The impact factor and other indices of the research impact of a researcher such as H-index is already in use for appointment and promotion of faculties in many countries including India. However, the RG score is an indicator of popularity of a researcher in a closed research group. Further, some components used to compute RG such as questions and answers are likely to add significantly to one's RG score but may not be a true indicator of the academic or research impact in many instances. For example, you start asking questions without considering its significance or relevance for any particular research area or you start adding answers (and assume that all answers are irrelevant and/or not grounded in contemporary research evidences or theories) your RG score will increase. If one starts writing all irrelevant things or share his/her own very personal ideas or views in answer to any question, it will also probably add to RG score of that individual.

In short, there is perhaps no system to give weight to the quality of the answer /questions (except the popularity of the answer as indicated by likes- which is likely to be unduly affected by personal relationship) shared in the forum.

Thus, to use RG score as indicator of academic worth of a researcher some quality weightage system will be needed. At present (in my view) it is not a good indicator of the true academic strength. You may find very well-known and established researchers with very high impact factor publications but very low RG score.

This is my view open for discussion and criticism.

Dear Rakesh,

I agree fully with your view. I mentioned not just RG score but total impact points together as no single parameter is perfect criteria for selection. Usually multiple parameters are essential for assessment. So, just like H index and impact factor , RG score is also a parameter to be included for assessment of faculties.

Dear Satyendra

I appreciate your views expressed here in the question as well as your answer.

However, I am still of the opinion that RG score (in its present form) will not form a good parameter for assessment of faculties as it is based on the interaction of a very limited number of researchers of a specific forum. This is my own personal view and it should be taken as an addition to your view and not as contradiction to it. I hope in future some other and entirely different viewpoint may be shared by some one. Else, some researchers may adhere to your view and some others to mine.

I again appreciate your idea of initiating the discussion on inclusion of RG score for assessment of faculties.

i dont have direct experience of the selection proceedure of the faculty in india but there are many bad things like discrimination on the bais of caste, instituition etc(it may be rumer). i think that there is urgent need of an independent commission like UPSC for the selection and promotion else UGC should take interview in delhi. if possible take prof from abroad for taking interview it may be possible by video conferencing

@ Satyendra Tiwary. You might have noticed that our concern regarding the use of RG score as quality indicator of the researcher has now been taken into account by the ResearchGate team and the algorithm for computing the RG score has changed. Now they are focusing more on the quality of the research and related contribution as compared to question/answers. Further, there are some more improvements likely to be introduced and with all these now the RG score may be an alternative to the more traditional indicators of the impact of a research or researcher.

With these changes introduced, now I endorse your idea of including RG score in evaluation of the academic and research strength of the individual researcher or faculty.

Thanks for this very interesting discussion about RG score. I would like to ask how effective the RG score can be in ranking of institutions (or universities)? i am interested to exploit this parameter on the followings: recruitment of researchers, promotion of academics, ranking at different levels: department, college and university, selection of potential academic partners and collaborators.

Dear S.H. Al-Harthi

I think that for most of the purpose (mentioned by you) the RG score is likely to produce certain biases. The factors that may cause bias include:such factors as uneven representations of researchers/institutions on RG, incomplete profile of researchers, etc. For instance, if a highly cited researcher with very high impact factor publications on the RG has not uploaded his any publication and do not respond to the questions/queries (because he is busy with his own research) is likely to have a very low RG score. However, on other metrics he/she may be the best.

Despite this limitation, the RG score coupled with review of complete RG profile of a researcher/institution may help in initial screening of some good researchers/institutions.

Thanks Rakesh. I agree with you RG can only help but not giving a full solution.

Another question that comes into picture is- HOW MANY researchers are using ResearchGate? If it's score to be taken as one of the criteria for selection of the faculties this question needs to be addressed. I think hardly 30-40 per cent Indian academicians/ researchers (approx) may be using RG. What for those who are not even aware of this platform.

I agree with Rakesh Pandey. There is no doubt that Research Gate is the best professional scientific network but its measure of scientific reputation has many lacunae. As far as impact points is considered, there is no clear cut description on how it is evaluated.

Hi to everybody. This is a good discussion about the relevance of RG score. And also is true that every new day is a day where this network of researchers widens. It is also a day in which the limitations of the RG are reduced in the same proportion. However, can someone explain me what is the "impact points" and the difference for RG score?

I agree with Satyendra Tiwari. Yes, RG Score can be considered to evaluate the talent of the candidate. 

This is a good topic to discuss, total Rg score of a university is simply the summation of Rg's of the members. I notice that this is not the way of calculating total impact point of the university. I f we add the individual impact points of the institution member, we get a different number which is greater than the total impact point of the institution. In Rg score of the institution, its the total number of the individual member RG scores (it seem that the total RG scores are not updated since about two months i don't know why?!)

Dear friend, I will be free to add some more threads related to the issue You have raised! Hope it will help.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/A_number_of_university_ranking_setups_exist_In_the_not_far_future_ResearchGate_could_be_accepted_as_another_legitimate_university_ranking_approach#view=54c4f5bdd4c1187e0e8b4615

Dear @Abdulghefar, your statement  total Rg score of a university is simply the summation of Rg's of the members is not valid. I am attaching the link of my institution where the total RG score should be much higher! Unfortunately, it is lesser than my personal RG score!

https://www.researchgate.net/institution/Technical_College_Poarevac

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ljubomir_Jacic2

RG score can not be a true indicator of a scholars worth simply because it is not transparent enough and keeps on changing over time. Till it is known the way it is calculated and what type of contribution gets how much weight is made clear, Further, we already have a system in place to judge the contribution of a scientist/ teacher, it has to be superior to be adopted as a measure to judge them.

I agree with Prof. Pandey's opinion. RG score cannot be a 'barometer' to measure the worth of a person for any faculty position. I have noticed that sometimes people with high RG scores have amassed their scores just based on up-votes via asking and replying to questions and through frequent communications with people who have high scores in return. These so called high scorers do not necessarily have many peer-reviewed publications to their names even though they might be highly rational and knowledgeable people which is reflected in their comments, statements and answers. Although these up-votes and down-votes cannot be compared to 'likes' or 'dislikes' of social networking tendencies, still there is often an element of subjective or personal biases involved. As long as we have other rigorous indexes like the H-index, we may not automatically need less objective alternatives like the RG-score yet. Nevertheless, I have to admit that RG is a great educational and learning resource haven for all who are interested in research, especially for budding researchers who read, study and pick up ideas and thoughts from the works and efforts of established and distinguished researchers. It reminds me of Isaac Newton's letter to Robert Hooke, "if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". A very humble statement from a 'giant' himself.

To address this question I would like to address a deeper question first. The underlying question is:

• Is there a truly objective measure that is immutable, does not change with time and free from bias in the selection of faculty members?

My sincere opinion is that any proposed measure has an underlying subjective and fallible basis and in the end it is the cumulative measures that really matter. RG could be used as long as it is  not the only one(the same goes with any measure).

Dear Ljubomir Jacić thank you very much for your notation , but  since about one year i followed up the total Rg in my university, it was approximately  the total of rg's of the members , but since about two or three months (i am not sure, its not updated i see that Rg's of all institutions in researcher gate is not affected by the members). My remark about what you   have mentioned above, i think its valid exactly in the total impact point of the institutions .

regards

 Research Gate  recently updated the total RG score of universities, we can see that the total RG score of an  university is exactly the summation of RGs of members as i have mentioned .

You are right dear @Abdulghefar, Institution RG score has been changed,yes! It is even higher than summation of members' RG scores! Thanks for information!

https://www.researchgate.net/institution/Technical_College_Poarevac

not at all dear @ Ljubomir

Dear colleagues

I have a similar question on the link below 

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Which_scientific_journal_indexing_system_is_better_for_evaluating_scientific_journals_ISI_or_Scopus

your contributions are appreciated

regards

The H-Index in Scopus and total number of citations in Scopus are often considered while evaluating a faculty in research. Regarding ResearchGate, it is possible for a person to have a high value of RG score by just asking questions and answering queries without a single publication.

I agree with the general trend of this discussion. The RG score, as it stands, is an interesting a potential useful metric within the bounds of the site but with little relevance in the real world.

So long as the score continues to claim to represent 'reputation' and remains based on a hidden calculation that appears to unreasonably weight Q&A contributions compared with publications, it will continue to be of limited value. If these issues are addressed then there is potential for it to become of some practical use in future.

My RG score is very average- just around 43 and impact factor is also average - around 71 only. Despite my poor health, I hope to improve both RG score and impact point in the future years as I have many publications to come. With hard work, I hope to get decent scores in Research Gate. Also, I have reduced my RG discussions as it has a negative impact on my RG score.

With best wishes, Sundar

After liberalization in the education sector, by the Central Government of India, a number of private ventures in higher education came up in the country. Some Dhotiwalas raised a number of new Higher Education Institutes in NCR Delhi & elsewhere. Since the Dhotiwalas were new to the game, they followed Academicians advise & fortunately all of these Institutes are done well. Initially these Dhotiwalas had also some dedication which also contributed to fast growth of these Institutes. Good Teachers had respect of both the students & Management. Over the years these Dhotiwalas became more knowledgeable & confident. Most of these Dhotiwalas are now seen in the modern Western dresses, ride very costly cars & consider them self as Masters of Education Management. Their offshoots who could not even graduate them self started helping their elders in education business. The values have changed & they care three hoots for the advise of teachers. The business environment have brought in Rat Race where Good For Nothing teachers try all sort of tricks to become blue eyed of Management. This kind of environment can not be tolerated by Good Teachers who are also not getting the same respect from Management. This is one of the major reason why good teachers are looking other ways. The problem has further compounded. They don't consider any research credentials in appointment instead prefer relatives. Dean, SET., Sharda have zero research credentials but good for Management because he knows how to become blue eyed of Management. 

These Dhotiwalas, when they found the education business more profitable, have expanded their business in the shape of additional new institutes which are located far away from the original institute because of nonavailability of land. How can a illiterate person with a pack of illiterate dependents manage the entire set up. This has resulted into more good for nothing people managing the affairs resulting into frustration of the capable teachers. Only Few Institutions consider  and aware about RG score and Impact points in Private Universities of  India for selecting faculties. 

No really because the RG score is partially artificial... 

No really because the RG score is partially artificial... 

There are a number of interesting and well-researched studies into the RG score and impact points, which would be worth reading in order to address this suggestion. They are easily found by doing a search in Google Scholar.

Note: In correspondence yesterday with ResearchGate support staff, they confirmed that: "We no longer display journal metrics, like the Impact Factor, as they don't provide a reliable indication of the quality of any individual article or researcher published in the journal. Instead, we show your H-index and RG score, which take your individual contributions into account. We are also looking into improving these publication- and author-level metrics in order to better represent exactly how influential your research is".

How i can find my total impacts of points in my RG page???????

Dear @A. M. Omer, you can not find any more Impact Factor, as the same was removed about a month ago and it was replaced by H - factor. It is available at your score page. Your h-index is 3.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/A_Omer/reputation

Yes i think it is a good criteria for selecting faculties but only up to some extent. Some very good faculties don't have the RG account so they should be asked to create and upload there ideas and share their views about the research topics in which they are interested and then they should be evaluated and given the job.

Not necessary..

It can be used as one of the factors to be considered. However, other factors must also be put into consideration.

It can be a good idea for using RG score for the academics. Nowadays, Universities from many developing countries offer their faculties to be promoted into the professorships without proper judgement (scientific contribution). RG Score can be a useful tool in this regard to distinguish the suitable candidate. Using the RG score and setting a  score limit for a particular faculty position can be utilised as a proxy indicator. There are limitations, but definitely, advantages are many.

The H-Index on RG is not an accurate reflection of one's H-Index because RG can only measure H-Index based on citations available on RG. For this reason, it is advised to take this metric on RG with a pinch of salt.

Using the RG score as a criterion for selection is problematic, principally because the algorithm used by RG to derive it is based on a combination of (1) publications listed in RG (which may not represent a scholar's total research output) and (2) what I loosely term as an "activity factor". By that, I mean activities such as (a) posing research questions and (b) responding to other scholars' research questions.

The "RG score" is just that: a score which is applicable to RG, and RG alone. I doubt that it could easily be extrapolated to the wider scholarly community.

That said, I believe that, in its capacity as an academic scholarly network site (ASNS), RG has a valuable role to play in the research lifecycle, particularly in providing an avenue for disseminating articles which are "locked away" in print journals and therefore not easily accessible to other researchers.

RG Score alone can not assess the researchers ability. H-index value and total no. of reads and citation must be considered to assess the quality of the researchers.

The personalized web-based researchers’ profiles help in deriving many performance indicators of researchers, their collaborators and institutions. Innovative new indicators are now extensively focusing on author’s works rather than journal’s performance, visibility or prestige.... One of this indicators is RG score. I have attached the link to this document. See pp 14... in UNESCO document Research Evaluation Metrics.

I find H index, i10... much more relevant than RG score. You may have RG score without any publication!!!

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002322/232210E.pdf

it can be use for partial assessment but academic credentials and publications should be more focused. 

The impact points are now removed but RG score probably is on the basis of impact factor of the publication in a journal in that particular year. Some authors who have a publication in high impact journals like lancet, BMJ also have a RG score around 17 that is too less. I think adding projects might improve RG scores.

Dear @Pallav, instead of IF, H-index was introduced!

In India what MCI considers for promotion is only original articles.. zero value for good case reports, some work published as letter to editor and technical innovation published in high impact journals..

Medical colleges and universities neither consider impact factor nor H-index, I10 or I20 index for evaluating the faculty..

Are case reports and technical innovations inferior form of research despite good number of citations and H-index?

There are so many scholars, scientists and other researchers, who are doing very good work. The main problem with many of them is that they don't know how to represent their work. Unfortunately, they choose low impacted journals for the high good quality research work.

My main point here is, the selection should be based upon the overall performance of the person. Not on the basis of R score and H Index solely.

If the appointment is for the assistant professor, than the communication skills, interest in new technologies and the bundle of knowledge should be tested.

Prof. Satyendra K Tiwary , I would say citations and quality research are most important to demonstrate our research credibility.

Satyendra K Tiwary -

I think that RG score is not specify scientific reputation of the researchers. Realistically, it reflects the extent of researchers’ interaction in RG. However, according to its nature, the main beneficial influences of Researchgate are getting useful feedback, increasing work visibility, and sharing knowledge among researchers.

RG score does not cover academic qualities, so it should not be considered for selecting faculties.

Agreed with Rakesh Pandey

I would like to endorse the views of Prof. Rakesh Pandey.

Merely RG score does not reflect the true research potential of a researcher as highlighted by Prof. Rakesh Pandey sir. However, the research interest section seems somewhat a good indicator of research impact of a particular researcher. But it is also based on the recommendations by the peers of any kind of research which may not be always of great significance.

Therefore, I would like to endorse the views of Prof. Rakesh Pandey sir who explicitly explained the underlying processes of the RG score and interest. Overall, the RG score system should include some quality parameters to rate a researcher potential then only it can be a good indicator for consideration in the appointment of faculties in any unversity/college.

Regards,

Rishikesh

I don't recommend that because it is fake.

No scientific parameter is perfect, and describes a scientist's capability in totality. A scientist may have limited publication, but do tangible achievement in terms of varieties, genetic stocks, etc and vice versa. Ignoring exceptions, a researcher more often becomes biased while citing already published works. Sometimes, quality papers published in a less known journal received only a few citations. Even reviewers recommend their own publication for citation. Even Google scholar parameters have their own limitations.

RG score and impact perhaps include various parameters (citations, self-citations, journals' impact factor, h index including/excluding self-citations, projects handled by the researcher, the relevance of questions asked, precision of answers given, recognition received, and the like); it appears to be somewhat reliable parameter in judging the actual worth of researcher.

No.

These two parmeters can be included as part of selection criteria with small weightage.

There are many other parameters which are being used for selecting talented faculty.

In a single word: "No" and "Never" until RG unveils the black box of its scoring technique. As others said, the RG score doesn't really tell about the quality of the science. Rather, it focuses on popularity which is often biased.

Hi

It can be used such as primary evaluation tools but it not sufficient.

In my point of view, RG score is one of the good indicators to judge the significance of researches and interaction of researchers. As questioning and answering are also affected for the increment of RG score, there should be a mechanism to identify the quality of them (such as recommendations for them). Then only, the RG score is the best indicator for judging the research capacity of any faculty.

There are many RG members without papers, who have very high RG score, based on Q&A, huge number of recommendations (often friendly and mutual). So, how does RG score could be used by Universities for selecting faculties?

Definitely not because there are ways of inflating scores - these are not related to academic achievement.

I strongly agree with @Rakesh Pandey, Ljubomir Jacić , Neil Dagnall , Amir abbas Shojaie , and others.

A good discussion initiated by Dr Satyendra K. Tiwary, opinions expressed by Dr Ramesh Pandey and Dr. Ljubomir are very interesting and explaining the reality side of the RG score. In my opinion it is for our personal satisfaction only but not assessing the quality of research done by researchers. In Google scholar also some times other researchers publications are mixing in turn increase ones h index and i10 index score.

No system is perfect, no human is perfect. This world itselft is continuation of imperfection always searching and pounding all efforts for perfection. RG score should be considered with this background.It is not research centric, but including questions, answers and discussions contribution which may be consideted as grey area in scoring which may be made more transparent, lucid and systematic for further evaluation as a tool of scoring, screening or selection.But that will be just a part of whole evaluation system. No single system can be given privilege too much, but their role should be utilised.

Dear Satyendra K Tiwary, I fully agree with Ljubomir Jacić. Selecting a new faculty member is a farreaching decision which will change the applicants life. Thus I think for this process mainly hard facts such as publications in international, peer-reviewed journals, citations in such journals and successful acquisition of research grants should be taken into consideration. However, RG could propvide an additional indication about the overall scientific activity of an applicant.

Very good idea, thank you Doctor.

Very good idea, thank you Doctor.

Dear Satyendra K Tiwary

In RG, we can see the multi-contribution of the researcher who uploaded his/her works such as the publications, research projects, comments as well as questions and answers. However, it takes many times to increase the RG score. Some researchers can't do it due to less time of usage. Probably, some researchers can't upload all of his works according to the copyright rules of the publishers. Therefore, the actual impact points can't be reflected in RG.

Sincerely

While it is a good idea, the score can be easily manipulated. Nevertheless, it still represents a rather valid index able to distinguish, in a global manner, between candidates.

Dear Aung Ze Ya, copyright rules of the publishers should not present an obstacle when uploading your works on RG. You can always upload a paper as Private Full Text without violating any copyrigth rules.

Dear Frank T. Edelmann , a good suggestion and balanced opinion about upload of text which can be helpful with rules of copyright. Private full text may be a good option for both researcher as well as reader and no trouble for publisher too.

Thanks

With Regards

Satyendra

Very interesting discussion

In our university depends on loyalties

In my opinion, the RG score and the impact points should not be taken into account as the only criteria by universities for selecting faculties, because these criteria can be manipulated. The management mode of our universities must therefore take other parameters into account.

Indeed, the impact points of a faculty for example is a measure of the importance of the faculty according to the number of students received and qualified during a year. It is true that generally, faculties with a high impact factor have greater visibility. Analyzing impact points can help people decide which faculty to enroll in (although that shouldn't be the only criteria).

Some limitations of the impact points:

• The impact point should not be used to judge the value of an ability;

• The impact point varies enormously from one area to another and should not be used to compare faculties in different areas;

• The impact point can be manipulated.

In my university depends on it the assessment of the instructor during the academic year.

Yes, it can be a useful information regarding a candidate.

Yes I second for its inclusion while looking for suitable academicians

Dear All, when hiring new faculty members, Universities should only consider "hard" facts such as research publications in international, peer-reviewed journals, the successful acquisition of research grants and teaching abilities.

The RG score can reflect the level of the researchers and their way and efforts in the researches. If it is taken into account it will be good as criterion among others, and can contribute in the visibility of universities@ Satyendra K Tiwary

Are you aware of any University which hire people-select faculties based on RG score? I do not. What if candidate has no RG account, but Academia account, for example. Again, RG score is a measure of activity within RG community, it has nothing to do with academic evaluation. Better say, our RG scores are measures of popularities!

Dear Satyendra K Tiwary I fully agree with Ljubomir Jacić. I never heard about any university asking for RG scores when hiring faculty members. The same is true for applications for PhD and post-doc applications. What the universities do check is your CV, publications (Scopus), successful research grants and teaching abilities.

Dear all, the beginning of things usually starts with small steps and with less interest. I am totaly convinced that the future is for RG, and sooner or later it be the first qualification source (if not an authority) of Researchers and Academiciens. It is a matter of time. RG administration are adjusting everything to make cridible criteria in its mission. My Regards

I fully agree with Prof. Ljubomir. RG score is not a credible measure to evaluate the academic standing. It is merely a quantitative ranking system based on activity and sociability of a follower within the RG community.

I beg to differ partially from what is suggested. Giving due weightage on impact point is a good index, but RG may not be a good criteria to consider. RG is somewhat different. It is the sum total of many activities including research. To assess a future faculty some universally approved mechanism and tools must be determined.

RG score is not a good indicator of one's reputation as a scientist even then it might be a consideration in the recruitment of faculties by the universities.

The RG score is not a good indicator of a scientist's reputation; it is not taken into account here. We do not take into account other indicators either.

Even though RG is fun and interesting, universities should never consider the score when hiring a new faculty members. Only publication list, a list of funded projects and teaching abilities should be taken into account.

RG score is not really a strong predictor of someone's competence as a researcher but though it may be a measure of the universities' recruitment of faculties.

I never heard of any Universities considering the RG score as a measure of research competence or excellence. After all, it is just a number in a scientific social network.

There are many scientific indicators which have been used for selecting faculties, for academic promotions etc, but RG score does not belong to this group of indicators.

Ljubomir Jacić absolutely right! Only "hard facts" should be considered when selecting new faculty members. These could include number of publications, citations and h-factor. Moreover, the successful acquisition of research grants and the teaching abilities of an applicant should be taken into account.

Abrar Hossain Tasin when recruiting new faculty members, universities should definitively not take the RG score into account. After all, RG (although it is very useful) is a scientific social media platform.