SocialMed: Social Networks for Researchers - in Primary Care, General Primary Care from MedPage Today

abernard102@gmail.com 2012-08-20

Summary:

"As more medical and science researchers take to publishing their papers in open-access journals, so too have they adopted more online collaboration in bringing those studies to fruition. Though some social networking sites for researchers, such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu, have been around for a few years, their use appears to have hit a critical mass. Every day, researchers post questions about everything from which stem cell lines to use in a certain experiment to the best DNA sequencing technologies. Founders of these sites are quick to tout not only their role in accelerating the scientific process, but also their ability to offer a home even to negative results -- thus painting a more accurate overall portrait of the science, they claim... the following are generalist sites where researchers from all corners gather their avatars to share results, debate, and otherwise connect... [1] ResearchGate... ResearchGate has a Google Plus feel, with various discussions showing up on a homepage. Users can follow both topic areas and individual scientists, and aside from sharing knowledge and discussing their work, participants also are offered individual blogs and space to upload their publications. [2] Academia.edu ... The site's focus is on faster dissemination of published papers with the intention of speeding up the process of reaction to those works... Users are meant to follow other academics in their field so they can stay on top of the latest developments and publish their comments and critiques immediately, all in an attempt to speed the pace of research... [3] Figshare... offers researchers unlimited storage for datasets, figures, presentations, papers, and other files to facilitate the conversation. The company is especially interested in providing a home for all the negative results banished to file drawers -- an aspect it says will make the scientific process more efficient... [4] Epernicus... aims to increase ‘serendipitous’ encounters among researchers, with a special focus on those in the life sciences. ‘Most scientists already have a large network based on their current institution and their prior research advisors,’ the company says in its ‘about’ section. ‘The bigger challenge is tapping this network to find the right people with the right expertise at the right time.’ [5] Labspaces... a ‘science news site and blog network masquerading as a social network for the sciences’ in his Twitter profile. It offers groups and forums to get researchers chatting.”

Link:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/GeneralPrimaryCare/31702

Updated:

08/16/2012, 06:08

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.data oa.comment oa.open_science oa.figshare oa.social_media oa.benefits oa.academia.edu oa.researchgate oa.labspaces oa.epernicus

Authors:

abernard

Date tagged:

08/20/2012, 18:52

Date published:

03/17/2012, 20:43