Profiles is an open source research networking software developed by Harvard. It allows users to search for researchers by keyword or attributes, view researcher profiles containing publications and networks, and analyze connections and relationships through visualizations. The document provides an overview of Profiles' capabilities including passive network generation, search options, profile components, and network visualization tools. It also outlines the software and system requirements.

1. Profiles Research Networking Software (RNS)
About Profiles RNS
Part - 1
Information Services
UMMS
www.umassmed.edu
1Profiles (http://profiles.catalyst.harvard.edu) is an open source web-based
application for research networking and scientific collaboration
developed by Harvard Catalyst, Griffin M. Webber, MD, PhD at the
Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (HCTSA).

2. Training Overview
Part 1
 Introduction – Profiles RNS Software
 Software Requirements
 Search Options and Profiles Home Page Review
 Parts of a Researcher’s Profile
 Visualization of Profiles Data
Part 2
 Maintaining and Editing a Researcher’s Profile
 Managing Active Networks
 UMMS Support Model

3. ABOUT PROFILES RNS

4. Profiles RNS Tool
Profiles Research Networking Software (RNS): Phase I
and Phase II
 Phase I: Profiles implementation included only active
UMASS Medical School and UMASS Memorial faculty
and later voluntary faculty
 Phase II: of Profiles will integrate faculty from UMASS
Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell campus’ that
are part of the CCTS to provide a seamless searchable
view of a faculty member’s expertise and network

5. About Profiles RNS Tool
 Speeds the process of finding researchers with specific areas of
expertise for collaboration and professional networking
 Imports and analyzes “white Pages directory” information,
publications, and other data sources to create and maintain a
complete searchable library of web-based CVs
 Self-populates a database of publication history , research
interests, and professional relationships for each investigator
within the organization
 Includes built-in network analysis and data visualization tools to
allow administrators to generate research portfolios of their
institution, discover connections between parts of their
organization , and understand what factors collaboration

6. Passive and Active Networks
 Passive networks are automatically created based on
current or past co-authorship history, organizational
relationships and geographic proximity. It extends these
networks by discovering new connections, such as
identifying “similar people” who share related keywords
 Users can manually create active networks by identifying
advisor, mentor and collaborator relationships with
colleagues

7. Disambiguation Process
 Once the data is loaded and processed the first time, disambiguation
process is run
 Disambiguation process provides automatic identification of PubMed
publications
 Conservative algorithms reduce chance of false positives.
 Researchers can also add publications that the disambiguation
process doesn’t add, and they can remove incorrect publications;
they will not be added again
 Each Publication gets a probability and the probability must be at
least 98% for it to be added

8. Software Requirements
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9. Software Requirements
 UMMS Profiles Research Networking Software works best
using any of the following Operating Systems / Browsers:
– Windows / Internet Explorer 7, 8
– Windows / Firefox 3+
– Macintosh / Firefox 3+
– Macintosh / Safari 3+
– If the user is using an older browser or a browser not listed above such
as Chrome, they may experience some errors in functionality
– System also requires “Adobe Flash Player” to see
Network View

10. Profiles Home Page and
Search Options

11. Profiles RNS Home Page

12. Find researchers with interest in a
particular area by searching with
keyword(s). Profiles uses MeSH
keywords from PubMed.
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®)
MeSH is the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary
thesaurus. It consists of sets of terms naming descriptors in a
hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of
specificity.
Keywords most
viewed today
(updated hourly)
Keywords most
viewed this month
(updated monthly)
This Profiles
menu appears on
all pages.
Additional menu
options will
appear after you
click on Login to
Profiles. There
is no login screen
if you are already
logged in with
your login
credentials.
Find researchers
using demographic
information

13. Search Options
Keyword Search
Demographic Criteria

14. Search Options

15. Search Results

16. Search Results
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17. Search Results
Clicking on Search Results takes you back
to the Search Results
Publications Matching Keywords
Link to PubMed Abstract
Click to see the
Researcher’s Profile

18. PARTS OF A
RESEARCHER’S PROFILE

19. Parts of a Researcher’s Profile

20. Parts of a Researcher’s Profile
Co-Authors
Similar People
Same Department
NOTE: All co-authors will not appear in this Passive
Network, only those that are loaded into the
UMMS Profiles Database.

21. Parts of a Researcher’s Profile

22. Parts of a Researcher’s Profile

23. VISUALIZATIONS
DATA FROM PASSIVE NETWORKS

24. Keyword Cloud View: Keyword

25. Keyword Cloud View: Categories
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25 Presentation Title

26. Co-Authors: List View
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26 Presentation Title

27. Co-Authors: Network View
NOTE: You must have Adobe Flash Player installed in order to see the Network View.
Profiled Researcher

28. Co-Authors: Network View
Mouse over the
Profiled Researcher

29. Co-Authors: Network View
Mouse over a co-author
and that co-author’s
network is highlighted. If
you click on the co-author’s
name, they
move to the center of the
radial graph.

30. Co-Authors: Map View
Red markers (push
pins) indicate the
profiled researcher and
his/her co-authors. You
can mouse over each
one to see who it
represents.
Blue lines connect all
people who have
published together.

31. Similar People: List View
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Presentation Title