This FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) aims to help clarifying aspects related with functioning and development of Authenticus.

Summary:

1. Which publications have been uploaded into Authenticus and who can access them?
2. What kind of validation can I do regarding my publications?
3. Can I add publications of mine that are missing?
4. Can I export my publications to the information system at my University (e.g. SIGARRA)?
5. Can I export my confirmed publications to ORCID?
6. My number of publications is not correct, why?
7. Can I update the number of citations of my papers?
8. The number of publications for my institution is too low/high, why?
9. What are the bibliometric indicators included in Authenticus?

Answers:

1. Which publications have been uploaded into Authenticus and who can access them?

Currently, the Authenticus database includes publications from researchers associated with Portuguese institutions that are indexed by ISI Web-of-Knowledge, Scopus, Crossref, and DBLP. Authenticus can also synchronize in both directions with the ORCID of each researcher/user.

Authenticus restricts access to the full publication metadata to users that normally have access to this information in their institutions. This is the case for users that can authenticate using the federated authentication provided by FCCN, which also serves to certify b-on access.

2. What kind of confirmation can I do regarding publications identified as mine?

When you login in Authenticus, you gain access to the "My Data" menu. This menu includes, among others, an entry "To validate" that once clicked allows you to see 3 lists of publications:

- Identified list. These are publications that Authenticus identified as being yours with high certainty. By default, each publication is marked as yours and the author name to which you were associated is also displayed. If the publication is not yours, you need to click "No". At the end of the displayed list, you should confirm the marked publications as yours or not yours. Those confirmed as yours, will go into the confirmed list.

- Duplicates list. These are publications that Authenticus identified as potential duplicates, but for which there was at least one good reason to not decide automatically as being a duplicate. This allows the users to confirm whether two suggested publications are indeed duplicates or not. The user can preview the data-fields of both publications to be able to make a more informed decision. Duplicates arise because we are trying to merge into just one Authenticus publication the same publications coming from different indexing sources. Sometimes, it can even happen that the same publication has two entries from the same source of indexing. This happens when one is the correction of the other, or for some other reason. Merging duplicates is important as it avoids redundancy in one's confirmed publications list.

- Selected list. These are publications that you added as new and are awaiting identification by Authenticus. You can nevertheless confirm which of the authors is you by selecting your name in the select box that is shown with each publication.

3. Can I add publications of mine that are missing?

In "My Data", follow the "Add New" link, which leads you to a form where you can add publications of yours that are missing in Authenticus database. We have added specific forms for adding missing ISI publications by providing the WOS Number or by synchronising with your researcherID,  adding missing Scopus publications by providing their publication-id (eID), add missing publication by providing their DOI (they will be gathered from Crossref), or also by adding publications from DBLP if you are from the field of CS or Informatics.

4. My number of publications is not correct, why?

This can happen for two reasons, either the algorithm didn't succeed in identifying some of your publications even though they are in the database, or some publications have not yet been uploaded into Authenticus. You can mitigate this problem by adding the missing publications using one of the following approaches:

• Use the "Add New" link as described in question 3.
• Use the menu "Publications" and search for the missing publications based on their title, for example. If the publication is already in the Authenticus database, but not associated with you, it will be shown. Then click on the title of the publication and clame it as yours if it is yours. When you claim it, it will go into the "Selected list" for you to validate.

5. Can I export my confirmed publications to ORCID?

Yes, absolutely. Authenticus can indeed serve as your publication manager for your ORCID, thus saving you the troublesome of finding your publications in ISI Web-of-Knowledge and Scopus and then synchronising with ORCID. In order for Authenticus to export your publications into ORCID you have to be logged in Authenticus and provide the corresponding authorization. This authorization only needs to be done once, as you also need to provide when you first synchronise with Scopus, for example.

6. Can I export my publications to the information system at my University (e.g. SIGARRA)?

In principle yes. If your institution has the rights to access the data, and if it already has its information system ready to access Authenticus data, then it will be an automatic process in which all publications that you confirm as yours will be transferred.

One example in which this is already a reality is with University of Porto and its information system, SIGARRA. All Authenticus confirmed publications are transferred to SIGARRA based on synchronisation requests made by users from within SIGARRA.

Still in 2016, it is expected that Authenticus will provide publications metadata to DeGóis and RECAAP systems by answering to their requests.

7. Can I update the number of citations of my papers?

Yes, we offer that possibility, but please use this facility very sparingly as there is a cost associated with it. Authenticus will update citations for all publications in the database at least twice a year.

8. The number of publications for my institution is too low/high, why?

The association of publications with institutions is in itself a problem as difficult as author name disambiguation. We associate a publication with an institution if an author has been identified with a researcher that is known to belong to that institution or if the algorithm succeeds in associating the publication to the institution from the publication address. We only consider a person associated with an institution, if that is confirmed through the institution itself, FCT or REBIDES. Through REBIDES, we only consider it if the person has a full time contract or an exclusivity contract with the institution. There can be more publications than the real value, if the publications were not yet confirmed and there are some wrong assignments, but these should be in low numbers. There can be publications missing, if the number of confirmations by researchers is still low.

9. What are the bibliometric indicators included in Authenticus?

For now, we only include some bibliometric indicators for individual researchers. This is still ongoing work and its intent is mostly to empower the researcher with information that he may find useful for his own publication strategy. In the near future, we will also implement bibliometric indicators for institutions.