In some countries, work in the scientific field is paid mediocre. Young people have little interest in the complex problems of science. The popularization of science is necessary. The pages of the RG publish questions and answers to these scientific questions.
Can the publication of answers to questions in the RG be considered a popularization of science?
Yuri - I think so. There is certainly the potential. Of course it depends on the quality of the question asked i.e. sometimes I'm not always sure what the question author is saying so I have to 'guess' the response. Sometimes responses are confusing and/or of poor quality - or may just be a single word or very brief sentence. However, one of my questions has over 45,000 reads and close to 600 responses. The quality of the responses is variable - but there are many excellent responses and, overall, (especially as the question has been answered over a period of 6 years as events have developed) it could be argued that it is a useful resource for many people interested in and investigating the the disciplines of health promotion and health education.
Yuri - I think so. There is certainly the potential. Of course it depends on the quality of the question asked i.e. sometimes I'm not always sure what the question author is saying so I have to 'guess' the response. Sometimes responses are confusing and/or of poor quality - or may just be a single word or very brief sentence. However, one of my questions has over 45,000 reads and close to 600 responses. The quality of the responses is variable - but there are many excellent responses and, overall, (especially as the question has been answered over a period of 6 years as events have developed) it could be argued that it is a useful resource for many people interested in and investigating the the disciplines of health promotion and health education.
Not in the way we normally think of popularization of science. For example, books like Stephen Jay Gould's "The Panda's Thumb" and "Hens' Teeth and Horses' Toes" popularized evolutionary biology like never before. These books were best sellers and had broad public exposure. ResearchGate content, on the other hand, is largely only available to members and clever/persistent users of search engines. Its true that certain questions/answers on RG are popular with its members, but I strongly suspect that most non-members don't even no RG exists. So the appropriate euphemism for RG content, I think, is "preaching to the choir".
RG is opening horizons, but I do not consider it (e.g. Q/A) as a popularization of science.
I think partially; because the exchange/sharing of answers/comments/thoughts remains within the RG members who are primarily academician or researcher or technocrats, not the common people.
Dear Dr. Mirgorod! I have been thinking about this question, so decided to look up the issue on on Internet. My basic argument that ResearchGate and all other actors such as Elsevier should support the objective of polularizating science. Still RG is only for Researchers, but in the future the case might change in the long run. To be able to support my hypothesis here are articles on the topic ( please see also the documents enclosed) :
1) Pablo, Markin (2018). " ResearchGate’s Role in Open Access and Open Science Promotion Leads to Cooperation Deals with Publishers" Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Available at: https://openscience.com/researchgates-role-in-open-access-and-open-science-promotion-leads-to-cooperation-deals-with-publishers/
2) Rebecca, Trager (2019). " Nature journals open their doors to sharing papers with ResearchGate". Royal Socity of Chemistry 2019. Available at: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/nature-journals-open-their-doors-to-sharing-papers-with-researchgate/3010209.article
Based on the literature may I state that ResearchGate is about to "open the gate" for science to be popular, reachable and understandable to other layers of societies. Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely
Bulcsu Szekely
This is what I meant when I asked a question. Everything goes to the Internet, including the popularization of science. From the questions and answers it is clear that even students who do not yet have a science base are trying to advise their peers. But while opinions are divided. I wonder why. Will wait.
Dear Dr. Migorod! I see. In this regard I agree with the opinion of Mr. Ternyik: answering a question a student only gives a new option to consider to his or her peer. RG opens up a new horizon to understand questions and have new views on a particular problem. It is the researcher resposibility to weight an answer and explain the case in a simplified manner to the public. I hope later on R&G would be open to Master's and Bachelor's level students as well. Hope YOU have a Nice Day! Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely
They could be considered as experts opinions! And this is one source of information.
I totally agree with Dean Whitehead . If it can't, Then I wonder what else will. To popularize science, you need to use scientific knowledge to identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity. Most of the answers to researchgate questions are a translated scientific knowledge for the understanding of non-experts in the areas. That is the very essence of science popularization and researchgate question and answer sessions are helping to achieve that.
I think of ResearchGate as more of a venue for mentoring. Many of the questions are from scholars who need advice or assistance in their scholarly/scientific efforts. The best replies are those that provide good advice, i.e. mentoring.
So most of the people in ResearchGate already have an orientation to research and scientific method, and so do not necessarily need a "popularization" of science. They need a practical orientation to science, research, and scholarly work.
That's a good idea. Ih you can collect serious answere to some scintific topic, why not?
Yuri Mirgorod
RG is a platform comprising of supply and demand side actors, brought together by research/science in one way or another. Suppliers use it to showcase their work, increase citations and online reputation and demand side actors want to access good quality references, or want to use it to access advise, support, collaboration etc.,
Platforms generally exhibit network effects or network economics that centre on the quality and the usefulness of that which is being exchanged. As you get more suppliers, then consumers also flock onto the platform. Equally, the more consumers you have. the more likely that suppliers will want to use the stage.
Net, RG has a strong chance to popularise science, but its success will depend on quality of that which is supplied and consumed and its success in getting scientists engaged. I think, the current funders, who I think may be a VC firm, probably funded them with developing a "monopoly position" in research/science.
RG will evolve. Its evolution will largely be driven by the "revenue model" that it develops and/or the "big brother or sister" that buys them in preparation or in anticipation of a "liquid event," normally an IPO. This is the path most platforms have followed.
Yes to a greater extent I believe. There are quite a lot of scientific knowledge that is shared and some quality questions have been given due attention, answered and taken into discussion. You can gather a lot of knowledge just by following some good questions.
Kheepe Lawrence Moremi
An interesting approach to the problem of a businessman. But most consumers of questions and answers are young people who do not know the subtle troubles of business economics.
Michael W. Marek
I do not agree with your arguments in discussion. Mentoring is the management of young teams (or individuals) by an experienced professional. There is no leadership in the RG, but there is a lot of collective knowledge that can lead to new fluctuations in science.
Dear Yuri Mirgorod,
Interesting question. In my opinion, yes. Discussions at the Research Gate discussion forum play the role of popularizing science, including popularizing specific research concepts, specific research topics and publications that describe the results of the research. Without the science popularization function, the importance of discussions on the Research Gate portal would be negligible.
Greetings, Have a nice day, Stay healthy!
Dariusz Prokopowicz
I have learnt an extraordinary amount through both the science questions and the answers underneath. An essential part of this site.
Sharing knowledge/experience/thoughts through answering scientific questions not only help you to reach broader audiences but also enhance your science communication skill. As a social web-forum, RG offers an excellent opportunity to publicize published research and network with a diverse groups of researchers.
Personally, I find this "question/answer" method to be a very useful exchange for placing the "forces" of our knowledge in the specialized field.
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