Researcher Profiles, Identifiers, and Social Networks: Academic Social Networks

About ResearchGate

ResearchGate is a social networking site for researchers to share publications, ask and answer questions and find future collaborators. It is free to join, though a university email address is required. To join ResearchGate, click here.

Once you have signed up for a ResearchGate profile, you can import your publications from EndNote, CiteSeer, PubMed, arXiv, etc. If you have co-authors, they will be linked automatically to these publications if they are also signed up to ResearchGate. You can search and filter the contents of ResearchGate to find authors, journals, institutions, etc.

Benefits of joining include:

• Discoverability - your profile and your research can be searched for in Google and other search engines. 
• Metrics - Analyze your research from a variety of perspectives including views, downloads and citations
• Discuss - Comment on, post questions to, follow other researchers/publications. More than 4 million researchers use ResearchGate.
• DOI Link - Link your ResearchGate record to the publishers web page for your article, or book chapter etc. This is useful if your publisher does not allow you to upload your publication to ResearchGate.
• Job Recruitment-  Job advertisements are regularly posted to appeal to a wide audience

Considerations:

• ResearchGate is a for-profit organization and neither the members nor the content are monitored for accuracy.
• Be aware of publishers' policies on which version(s) and which platforms publications can be uploaded. ResearchGate dealt a blow in copyright lawsuit Nature 603, 375-376 (2022)
• Customize your email notification settings, the default settings may result in many email notifications.

About Academia.edu

Academia.edu is a social networking platform for researchers. Full text publications in Academia.edu are indexed in Google Scholar and also appear high in Google searches. To join Academia.edu, click here.

Benefits of joining include:

• Discoverability - your profile and your research can be searched for in Google and other search engines
• Metrics - Analyze your research from a variety of perspectives including views, downloads and citations
• Discussion - Comment on, post questions to, follow other researchers/publications.

Considerations:

• Despite the ".edu" in it's name, Academia.edu is a for-profit company.
• Be aware of publishers' policies on which version(s) and which platforms publications can be uploaded. 
• Customize your email notification settings, the default settings may result in many email notifications.

About Mendeley

Mendeley, an Elsevier product, is a free reference manager and academic social network that serves as an information system to support research. It can help you discover, access, manage and share references and research data, collaborate with others online, showcase your latest research, find funding, and identify career opportunities.

Benefits of joining include:

• Access your profile and library online.
• Search other Mendeley users' libraries and discover new articles
• Friend colleagues and other Mendeley users
• Create, search, and join private and public user groups.
• Install the Import to Mendeley button on your browser to quickly add items to your library
• One click importing on selected sites and database

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional networking and job-seeking site popular both within and outside of academia. LinkedIn allows you to create a profile that presents the best version of you without a lot of regular maintenance.

Benefits of joining include:

• Create a network of colleagues and professionals in your field from whom you can seek advice
• Stay in touch with past and present colleagues
• Discover connections when you're looking for a job
• Recommend and endorse others
• Receive recommendations from colleagues
• List your skills and experience
• Join groups and participate in discussions