Will ‘Publish or Perish’ Become ‘Clicks or Canned’? The Rise of Academic Social Networks

Jessica Leigh Brown     Aug 1, 2017

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-08-01-will-publish-or-perish-become-clicks-or-canned-the-rise-of-academic-social-networks

Scholars want peers to find—and cite—their research, and these days that increasingly happens on social media. The old adage ‘publish or perish’ could soon go digital as ‘clicks or canned.’

Several platforms have emerged over the past decade, offering researchers the chance to share their work and connect with other scholars. But some of those services have a bad rap from academics who say commercial sites lack the integrity of institutional repositories run by traditional universities. (Among the most widely-villified are ResearchGate and Academia.edu, which is evident by griping on social media and elsewhere.)

a 2015 paper comparing services and tools offered by various academic social networks, says researchers must weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each. “They can be great tools to advance your research, especially social research,” she says. “But just like with Facebook or any other social network, we need to be aware of potential issues we might have with copyright or privacy.”

Academia.edu is the largest of the academic social networks.

Berlin-based ResearchGate

Created as a reference-management tool to help users organize their research, Mendeley also includes a number of social-networking features.

Scholabrate. The service claims to provide a more Facebook-esque, visual experience for academics seeking to network with others in their field.

Similar to Mendeley, Zotero functions primarily as a research tool, allowing users to collect, save, cite and share materials from a wide range of sources. The site also maintains a significant community of academics who can connect through groups and forums, or through their search engine.