Why do you use ResearchGate and what do you use it for / hope to get in return?

I use RG to do the following:

Reasons I use RG are to:

I think research gate is a useful resource, I can ask a question of other researchers and get an instant reply with advice or links. At present I am undertaking my Proff Doc so I find the support of others great. I am hoping that in the future I will be able to be a little more active with publication and be a support to others.

Research Gate is a good way to communicate with other scholars,including those you know and respect, who are interested in common issues. 

Ditto! I'm a busy clinician, and do research as an add-on, so it's not my primary job.  It's great to have access to articles, and the questions and discussions can be interesting.  It also helps keep me research-minded, which can slip when I'm running to catch up with the clinical workload! (Pretty much the same reasons I use Quora also, except that's for non-work interests.)

I love exploring research subjects  that I'm interested in and further developing ideas and concepts when I'm observing confounding issues while I'm working. It is a great resource and has expanded my knowledge greatly regarding subjects that impact the work that I do. I have used it to perform a interclass correlation study for inter rater agreement as I'm rusty with research methodology and interpretation.

I enjoy the following in no special order:

• Reading and answering questions, especially challenging ones and ones that create discussion among a community of scholars
• Making it easy to access our articles
• Connecting with a diversity of scholars 

I enjoy finding stimulating ideas and sharing my expertise.  To me honest, I also enjoy a little feeling of prestige when I see my RG score and statistics.  :-)

I feel that I belong in here in the pursuit of my dreams and goals in the long haul. I often take a breath here following new studies/research and questions related to my areas of interest - considering being on the verge of burnout due to several factors, among which the most significant seems to be the high degree of my dissatisfaction with my recent teaching experiences. 

Research gate is a social network for the researchers.

Thank you for all your responses; I've been reading them as they have come in, and really enjoyed discovering what other members feel. Rob used the term 'community' and this is how I see ResearchGate. People joining with others for diverse reasons, but almost always providing positive support and networking where it is needed. The global nature of ResearchGate never fails to impress and excite me. Thanks again.    

Why do you use ResearchGate and what do you use it for / hope to get in return?

I use RG to do the following:

Reasons I use RG are to:

RG is a good moderated social network for bringing scholars from all over the world. I can easily request a copy of a paper from the author if it is not freely available. In return, I can create a list of my publications automatically.  Another good thing about RG is that it links researchers around selected topics so I can track and follow the research publications of others in my field of interest. Finally, the Q & A section adds unique feature and popularity to RG as compared to other major databases such as Google Scholar, Mendeley. CiteSeer, etc

I can learn many things outside my expertise from articles, projects, and Q&As on RG. And it feels great to share ideas and opinions with people who have similar interest and likes.  

Simply, RG makes me updated, communicated with peers, evaluated by peers. It also alerts me when I be slowed and induce me to give more. besides it affords free articles. I am really appreciative to the RG team. 

Because my research was revolutionary about the discriminant analysis, I could not obtain public research funds except for University support. So, I spent it by my income. Before retired, I decided not to present my results at Japanese conferences in March 2014. I published open access journal and international conferences with over six pages. In Sept, although I published over three English papers, many researchers publisher English paper and I thought how to spread my results in the world. I found RG and uploaded papers related to the new theory of discriminant analysis after R.A. Fisher. Although I published many Japanese papers and books,  all works were registered on Japanese researchers DB named Research Map. We can not obtain other researchers response. RG is better than Research Map. This March, I retired and covered all expenses by myself.  Now, I will present my paper next Monday ( 22th March) and ISI17 in July. Probably, I will terminate to attend the international conferences to save the money and update free papers on RG that is free charge, 

The RG score based on our performance like posting questions, answering questions, getting papers from others, sending our papers to others etc makes me to use RG regularly

I like to share my works, like to read other's works, like questioning and answering, like to see the changes of  stats..............in RG!

Research Gate is a an excellent platform for the researchers to interact, discuss and get suggestions, clarifications etc...

Research Gate is a platform used for research and intellectual collaboration such as questions, answers and clarifications on research findings

Research Gate is a platform used for research and intellectual collaboration such as questions, answers and clarifications on research findings

Books and articles can be very expensive, especially for students and universities in developing countries who have to work on limited budgets. I'm happy to use ResearchGate to archive material that can be downloaded for free. I enjoy seeing downloads happening from all over the world. 

Just to add to Gerard Guthrie's point about access to articles for researchers in developing countries, there is now a free browser add-on (link below) which scans all public archives (including RG) to legally circumvent paywalls.

In my own field (education research) this seems to work about half the time. Most of the time, unpaywall links to a RG version of the text.

http://unpaywall.org/

Maybe next time.

The previous responders have said it all. Researchgate has been very helpful in my research.

I agree with Gerard regarding the availability of downloads, and must say, I do appreciate finding an article or paper on ResearchGate that I have not been able to access on the databases that I have use of.

I also value being able to follow people who are in my field of interest, and being alerted when they make their recent work available.

keep in touch in scientific view

A lot of correct things about RG were said before. As for me, I like RG because:

1) it allows me to store my articles and conference presentations online and make them available for more people,

2) it allow me to discuss a variety of questions not only in my field, and this also helps not to forget the things that I studied or worked on long ago,

3) I am glad to be helpful for some people seeking advice which is easy for me to give,

4) I like to see my week-to-week progress in RG score, number of reads, etc.

First of all, I am fully agree with all above valued comments, Really, I find RG very useful due to free of charge services and unlimited knowledge exchange between different academic levels professionals including books, papers, research proposals, some beneficial ideas, and sharing scientific questions and answers.

Regards, Emad

Hi dear 

First and foremost the exchange of knowledge due to the different kinds of presentations of information. Second, it is amazing to discuss different subjects in a way that enrich my knowledge and help me refresh my memory. All in all, it is valuable forum to meet people with the same specialization and I like the way it keep and present our publication. 

Liqaa 

I like RG because it allows to motivate me and my students on research. We are getting new interests as some high level scholars doing good job which is now available at RG

Research Gate is a platform  for knowledge & well many members offer their flowers with fragrance in well many areas . The gate is a scope tune for learning something new or  even for expansion of knowledge ..

To me it is quite helping me in my retirement life to contribute what i have had in my earlier period i am presently enjoying the age of 85 years have contributed my publication & reply of well many question which can be viewed in my profile 

I am lucky to have a daughter who has preferred to remain unmarried so that i may pass my life comfortably whatever the period my destiny is to offer me. My daughter is helping me in  my computer & now i am to start very shortly the program which i have carried out about 18 years back . The program is Astro Holistic under the faith healing for helping members in their health problem & also to in the line of my earlier consultant i used to help them in their disturbing personal problem of their life .

With this i have been inspired as this age to carry out my program at this age due to the research gate contribution & also inspiration . Research Gate is a boon to all educated & intelligent member to contribute their shares of their knowledge.

This is my personal opinion 

RG provide

1- science articles free

2-can see recent research area 

3- global present 

4-others, i like it

I'm using RG to pass some of my knowledge to (mostly younger) colleagues: no need to repeat errors forever. And sometimes to exchance information and eventually discuss some topics with fellow researchers.

The benefits: RG serves as one repository for my publications. And I have real fun researching information not readily at hand to answer some questions - refreshing and adding to my own active knowledge. And to spark some ideas and developments. Thus I profit as well.

So it's a win-win situation :)

RG for me is a veritable forum for open and transparent academic exchanges between scholars helping one access a repository of knowledge at a scale hitherto unknown.

The ability to access varied and qualitative papers and receive instructive answers to questions are some components of the RG offerings that interest me.

I try to publish in Open-Access journals when I can and what I publish in other journals or in books, I try to make available on Researchgate. Research should be available to all scholars (and all interested) in all countries, rich or poor, especially if it is community-funded in some way to start with. Information wants to be free. Looking forward to the day when we can reverse the publication process by publishing a paper for open review, then get criticism and then refine it - kind of like how articles in Wikipedia are produced. Information has so small friction nowadays that we can do without journals who make profit on papers from scholars they don't pay and are reviewed for free by other scholars. 

This is a good question!

Before 2013, I had published many Japanese books and presented my papers at Japanese OR and two or three statistical conferences over six times per year because it was very easy for me to write Japanese papers and I’d like to develop my ideas for Japanese researchers. Because I am feeble in English, most English papers are the international conferences papers. My life theme is to develop a new theory of discriminant analysis after R. A. Fisher (Theory). I surveyed and found my papers were no impact in the internet world. Therefore, I decided to stop the Japanese conferences before next retired March and planned to publish over six pages papers in 2014. Although I could publish four English papers, I realized most researchers usually publish English papers, and there were no impacts to approach the world researchers. In September 2014, I found Research Gate (RG) and updated only the papers related to Theory.

   Now, we can appeal my result and ideas to the Internet world. Moreover, there are many merits of RG.

1.      If I quote Fisher’s articles, RG attaches those papers.

2.      The authors of the references visit my HP.

3.      There is useful information. Although Yanold, US independent researcher, was the first viewer, few US researchers visit my HP. However, many US researchers read my papers after this year. By this information, I understand which country researchers are interested in my articles.

4.      Although I spent JPY 40,000,000 research fee in 20 years, I spent JPY 30,000,000 by myself. Because I become an emulate professor with no income after this April, I am trying to reduce my expenses. In the near future, I will upload the free papers on RG and achieve the cost zero types of research.

Dear Mary

Researchgate represents effective social site for scientific community, and give the members many options for sharing knowledge with other colleagues 

Good Luck

A direct access to new research and researchers community, overcoming any barriers

Its a source of encouragement for those who love research and wish to interact with experts in the field.We read new researches and ideas,get new topics and problems in research and publication.I love this platform. 

i use research gate to make my research works available and to also collaborate with other researchers of like mind

RG is a valuable network for the researchers

Researchgate is a disruptive platform that drives curiosity and intellectual openness. I read and discuss problems posed by other researchers in my field. Scientists are able to look at each other's work, discuss their research within the academic community, and create professional partnerships. Besides, citation counts and reads, it promotes institutional visibility via the works of active researchers. I currently, enjoy several international collaborations via research gate. I have started a high profile mentorship Lab via research gate. All my students are now migrating to RG.

Researchgate (RG) provides a forum for active researchers to meet and discuss on contemporary researches and issues bordering on researchwork. It avails researchers opportunity to collaborate. RG also offers a platform for researchers to showcase and share their researches with other researchers worldwide. Every serious researcher should be on RG.

I agree with the important points highlighted by Prof Han Ping Fung

Yes, I have just revisited the answers given, and agree with you; Prof Han Ping Fung has listed all the main points succinctly.

Thank you to all who responded to my question.

I first joined because I wanted to read an article that required joining. But then after that, I realized how RG is a wonderful platform to learn new things, from the most expert of contributions. And it doesn't hurt, to be able to spar with some of these great minds. Not much can motivate to learn new things, as much as debate can do.

Agree with colleagues, the most wonderful is networking with scholars and specialists.

Also, RG is starting to form a new modeling stucture in scientific topology. New peripheral scientific stuctures are starting to form in global neurology, making up new nervous systems and topologies; a peripheral scientific (nervous) system is starting to form, associated with team and cluster scientific brains. In short, RG is like a ... new kid in town.

For connection with other researches , the change of ideas, cooperation and together writing the papers and projects

firstly i joined RG .just because i want to read research articles then i found that it is great platform for communicating and collaborating with other research fellow in same field.

This platform is the best for reading excellent articles and make cooperation with scientists and professors all over the world and to help students if they ask some questions. Also the latest state of art papers in my field I can find her free of charge

I attended the Biocomp18 from July 30 to Aug.2 in Las Vegas. In Aug.3, because I wake up 3 am., I checked about 120 followers and following. I found a few medical specialists in cancer gene analysis who are interested in my cancer gene diagnosis. After return to Japan, I am surprised followers and following increase in 1300. I find about 30 US physicians are interested in my research.

RG is the lighthouse for us.

To live a state of the art in my research fields and I also, agree with colleagues, the most wonderful is networking with scholars and specialists. I advise my students to interact with researchers on RG platform.

To connect with the scholars all over the world and to learn about the recent research.

Networking, making work visible and getting access to the work of others are definitely advantages. The opportunity to ask and answer questions is another advantage. However, the categorization of questions needs improvement and may obstruct some of the interactions taking place in questions/discussions. But, RG is also a game, since score criteria are not fully known and someone could push scores up with multiple ways.

Thanks for your reply, Olympia Kaminioti .

Yes, I agree with what you have written. In fact, I was going to read some more of your answers to RG questions; they used to be found under 'contributions', but now I can't find the link 'contributions' on either your page, or my own :-( .

But thanks again for your response.

Very best wishes,

Mary

DR Mary C R Wilson

New updated from RG, you can found all contributions of the researcher under "Research" .

under "research" icon, you can get all researcher projects, research items, questions, and answers

Thank you too Mary. I am relatively new on RG, I joined a few months ago.

Best wishes,

Olympia

Thank you Mohammed A. Al-Sharafi

I tried to mention your name using @ but RG didn't bring up the correct name.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammed_Al-Sharafi3

Mary

social scientific community

The excellent Question is one of the best I have read in RG.

Yes, I am retired too and retired from publishing as well. I stay with RG to stay abreast of recent developments in science, engineering and technology and enjoy answering questions form other members.

RG is an excellent scientific platform that allows you to keep abreast of all the latest scientific areas, to read excellent scientific articles, to ask questions and to read interesting answers to various questions. In addition, RG is a great opportunity to collaborate with scientists from different countries, the opportunity to exchange experience through dialogue questions and answers.

Intellectual curiosity that is sometimes satisfied.

Dear Mary C R Wilson Researchgate is good Wesite.

I've been using this network for many years And it's really useful to use others' research and ask some questions and others answer, And I've found friends from all over the world.