Prism

Who can use Prism?

Prism can be searched by anyone with access to the internet. To upload content into Prism, you must be Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine faculty, student, or staff, with a current Northwestern University network account (NetID) and password. Northwestern Medicine emeriti faculty may also use Prism.

Who can submit content to Prism?

•     You must be affiliated with Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine.
•     You must have the rights to let Galter Library distribute it.

What are the guidelines for content submission?

•     The content must be scholarly, educational, or related to the university's mission.
•     The content must be in its final form. Prism is intended to be an archive, not a storehouse for works in progress.
•     The content must be in a digital format.

What types of content can be submitted to Prism?

Examples of items that the repository can accommodate at this time include:

•     Research papers, published or unpublished
•     Conference papers and presentations, including lectures
•     Educational materials
•     Case reports
•     Technical reports
•     Supplemental images
•     Posters
•     User guides
•     Open access books
•     and more

For a complete list of resource types, please see Metadata in Prism. For questions about additional scholarly outputs, such as datasets, and whether they are accepted in Prism, please contact prism@northwestern.edu.

Does it cost anything to upload content to Prism?

Feinberg School of Medicine provides Prism at no cost to current faculty, students, staff, and emeriti faculty.

What content should not be uploaded to Prism?

• Research data that has not been approved by the IRB or other governing bodies for public dissemination.
• Items containing personally identifiable information that are not approved for public access.
• Administrative materials that contain sensitive personal, financial, or human resources information.

For more assistance using Prism contact prism@northwestern.edu.

We encourage and support the use of Prism for research data sharing. Please note that all data must be fully de-identified. Prism does not accept any content with PHI or other sensitive information.

The Primary Investigator for a research project is ultimately responsible for the adequacy of de-identification. FSM IT Security recommends that researchers:

• Come up with a plan to de-identify data
• Have the plan reviewed by peers and department leadership
• Perform the de-identification
• Document the entire process
• The de-identification process is very important and there are big risks to FSM and NU if it's not done properly. The FSM IT Security team does not develop de-identification approaches, but they will review an approach once it’s been developed. They will want to know:
• The name of the PI
• The NU IRB study number
• The status of the required data security plan (http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/it/policies/information-security/data-security-plans.html)

If a data security plan has been previously approved they will re-review the plan. If you need help or have questions about security, please email FSMIT-policy@northwestern.edu.​

Important links:

HIPAA: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html 

FSM Information Security: http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/it/policies/information-security/index.html 

FSM general security policies: http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/it/docs/General-Security-Policy-092216-V2-1.pdf

How large can a file be to be uploaded to Prism?

10 GB. This is not uncommon for web-based uploads. The larger the file, the more likely a timeout will occur. We recommend that any CSV or TSV files to be compressed before uploading. Please note that Prism can accept large files, but larger datasets must be uploaded as zip files. Submit your request for a file size larger than 10GB by contacting prism@northwestern.edu.

If your dataset is immensely large, you may consider these resources:

• NUIT Research Data Storage Service: https://www.it.northwestern.edu/research/user-services/storage/research-data.html
• NUCATS Center for Data Science & Informatics: https://www.nucats.northwestern.edu/resources/data-science-and-informatics/index.html
• Microsoft Azure Services: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/
• Amazon Web Services: https://aws.amazon.com/

Are there limits to how much I can deposit into Prism?

At present, no. You may deposit as many files as you need to.

How can I get file sizes larger than 10GB into Prism?

Submit your request by contacting prism@northwestern.edu.

Can I create a record for my article/project/resource without uploading an actual file?

Yes, you can create a metadata-only record in Prism. See our guide Upload Metadata Only Record.

I’ve uploaded my documents in other platforms. Does Prism sync with other platforms so that I don’t have to duplicate my efforts?

Currently Prism does not sync information from proprietary platforms.

Can I upload material from when I was working for another institution?

Yes, if you have the permission.

I tried to delete something that I accidentally uploaded to Prism, but I can’t delete it. How do I go about removing it from the repository?

Please contact us at prism@northwestern.edu and we will do that for you.

Can I add my thesis or dissertation to the repository?

Theses and dissertations are welcome in Prism, but you must first determine whether you hold the rights to deposit such documents, just as you must with any other publication you plan to deposit. Contact your Graduate School office to find out what your rights are as an author of a thesis or dissertation.