Impact tracker Research fish criticised over ‘threatening’ tweets

Platform responds to online criticism by telling researchers they would be reported to their funders

A research platform has been heavily criticised by academics after it threatened to report them to their funders for being critical online.

Researchfish, an impact tracking service used by several major grant- making organisations, has been accused of “bullying” because it has been using its Twitter account to respond to negative tweets in a “threatening” manner.

A stock reply posted multiple times recently by the company’s official account said: “We understand that you’re not keen on reporting on your funding through Researchfish but this seems quite harsh and inappropriate. We have shared our concerns with your funder.”

The tweets were sent in response to academics criticising the service, particularly its name and sometimes using profanities. The stock reply prompted several users to delete their original tweets and apologise for what they had said.

But many researchers have called the platform’s behaviour “completely unacceptable” and demanded an apology. Others also promised to call on bodies including UK Research and Innovation to terminate their contracts with the organisation.

“This is a very silly response. If you don’t like being criticised, perhaps think about improving your platform, rather than trying to silence researchers with threats,” said Alex Walker, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford’s DataLab.

“This is not an OK way to interact with academics, many of whom you ask to do hours of additional labour compiling data for you,” added Amy Mason, a research associate in the University of Cambridge’s School of Clinical Medicine.

Founded in 2008, Researchfish is used by funders including the Wellcome Trust and UKRI’s councils, as well as dozens of universities.

Researchers use it to input data and track the impact of their research, but it has been criticised for demanding too much of academics’ time, and some users have reported difficulties with its interface.

Critics have also asked how the organisation was able to contact people’s funders as the tweet implies, with some claiming that it would be a breach of data protection rules to look up a person’s details on the company’s database based on information on their Twitter profile.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council confirmed that it had been contacted about the issue and was “looking into it”.