Funded Research Quick Start Guide

Citation Management

RefWorks can help you collect, organize, store and share all of the citations you will use to support your knowledge and reasoning. You can also store the pdfs with their citations and read and annotate on-the-go as long as you have an internet connection. This RefWorks Basics Guide can get you ready to go.

Identity Management

Before you begin publishing, or while you are paused between projects, it is a good idea to assign yourself a unique digital identifier such as an ORCiD. A digital identifier allows your work to be more easily identified and shared across platforms and genres. You can learn more about this topic on the UNLV Libraries Demonstrate Impact and Manage Your Scholarly Reputation guide.

Data Management

If you are designing and conducting laboratory or human subjects research, planning for the management of your data throughout the research lifecycle is becoming more and more important. Your data is now considered a primary research output, not just the articles you publish detailing your findings! The UNLV Libraries Data Management Guide describes what data management is, why you might need or want to create a data management plan, and the recommended components of a data management plan. It also provides helpful tips about storing, sharing and archiving your data.

• Find Federal Funding Guidelines (NIH, NSF, etc.)

*New* NIH Data Management Policy for 2023

The new data management and sharing policy from the NIH is effective January 1, 2023. Some resources created by a national Data Support Services Working Group comprised of librarians that might be useful as you plan and write grants for the NIH include:

• Data Management & Sharing Plan Checklist for Researchers
• Example DMS Plan (Annotated conversion of pre-2023 DMP into a post-2023 DMS)

Locate Funding

• The Office of Sponsored Programs provides access to the Pivot database and a Funding Opportunity Newsletter.
• The Libraries provide several other subscription databases as well as books and other online resources for locating grants.

Writing a Grant

• The Office of Sponsored Programs provides grant writing support through a Proposal Development Team and other resources.
• The Libraries also have several books and links to online guides and tutorials.

Protocol Review

• The Office of Research Integrity explains who can be a PI, how to obtain training for human subjects research and informed consent, and the review process for research protocols.
  • Human Subjects Research
  • Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
  • Biosafety Committee

Managing Your Grant

• You will work closely with the Office of Sponsored Research to manage your grant.

Communicating Results

• Data
  • Consider archiving and sharing your data.
• Publications
  • Consider joining a Mentoring Group to get help with writing.
  • The Libraries have thousands of resources available to help you write for publication.
  • You need to know your rights as a copyright holder and how to retain those rights as an author.
  • Consider publishing Open Access and using Digital Scholarship@UNLV to store and market your publications.
  • Wondering which journal to submit your manuscript to? Try JANE or sign up for a Web of Science personal account and try the Journal Match feature inside EndNote online.
• Posters & Presentations
  • ​UNLV Integrated Graphics Services can assist in designing and printing posters.
  • The Craft of Scientific Posters by Michael Alley
  • Designing Conference Posters by Colin Purrington
  • Scientific Poster Design (PDF), presentation by LiLynn Graves from Cornell Center for Materials Research
  • The Craft of Scientific Presentations by Michael Alley

Track Your Research Impact

• Author Metrics
  • The H-Index is a measure to quantify an individual’s scientific research output
• Journal Metrics
  • Journal Impact is often measured through a comparison of publication rate vs. article citation rate. There are several different metrics available:
    • Impact Factor - These can be found using Journal Citation Reports (ACE account required for off-campus access)
    • Eigenfactor
    • SCImago Journal Rank
• Article Metrics
  • Citation Rates
    • Google Scholar - You may want to be careful using this as your only resource
    • Web of Science
    • Scopus
  • Alternative metrics, or altmetrics, track not only citations to articles, but clicks, downloads, shares on social media and other measures of use made possible through the digital environment. The following resources provide a variety of alternative metrics for articles.
    • Altmetric
    • Plum Analytics - embedded in CINAHL
    • Web of Science
    • Scopus
    • Digital Scholarship @UNLV