ResearchGate is a “Facebook for researchers”. Contributions by researchers through profiles – whether it’s a dataset, a conference paper or a journal article – make dissemination of research, global communication and progress happen faster. Contributing in ResearchGate generates free DOI “Digital Object Identifier” for the research added to your profile.
On Wednesday, August 13, 2014 ResearchGate celebrated five million members sharing their scientific output, knowledge and expertise free of charge. It is becoming a major resource for “Open Access”, free sharing of publications and Transfer-of-Knowledge, in particular for early stage researchers lacking resources to establish themselves in the academic world. It is, also, a window for marketing universities and research institutions, see the involvement of Uppsala University https://www.researchgate.net/institution/Uppsala_University/members?page=38
In the first 50 months in the company’s history two million publications in total were uploaded on profiles. Today two million publications every month are being uploaded. In the first months after ResearchGate launched the feature 100 datasets every day were uploaded, today the upload is 700. Last year, there were 300 conference papers uploaded daily. This number has increased fivefold; currently uploads are 1500 conference papers daily. Discussions on addressed questions are not peer-reviewed and quality can vary.
Appropriate and effective coupling of education, science and technology to society and market needs is still required for improving the architecture of Social Media, in particular what regards filling the communication gaps in all sectors and on all levels. Improved ICT-instruments for enhancing the architecture of Social Media are imperative to strengthen the communication between researchers (public and private sectors), politicians and the public in general. In this context, BLOGS provide suitable platforms for improving the architecture of Social Media. See for example http://sustain-earth.com
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