Getting Started with Faculty Information System (Elements)

To learn more on how to use the Faculty Information System (Elements), you can view the Quick User Guide or refer to the videos below for detailed help using the enhanced service. 

My Profile

A profile can be viewed by any other user in the system. It contains your photo, email address, an overview statement, your co-authors at your institution, experience, a list of publications, grants, and professional activities.

Automatic Claiming for Publications Using Author Identifiers

The Faculty Information System (Elements) lets users automate the claiming of both past and future publications using author identifiers.

CV, NIH Biographical Sketch, and Reports

The Faculty Information System (Elements) contains a Reporting Hub feature that enables the export of profile information in a variety of formats.

Adding and Managing your Research Interests as Professional Activities

Users of the Faculty Information System (Elements) can manage information that is viewed by any other users in the system such as research interest and professional activities.

Delegates

Users of the Faculty Information System (Elements) can grant a delegate (or delegates) editing rights to an account under account settings. Delegates can manage someone else's account on his/her behalf. An impersonate another user feature can be used to claim or reject publications, and create new publications or professional activity records.
Note: A delegate must have an account in the Faculty Information System (Elements).

Grants

The Faculty Information System (Elements) allows you to enter details about grants you have received or worked on. Once entered, this data can be linked to other elements within the system such as users and publications, and can be displayed in your profile.

ORCID iD

An ORCID identifier is a unique and persistent identifier for researchers–an ID number that can help make your scholarship easier to find and attribute so that you get credit for all that you do.

Having an ORCID Identifier 

• Will make your work discoverable by others
• Connects your research to you throughout your career, no matter how your name appears in publication
• Distinguishes you from other researchers with similar names
• Minimizes the time you spend filling out forms when submitting research or applying for grants
• Is being required by major journal publishers and funders

Managing Publications

Newly identified publications that match your search terms are placed in the pending list of your records to await your approval. One of the actions in your My Actions list will take you to the pending publications so that you can claim or reject the publications. Many publications will be automatically identified or can be manually added. You can change publication search settings and manage duplicate records.

Teaching Activities

The Faculty Information System (Elements) includes teaching activities such as mentoring and advising, research-based degree supervision, courses taught, and other categories.
 

Professional Activities

In the Faculty Information System (Elements), various information can be added such as Distinction (awards and honors), Committee Membership (professional societies), or Community Service-related activities.

Managing Favorites

The use of favorites in the Faculty Information System (Elements) makes your items more visible.

Managing Duplicate Records with Workspace

The Faculty Information System (Elements) lets you merge publication records which may be duplicates using your account's Workspace.

Overview

The Pitt Faculty Information System (Elements) reduces the time and effort that faculty and researchers spend managing their publications. The system now features an innovative way for researchers to automate the claiming of both past and future publications.

The automatic claiming feature offers these enhancements and more:

• View your Pending Publications page in Elements; you may see a short set of questions that allow you to claim author identifiers and customize your settings.
• Confirm an author identifier and Elements will automatically claim all associated publications for it–now and in the future.
• Declare an author identifier as not yours and you do not have to manage it again.
• Review and manage author identifiers from a new Automatic Claiming page available at Menu > Settings > Automatic Claiming.

Detail

Claim Publications from Data Sources

To claim your publication records from data sources, including SCOPUS ID and ORCID iD, and place them in the Faculty Information System (Elements):

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements) and go to Menu > Settings > Automatic claiming.
2. In the Do these Identify you? section, select Yes.
3. Confirm Auto claim publications is selected, then click OK. This adds the data source to your list of External Profiles and claims publications for you by placing them into your “Mine” folder.

Special Note for ORCID:

An ORCID identifier claimed (but not connected to your account) using this process, will harvest publication records containing the ORCID identifier and place them in the Faculty Information System (Elements).

Consider connecting your ORCID account to the Faculty Information System (Elements) so that publication records and identifiers can search for and retrieve records from other data sources. To learn how to connect your ORCID iD, watch the following video:

       Connect an ORCID iD

Claim Publications by Email Address

Your University Computing Account email address is the default address used to claim publications. To claim publications using another email address:

1. Go to Menu > Settings > Automatic claiming.
2. Locate the Add email addresses section, then click Add email addresses.
3. Enter your email address, confirm the selection of Auto claim publications, then click OK. This adds the email address to your profile and claims publications for you by placing them into your Mine folder.

You can repeat these steps to add additional email addresses.

Claim Publications by Author Name

To claim publication records from SCOPUS and ORCID, use the instructions located above in “Claim Publications from Data Sources.”

Use these instructions to claim publications from data sources that have name-based searches. To claim publications by your name(s):

1. Go to Menu > Settings > Name-based Search. Use Name variants to add a new name. Click the ‘Add’ button to add another name.
2. Check the Search by name box for each data source you wish to include.
3. Click Save. Publication results harvested from these results appear in your Mine folder

Note about Results for Publications that Are Not Yours

If you receive results for publications that are not yours, you can adjust how Elements searches. Results show up in your Pending Publications list for you to claim.

1. Go to Menu > Settings > Name-based Search 
2. Uncheck the Search by name box for each data source. Click Save.
3. Publication results harvested from these results appear in your Pending folder, available at Menu > My Work > Publications > Pending. To add them to your account, click Claim.

Related Information

To learn more about managing publications, watch the following video:

        Manage Publications

Overview

The Faculty Information System (Elements) lets you easily create an annual review report for your department chair or dean. In addition to information from your CV, the reports can contain information about goals and accomplishments.

Detail

To create an annual report:

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements). Select Menu. 

2. Access Reporting > CVs & Individual Reports

3. Once you are in the Reporting Hub, you can look through the available reports. To find it more quickly, you can utilize the search bar.

      4. Once you find it, select the Faculty Report (Annual) Report.

5. Select the user. Specify both a Start date and an End date, then choose a file format (either PDF or Word). When you are done, Select the Run button.

Note for date ranges: The start date and end date range for an annual report should encompass a year (365 days). The academic calendar year begins on July 1 and runs through June 30 of the following year (for example, July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024).

3. Your report will be generated and once completed, should appear in your browser’s ‘Downloads’. From there you can open or save your file.
   Note: If you save your file, take note of the location where it was saved.

I have an entry from 2021 that was included as part of my faculty report generated for the 2023-2024 reporting period. Why was this entry included?

When generating faculty reports for the 2023-2024 reporting period, make sure that objects in your profile (publications, grants, professional activities, and teaching activities) have the correct start and finish reporting date(s) entered.

The system automatically populates the date(s), but if it is not correct this could cause your reports to be inaccurate. This is why an entry such as a journal article or grant from 2021 may show up in the report that you have entered a date range of 2023-2024.

To change the reporting date for an object, take the following steps:

1. Locate a record that you wish to include or exclude from your report.

Note: You can change reporting dates for publications, grants, professional activities, and teaching activities.

2. Locate Reporting dates: - to -, then select the Cycle Icon to adjust a reporting date for a record

3. Select the option to Manually manage dates.

4. Select the field for start and end reporting dates. For each report date range field, select a month, year, and day from the calendar pop-up window.
5. Once adjusted, Select Save. The record will be updated with those reporting dates.

Overview

This article contains information about managing research interests in Faculty Information System (Elements).

Detail

Location of Research Interests

Research Interests show up as part of Professional Activities. To access Research Interests:

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements). Select Menu.

2. Access My Profile > Professional Activities

3. Locate the Filters on the right-hand side. For Professional Activity type, select Research Interest.

1. Your research interests are displayed.

Add a New Research Interest

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements).
2. Select Menu > My Profile > Professional Activities.
3. Select the Plus sign icon to Add a new research interest. 

1. Select the ‘Research Interest’ option from the ‘Add a new activity’ window.

Save Research Interest Search Results

Note: Advanced searches let you search Publications, Grants, Professional Activities, and Teaching Activities to identify faculty with particular expertise and interests.

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements), select Menu, then select System Search.

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1. For System Search: Enter your search term. Select Advanced.
2. Additional search criteria are displayed that you can use in your search. To search for Research Interests, make sure that Professional Activities is the item checked for Search.

1. Click Search.
2. At the top of the first page of search results, a message will be displayed indicating how many results were returned. You can select the Save this search link to save the search.

1. You can review the Search results. They are displayed below your search criteria. Research interests will be indicated as Professional Activity: Research Interest.
    
2. To save your search, click the save your search link, provide a description, then click OK.

1. When you want to run a saved search, select Menu then Reporting > Saved Searches.

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1. Select the saved search link.

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Edit or Remove Research Interests

To learn how to edit or remove your research interests, refer to the following video:

       Adding and Managing your Research Interests

Overview

This article answers frequently asked questions about ORCID identifiers in Faculty Information System (Elements).

Detail

Can I add my ORCID identifier to my Faculty Information System (Elements) profile?

Enter your ORCID identifier into the My Actions section of the homepage in the Faculty Information System (Elements). Once added, you will be taken to orcid.org for authenticating your ORCID identifier.

How does ORCID help my Faculty Information System (Elements) profile?

Once authenticated, the ORCID identifier will show in your profile and will be included in source-specific search terms for finding publications across the web. This will help the Faculty Information System (Elements) find your publications and connect them to you more easily, especially when you use your ORCID identifier for your publications and grants.

What is ORCID?

ORCID is the Open Researcher and Contributor ID.

ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher. Through integration in key research workflows, such as manuscript and grant submission, it support automated linkages between you and your professional activities, ensuring that your work is recognized.

What are some key benefits that ORCID provides?

ORCID has benefits that help link your scholarly work to you and save you time and effort by:

• Making your scholarship easier to find and attribute so that you get credit for all that you do, including journal articles, presentations, videos, pre-prints, and other digital scholarly outputs.
• Connecting your research to your Faculty Information System (Elements) account throughout your career, no matter how your name appears in publication.
• Reducing the time you spend filling out forms when submitting research, applying for grants, creating an academic CV, or submitting an academic report.
• Making your work discoverable to others.

How can I get a unique ORCID identifier?

You can create a new ORCID identifier or connect an existing one (previously obtained from outside of the University) to the University Library System’s ORCiD@Pitt site.

Where can I learn about ORCID identifiers?

For additional information about ORCID, visit the University Library System resource page for ORCiD@Pitt.

Watch a video about ORCID

Where can I go for more assistance with ORCID?

If you need help with creating your ORCID or have further questions about ORCID, please contact orcidcomm@mail.pitt.edu.

Overview

The use of favorites in the Faculty Information System (Elements) lets you conduct peer searches to find other faculty with similar interests. Using Favorites also allows you to select information that you wish to add to public-facing profile pages via an API tool.

You can add favorites to Publications, Grants, Professional Activities, and Teaching Activities.

Detail

Mark a New Record as a Favorite:

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements).
2. Select an object type to add from the Menu.
3. Enter the information for the new record, then click Save.
4. Select the Heart-shaped Icon to Mark as Favorite from the Actions listed on the upper right-corner. The heart will be shaded in grey when something is favorited.

Mark a Previously Entered Record as a Favorite:  

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements).
2. Select an object type from the Menu.
3. Locate a record, then select the heart-shaped icon for that object. The heart will be shaded in grey when something is favorited.

Unmark a Favorited Record:

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System (Elements).
2. Select an object type from the Menu.
3. Locate a record, then select the grey heart-shaped icon for that record. This will un-favorite the object.

Favorites and Colleague Searches

You can use the System Search feature to conduct colleague searches. Items that are selected as favorites will appear as the top results returned from your search.

  To search for Colleagues:  

1. Log in to the Faculty Information System, select Menu, then Reporting > Search > System Search.

       2. For System Search:

• Enter your search term.
• Select Advanced.
• Additional search criteria are displayed that you can use in your search. For example, to search for classes, make sure that Teaching activities is the item checked for Search. 

      3. Click Search.

      4. At the  top of the first page of search results, a message will be displayed indicating how many results were returned. Items that are selected as favorites will appear as the top results 

          returned from your search. You can select the Save this search link to save the search.