Academia.edu raises funds to build a Facebook for scientists | Cutting Edge - CNET News

"Academia.edu, an Internet startup trying to bring the social dynamics of LinkedIn and Facebook to researchers' professional communications, has raised $11.1 million in a second round of funding. The company's mission -- to overhaul not just how researchers publish results but also how they judge the quality of one anothers' work -- won over Khosla Ventures for the Series B funding. Khosla led the round, Academia.edu said Thursday, and earlier investors Spark Capital and True Ventures also participated. Ben Ling of Khosla will join Academia's board of directors, and Khosla founder Vinod Khosla will become an adviser. 'The goal is to have every single science PDF ever written available for free on the Internet and to build a network of scientists interacting with those papers that will change the face of peer review,' the San Francisco-based company said of its mission. Academia.edu has published 1.6 million papers since its launch in 2008 ..."