Dear @Hristina, this is fine for young researchers. 

"Every year, 1.2 million researchers begin their career. Only 35% will stay for more than 5 years. Before embarking on the research journey, an early career researcher should know how the wind blows. Knowing what lies beyond the horizon, will help you to get prepared..."

http://blog.sciencedirect.com/posts/take-the-work-out-of-research-and-get-ahead-with-new-sciencedirect-videos?utm_campaign=ScienceDirect%20Newsletter&utm_campaignPK=97034204&utm_term=OP11436&utm_content=135526424&utm_source=68&BID=390301190&utm_medium=email&SIS_ID=0

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/tag/startyourresearch/?utm_source=ElsevierStore&utm_medium=textlink&utm_campaign=SYR2015BOGO

In math there is the Young mathematicians' network. It is however not about promotion of young mathematicians but rather about career advice and related things:

http://www.youngmath.net/

Hristina, I think you have posted your question on just such a network. ResearchGate is a valuable means for the support of researchers 'new to the game'. They can ask questions, get professional answers and get their uploaded datasets (e.g. theses) reviewed if requested. 

A question comes into my mind here: What is the proportion of young to experienced researchers among the RG users?

I am not excluding or undermining the importance of RG. However, there may be others media oriented mainly to students. My impression is that students, young graduates and humanities and social science scholars are less represented and targeted by scientific social media. 

It is not easy to mine the Internet to get to the sources we want to find. There may be interesting sites which are not that much exposed and marketed.

For instance, the Undergraduate Journals and Conferences Directory http://wordpress.mercyhurst.edu/upd/ is not very popular but it may be useful to people who are unaware that it exists.

JURN - the directory of free arts and humanities journals - is also a very good starting point to find information on various subjects, the blog https://jurnsearch.wordpress.com/ is often updated and very useful - it abounds with open access resources, library collections, tips and tricks, news on social media research related tools. 

There are also many interesting entries at content curation platforms such as Scoopit - just search by topic or keywords and you'll see how much of the online information that you need you have/could have missed.

I suspect there are many minor or not so popular sites, microblogs and forums which merit our attention. 

Dear @Hristina, this is fine for young researchers. 

"Every year, 1.2 million researchers begin their career. Only 35% will stay for more than 5 years. Before embarking on the research journey, an early career researcher should know how the wind blows. Knowing what lies beyond the horizon, will help you to get prepared..."

http://blog.sciencedirect.com/posts/take-the-work-out-of-research-and-get-ahead-with-new-sciencedirect-videos?utm_campaign=ScienceDirect%20Newsletter&utm_campaignPK=97034204&utm_term=OP11436&utm_content=135526424&utm_source=68&BID=390301190&utm_medium=email&SIS_ID=0

http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/tag/startyourresearch/?utm_source=ElsevierStore&utm_medium=textlink&utm_campaign=SYR2015BOGO

Hi Hristina,

Beside ReserchGate (RG), there are also other social websites suitable for researchers - some of them are as per below (note: they are not exhaustive lists):

1) Academia (similar to RG that you can upload & download various journal articles etc.):

https://www.academia.edu/

2) Mendeley (free reference manager & pdf files organizer and allow you to share / view articles contributed by others)

https://www.mendeley.com/dashboard/

3) Social Science Research Network (allow researchers to upload & download other journal articles for free)

http://www.ssrn.com/en/

4) Publons (Get Credit for Conducting Peer Review)

https://publons.com/about/

5) Viper Plagiarism Scanner

http://www.scanmyessay.com/

Also in case some young researchers would like to know how to track their literature review for analysis & writing, they can refer to this artifact also. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282604179_Excel_Template_for_Literature_Review_Catalog

Wishing you all the best.

Regards,

Fung

Research Excel Template for Literature Review Catalog

Some more proposals for sites for young researchers!

Among many, I like this one: 

4 ways to win an editor’s heart

Useful tips from an editor that might just help you get published!

http://communications.elsevier.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%407xhpkRwuceWrBH1sHYYUDiWcG4wU3M4RhSlWD3E4IEM%3D&utm_campaign=2016%20Scopus%20Newsletter&utm_campaignPK=160232092&utm_term=OP18752&utm_content=160233732&utm_source=71&BID=492838725&utm_medium=email&SIS_ID=0

http://blog.scopus.com/posts/scopus-2015-review-part-1-more-content-but-not-at-the-expense-of-quality?utm_campaign=2016%20Scopus%20Newsletter&utm_campaignPK=160232092&utm_term=OP18752&utm_content=160233732&utm_source=71&BID=492838725&utm_medium=email&SIS_ID=0

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=85b17cc67ab96b21ae412bf46&id=087b548bc6&e=19bdda085b

https://www.elsevier.com/authors-update/home/featured-article/4-ways-to-win-an-editors-heart

Some more form Elsevier. Awards are good drivers for young researchers.

Second link brings many resources to young researchers.

http://communications.elsevier.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40GkbhqUFiPy2IqDaiUJeGwHFM6b5gNz5FiClufPJK4pE%3D

http://communications.elsevier.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40cVAwPfGuPlJ%2BOVWiucALe8ucH6RI3VULVtdY6YGQmxw%3D&utm_campaign=Online%20Books%20Connect%202016%20-%20monthly&utm_campaignPK=163224313&utm_term=OP19028&utm_content=164960742&utm_source=68&BID=509983347&utm_medium=email&SIS_ID=0

Dear @Hristina, this is interesting link for young scientists.

DANUBIUS YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD 2016 - NOMINATIONS ACCEPTED UNTIL 17TH MAY !

"The Danubius Young Scientist Award will be granted to 14 young scientists -one in each country that is part of the EUSDR. The award seeks to encourage young scientists to engage themselves in the scientific examination of problems and questions specifically related to the Danube and to stimulate the scientific community in the Danube region. The award will be endowed with 1.200,- Euros for each winner of the young scientist award.

The candidate has to be nominated by his/her hosting scientific organisation (university, academy of sciences, etc.) meaning that the candidate himself / herself cannot apply for the award..."

https://danube-inco.net/object/call/16673

http://www.idm.at/projekte/preise/danubius-young-scientist-award

Please adhere to the question and post calls elsewhere. 

I will provide more relevant links in the coming days. The question is not about students who need someone's approval in order to publish something but rather about students and researchers including independent ones - e.g. who might not even be formally in research or education institutions. The aim is to make visible new communication tools and platforms where people may find information and be part of research in their own field.

Dear @Hristina, this is fine info for young researchers in the field of nanotechnology!

Young Investigator Award and Lectureship 2016

Honoring and Promoting a Young Researcher active in the fields of Nanofabrication and Nanotechnology for Electronics, MEMS and Life Sciences.

http://communications.elsevier.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40EvY%2BDQk6rZpQeilBxk5s%2F4exRikzH5CBfNnHtIsxksc%3D

Another award in our region dear @Hristina. DANUBIUS YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD 2016!

The award seeks to highlight the scientific work and talent of young researchers and enhance the visibility of the scientific community in the region: Moreover the award encourages young scientists to engage themselves in the scientific examination of the multifaceted issues and questions specifically related to the Danube Region...

https://danube-inco.net/object/call/17214

This question is not a place for ads - for awards, competitions or whatever. Rather, it aims at listing sites where research information, promotion, etc can be found for young scientists. Only Artur has understood the question so far.

Dear @Hristina, I think that, after your answer, this article The Researcher Journey: Finding that needle in the ever-growing haystack - How long does it take to find the information you need? may be appropriate for the sake of young researchers. Do you?

"We recently carried out a survey with more than 4,500 researchers to find out more about their journey of search and discovery. It covered areas such as where researchers begin, how they retrieve information, how long it takes, and how many platforms they use to find it. As I scanned through the results I couldn’t help reflecting on my first research project and how things have changed…"

It is very helpful for young researchers.

https://www.elsevier.com/authors-update/story/publishing-trends/the-researcher-journey-finding-that-needle-in-the-ever-growing-haystack

What is helpful here exactly? There is a question or rather he wonders whether it is easier now, and he know it is just different. I do not agree that distractions are a factor because if people are distracted by their phones, then research is not the right profession for them.

Libraries have always been great places, even now if you have to look for older papers or niche article or online databases, look for advice, order a book or just find ideas just scanning the books. Even in not-so-fancy libraries there are always new books coming and some collective intelligence that makes them attractive.

Young researchers will learn where to look for articles, just like in any other profession, with time and experience, I don't think it is difficult or different, it is just the mode that is changing. The content is changing in a slower fashion because there are a lot of articles and information (even in blog format) but few of them are meaningful or new (original contributions). It is true that we are now wasting a lot of time reading articles that only quote others but do not contribute to the given area. 

That is why I think we need to speak about the sites and places where we can find some meaningful and useful information, for instance young (and not only young) researchers can see some examples of library collections throughout the world via

Dissertation Reviews http://dissertationreviews.org/

Imagine that your research is concerned with a topic about which you have no immediate data or access - even online, then you will have to go to a distant place and explore their collections or data and it will be easier for you to contact a person who has seen the archives of a given library or just find some preliminary info thanks to sites like this one. 

The point is the not all information is available online, it is not available in our target language, and even when it is, all search engines have filters which makes it impossible to find what we want just by typing words. We will always need curators (which is some form of librarianship), and the need will only be stronger with the increasing flow of information. 

Lib Guides http://libguides.com/community.php is another great place to start or continue a research project and I think I was the first or one of the first people to communicate about its existence here on Research Gate and I have seen many older researchers re-pass this information to others... but only after they read my posts. And I am not surprised (people rarely speak of or admit where they have gained information about an important source).

David is also doing a great job at JURN https://jurnsearch.wordpress.com/ where he frequently updates the database of open access journals in the humanities (in a broader sense) and writes informative blog posts about various research sites and social media features incl. search tips and tricks and interesting library collections.

Informatics India J-Gate Newsletter 

http://www.informindia.co.in/iil_newsletter_researhc.asp

is another great service targeting young researchers - they used to write articles on search and research tips. I am not sure what happened to J-Gate and their newsletter; the archives are not accessible currently but they could be at some point and they will be useful. 

If a scientist based in India and who has access to/info about the service could provide us with an archive or any update on the website, it would be great.