There's been quite a buzz around ResearchGate over the past 2 years. A few researchers have asked us about it and we've been talking about it among ourselves in ILS. The site's tagline is: 'For Scientists. Access scientific knowledge, and make your research visible' and it is designed to function like LinkedIn but tailored to a scholarly community with additional support for publication lists, data sharing, professional networking, information seeking, and for keeping up with others at an institution or within a specific discipline. This blogger has written a decent overview of the site as well as pros and cons.
ResearchGate bills itself as a 'free' service but, as with all web-based services of its type, it's not really free but happily uses the data you supply it to build its business. As with any 'free' web-based service, make sure you're comfortable with the terms under which you're giving your personal information to the site's owners.
In addition, look carefully at the privacy and notification options when you're signing up. You may inadvertently give ResearchGate permission to send emails to everyone in your contact list and even to contact co-authors on your publications to say that you 'recommend' that they sign up for ResearchGate as well. As you know, a 'recommendation' from one researcher to another can carry a great deal of weight and may seem inappropriate in some situations.
After considering these cautionary words, if you do decide to create a profile and begin using the site, it's another useful way to shape your digital presence, make contacts, share data, keep on top of your reading and network with your peers. If you're interested in other ways to do these same things, consider coming along to an ILS drop in workshop on Publishing and Promoting your Research. We'll be offering them again in Autumn term.
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