Managing Academic Profiles on Scientific Social Networks

Abstract

Abstract. This article investigates the way in which communication science researchers use and manage academic social network sites. On this basis, a representative sample of 244 Spanish scholars was selected from the Spanish Association of Communication Researchers, which consists of more than 600 members. This article explores the presence of Spanish communication scholars in two academic networks: ResearchGate and Academia.edu. Furthermore, it examines the way in which researchers are using these platforms of scientific communication, managing their academic profiles, and searching and interacting through these networks. The purpose is to assess the introduction, use, management, popularity, influence, and impact of these social academic networks. An additional aim is to analyze the new metrics generated by the media and digital social networks, studied as systems for disseminating science and managing communication and interaction among scholars. IntroductionThe classical paradigm for the social networks [10], based on the structural, relational, and exchange theories, takes on a special importance regarding the use and development of information and communication technologies. These new tools, which have emerged on the Internet, increase information and communication flows, amplify the mediation and relation systems and bring with them new ways of social organization which affect traditional systems. Changes in technologies and communication have brought with them new ways of using and managing information. Digital social networks, which have been developed from the early years of the present century (Linkedin, 2003; Facebook, 2004; Youtube, 2005; and Twitter, 2006), have become one of the most popular and distinguished phenomena of our time. These generalist social networks, based on a relational and communicational capacity, have preceded the emergence of thematic and specialized platforms, focused on specific interests and professional capital. In this respect, some of the first social networks (Linkedin and Facebook) have also worked towards the same objective. They have refocused their activities to specific circles and groups in order to increase their value.

Institutional Repositories and Academic Social Networks: Competition or Complement? A Study of Open Access Policy Compliance vs. ResearchGate Participation

“…Nature found that just under half of the more than 3,500 scientists and engineers they surveyed visit ResearchGate regularly (Van Noorden, 2014), while a recent survey of over 20,000 respondents by researchers at Utrecht University Library found that 61% who have published at least one paper use ResearchGate Matthews, 2016). Other measures of the proportion of researchers using ResearchGate range from 15% to 65% depending on the population studied (Campos & Valencia, 2015;Haustein et al, 2014;Laakso et al, 2017;Lupton, 2014;Madhusudhan, 2012;Mahajan, Singh, & Kumar, 2013;Meishar-Tal & Pieterse, 2017;Míguez-González, Puentes-Rivera, & Dafonte-Gómez, 2017;Mikki et al, 2015;Ortega, 2015;Singh, 2016;Tran & Lyon, 2017).…”

“…Nature found that just under half of the more than 3,500 scientists and engineers they surveyed visit ResearchGate regularly (Van Noorden, 2014), while a recent survey of over 20,000 respondents by researchers at Utrecht University Library found that 61% who have published at least one paper use ResearchGate Matthews, 2016). Other measures of the proportion of researchers using ResearchGate range from 15% to 65% depending on the population studied (Campos & Valencia, 2015;Haustein et al, 2014;Laakso et al, 2017;Lupton, 2014;Madhusudhan, 2012;Mahajan, Singh, & Kumar, 2013;Meishar-Tal & Pieterse, 2017;Míguez-González, Puentes-Rivera, & Dafonte-Gómez, 2017;Mikki et al, 2015;Ortega, 2015;Singh, 2016;Tran & Lyon, 2017).A number of studies have reported that ResearchGate is relatively more popular among researchers in the sciences when compared with the academic social network Academia. edu, which is preferred by researchers in the social sciences and especially the humanities Campos-Freire & Rúas-Araújo, 2016;Elsayed, 2015;Jamali et al, 2016;Matthews, 2016;Mikki et al, 2015;Nández & Borrego, 2013;Ortega, 2015;Thelwall & Kousha, 2015;Thelwall & Kousha, 2017;Van Noorden, 2014 Míguez-González et al, 2017;Mikki et al, 2015;Ortega, 2015;Singh, 2016;Tran & Lyon, 2017;Van Noorden, 2014).…”

Whose Research is it Anyway? Academic Social Networks Versus Institutional Repositories

“…Elsayed (2015) also found that ResearchGate was preferred by most Arab researchers, and if they had more than one account the second was likely to be on Academia.edu. In contrast, Campos and Valencia (2015) found that Spanish researchers tended to prefer Academia.edu, though they cite another study (Punin, Direito, & Calva, as cited in Campos & Valencia, 2015) which found that many of these profiles contained no content. Meishar-Tal and Pieterse (2018) also found a prevalence for ResearchGate use by Israeli researchers, where they also found that most researchers were using social networking tools for self-promotion and increased discovery.…”

“…Academic social networks have been the subject of a fair amount of academic research, given their relatively recent entry into the scholarly communication landscape. A number of studies have been done on the adoption rates by researchers in a particular discipline (Muscanell & Utz, 2017;Marra, 2016;Ortega, 2015;Van Noorden, 2014;Haustein et al, 2014) or a particular country (Mikki, Zygmuntowska, Gjesdal, & Ruwehy, 2015;Campos & Valencia, 2015;Elsayed, 2015;Míguez-González, Puentes-Rivera, & Dafonte-Gómez, 2017;Meishar-Tal & Pieterse, 2017. Mikki et al (2015 found that ResearchGate was used most often by Norwegian scholars overall, though humanities scholars used Academia.edu more frequently.…”