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Prism

Prism is an institutional repository for the research and scholarly output of Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University

Quick Access

Click on one of the following titles to directly access that section.

Create Community

A community in Prism consists of a group of members and associated records. A community can be created by any user from Feinberg around an organization, event, topic, or project, or in order to collaborate with one another in pursuit of a shared goal. To watch a video demonstration of this process, click here.

How to create a community

  1. Log in to Prism by clicking on the grey button in the top right corner of the home page. PLEASE NOTE that a net ID is needed to access Prism. If this is the first time you are logging into Prism, please check your email and click on Confirm my account in the Prism welcome email. (Click here to learn how to confirm Prism account.)

  1. Click on the + (plus sign) icon in the top right corner of the page, then select New community from the dropdown menu –OR— click on Communities at the top left of the page under “Prism,” then click on the green New community button.

  1. Enter the desired community name. 

  1. Enter the desired identifier. This is your community's unique identifier, through which the community can be accessed via the following URL (+ identifier name): https://prism.northwestern.edu/communities/IDENTIFIERNAME. The friendly URL may only contain alphanumeric characters, dashes, forward-slashes, and underscores. While uppercase letters are supported, we recommend using lowercase letters to keep things simple.

  1. Select the desired visibility option for the community. Public visibility makes the community publicly accessible and it will show up in search results. Restricted visibility makes the community only accessible to users with specified access.

  1. Click on the green Create community button at the bottom. This publishes the community, and immediately sends the creator to the settings page of the newly created community.

  2. Enter a short description for the community. 

  3. For community type, select the appropriate option from the dropdown menu.

     Community Type   Description/Definition
     Organization  A group or body with shared purpose or goals
     Event  A planned occasion with purpose or goals
     Topic  A subject or genre of study or discussion
     Project  A planned undertaking in pursuit of specific goals

  4. For website, provide a URL to the related department, division, organization, or so forth.

  5. For organizations, type the name of an organization into the field and then select the correct result from the options. If the desired organization is not provided, add a free text entry by clicking on the first option (which begins with "Add"). NOTE: Multiple organizations can be added via this method. To delete an organization, click on the grey “x” button directly next to its name.

  6. Add awards as needed by clicking on the appropriate button and entering the pertinent award details.  

    • Add award is a feature still in in development; please use the "Add custom" field instead.

    • Add custom will pop out a separate window for manually entering award details. First search for the funder by name and select them from the results. Then provide the award number, title, and URL. To finish adding the award, click on the purple Add award button. To abandon the process, click on the grey Cancel button. 

  1. To upload a profile picture for the community, click on Upload new picture on the right side of the page, then select the desired file from your computer. To delete the profile picture click on the red Delete picture button beneath it.

  1. Once the desired profile settings have been entered and added, click on the purple Save button to preserve the information.

  1. To edit the visibility of the community or its members, click on Privileges on the left side of the page. 

    • Community visibility: Public visibility makes the community publicly accessible and it will show up in Prism search results; restricted visibility makes the community only accessible to users with specified access. Please note that record visibility supersedes community visibility, if the record is set to restricted. Click on the purple Save button to preserve any changes made.

    • Members visibility: Public visibility allows members with their personal visibility as public to appear in the community's member list, while members with their personal visibility as hidden are only visible to other members; members-only visibility ensures members in the community are only visible to other members of the community. Click on the purple Save button to preserve any changes made.

Add Pages

How to add pages

  1. Once logged in to Prism, click on Communities at the top left of the page –OR— go to My dashboard and then select the Communities tab.
  2. Click on the desired Community from the options.
  3. Click on Settings.
  4. Click on Pages on the left.
  5. Under Curation policy, enter the desired text into the field. The curation policy should outline criteria for selecting, organizing, and managing records within the Community. These parameters ensure that all records adhere to the same standards and goals of the Community and associated group(s). 
    • Example:
      "COVID-19 Peer-Reviewed Publications Community Curation Policy

      Prism, Feinberg School of Medicine Institutional Repository

      Our COVID-19 Peer-Reviewed Publications Community collects and showcases Feinberg School of Medicine's research on COVID-19 and related topics, including peer-reviewed articles, studies, and reviews. The purpose of this community is to provide open access to essential research in one dedicated space, supporting the global exchange of knowledge on COVID-19 and its ongoing impacts on health.

      How We Curate Content
      To build this collection, we actively harvest records from reputable scholarly databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed. Our searches rely on established keywords and phrases relevant to COVID-19 and its associated fields, including but not limited to “COVID-19,” “SARS-CoV-2,” “pandemic,” “coronavirus,” “COVID,” and “public health.” We regularly review these terms to ensure our search criteria reflect current terminology and emerging research trends.

      Contact and Contributions
      If you are aware of any relevant Feinberg research on COVID-19 that is not yet represented in our community, please reach out! We welcome suggestions and strive to keep this repository comprehensive. For additions or inquiries, contact Karen Gutzman at karen.gutzman@northwestern.edu."

  6. Under About page, enter the desired text into the field. The About page should explain the purpose of the Community, including overview, function and access/permission. The explanation should be clear, concise, and align with the standards and goals of the Community and associated group(s). 
    • Example:

      "About the COVID-19 Peer-Reviewed Publications Community

      Established in 2021, the COVID-19 Peer-Reviewed Publications Community at Feinberg School of Medicine was created to centralize and openly share the school’s peer-reviewed research on COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, and related public health topics. This collection brings together critical knowledge on the impacts of the pandemic across healthcare, medical research, and public health, reflecting our commitment to accessible, evidence-based information during and beyond the global response to COVID-19.

      Why This Community Was Created
      The rapid evolution of COVID-19 research highlighted the need for a single, accessible repository where researchers, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public can find credible, peer-reviewed work produced by Feinberg researchers. By gathering and openly sharing this research, we aim to support ongoing studies, inform healthcare practices, and contribute to public understanding of the virus and its effects.

      Who This Community is For
      This community resource serves a diverse audience: researchers looking to build on Feinberg’s contributions, healthcare practitioners seeking the latest insights to apply in clinical settings, educators and students studying pandemic impacts, and public health professionals shaping policy. By providing free access to these works under Creative Commons licenses, we hope to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing across disciplines and geographies.

      We continue to update the community with new research, ensuring it remains a reliable source of information on COVID-19 and an enduring resource for the scientific and medical communities."

  7. Finish by clicking on the purple Save button at the bottom. The added pages will now display to the right of the Settings tab under the Community.