What is ResearchGate?

ResearchGate, a social network for academics and researchers, recently received $35 million in series C financing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Tenaya Capital and others. The network was founded in 2008 by physicians Dr. Ijad Madisch and Dr. Sören Hofmayer, and computer scientist Horst Fickenscher. Five years later, more than 2.9 million researchers are already using it to present themselves and make their research visible.

Primarily focused on accredited researchers and specialists, ResearchGate is modeled to be a LinkedIn for academia, where you can connect with other researchers and share findings but requires that you sign up with an email address from the institution you are representing. Institutions that are not recognized are sent to admins for approval.

This new platform will enable new ways for academics in engineering, the sciences and the humanities to collaborate on research. Despite the availability of other social networks for professional use (such as LinkedIn and Yammer) ResearchGate demonstrates the need to provide social collaboration tailored specifically for academia.

Here are some key features benefits that ResearchGate offers:

• Users are enabled to share and access publications, as well as publish data
• Users can connect and collaborate with colleagues, peers, co-authors and specialists
• Statistics on views, downloads and citations of research are made available to users
• Research-focused job board available for researchers seeking new job positions
• Discussion boards for users to post questions and find solutions to research problems

If your organization has a focus on academics or research, you may want to consider ResearchGate to your social strategy to help facilitate collaboration with other researchers across the world.