Social networking for scientists: an analysis on how and why academics use ResearchGate

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the usage and utility of ResearchGate (RG), which is a social networking site where scientists disseminate their work and build their reputations. In a sample consisting largely of American and European academics, the authors analyzed the ways they use the site, what they thought about the site’s utility, and the effects of usage on career outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The authors employed an online survey approach to target scientists who have an active RG account. Scientists who were not users were also recruited in order to get a better idea of the reasons for their nonuse. Findings Most academics who have an RG account did not use it very heavily. Users did not perceive many benefits from using the site, and RG use was not related to career satisfaction or informational benefits, but was related to productivity and stress. Research limitations/implications Systematic research is needed to explore positive and negative consequences of using professional social media in academia, especially productivity and stress. Findings also suggest that RG needs to increase user engagement. Originality/value This study is one of the first to closely examine how and why people in academia use professional social media sites and whether usage leads to perceived benefits and effects on more general career outcomes.

Spanish academics and social networking sites: Use, non-use, and the perceived advantages and drawbacks of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu

“…In line with the recommendations of Williams and Woodacre (2016), our work focuses on the features and characteristics of specific sites. Although academic engagement on social media takes place on a wide range of SNS (Nentwich and König, 2014), most research has focused on a single platform such as Facebook (Sharma, et al, 2016), Twitter (Knight and Kaye, 2016;Veletsianos and Kimmons, 2016), Academia.edu (Thelwall and Kousha, 2014), or ResearchGate (Muscanell and Utz, 2017).…”

Questions or questioners: Factors affecting response quantity on academic social Q&A sites

“…One of the largest ASNSs is ResearchGate, which includes a Q&A platform through which scholars can communicate by posing academic questions and providing answers. However, prior studies have found that scholars' engagement with ASNSs is lower than that with other types of social media (Muscanell & Utz, 2017). This is reflected in the low response quantity for many questions on Research-Gate Q&A.…”

From Social Networks to Publishing Platforms: A Review of the History and Scholarship of Academic Social Network Sites

“…Sharing work and enhancing citations also emerged as the highest priorities within a larger-scale online survey about ResearchGate use (Muscanell and Utz, 2017). The survey data were also analyzed to examine links between site use and career progression; no links were found, although the data indicated links to stress and productivity (Muscanell and Utz, 2017).…”

“…Sharing work and enhancing citations also emerged as the highest priorities within a larger-scale online survey about ResearchGate use (Muscanell and Utz, 2017). The survey data were also analyzed to examine links between site use and career progression; no links were found, although the data indicated links to stress and productivity (Muscanell and Utz, 2017). To focus in on this issue, Utz and Muscanell (2018) present a related study which examined links between emotions and observing ResearchGate metrics, based on 419 responses to an online survey.…”