able to be edited. If you feel that the synchronized fields are incorrect, please send an email to umimpact@mso.umt.edu.

Adding New Information About Scholarly Work and Publications

HOW DO I ENABLE AN AUTOMATED SEARCH FROM ONLINE RESOURCES?

Publications are currently imported automatically during the weekly sync process. However, users have the option to include additional online resources such as PubMed, EBSCOHost, and Web of Science (lite).
To receive notifications from these publications, users must enable them in their profile: 

• Login and click Edit Profile. Select Automated Search from the left-hand menu. Sources available are configured by Administrators.
• Enable the sources from which you wish to import your publications.
• Users will be asked to add their author ID(s) or name variants as the basis for the search.
• Select Save at the bottom of the screen to save changes.

HOW DO I IMPORT FROM AN ONLINE RESOURCE?

If you prefer not to turn on automated searches for the online resources, or wish to access a database which currently does not feature automated searches, there is the option to create a single search. This will provide results for a search parameter at the time of the search, but will not send notifications when new content is added. Users may select the publications they wish to import.

• Log into UM IMPACT (https://umimpact.umt.edu/admin).
• Select the green +Add new button on the right.
• When the pop-up window appears select Research Output, then select Import from Online Source.
• Select the online resource you wish to search.
• Enter the information in the search box and select Search.

A list of publications containing the search parameters should appear. You have the option to Import or Remove them.

HOW DO I MANUALLY ADD INFORMATION ABOUT AN RCS ACTIVITY TO A USER PROFILE?

In order to manually add an RCS activity to a user profile:

• Log in to UM IMPACT (https://umimpact.umt.edu/admin)
• Select the green +Add New button on the right of the screen.
• Select the category of RCS activity from the menu on the left.
• Once the required questions have been answered, select the Save button at the bottom of the page.