In this new age of publicly sharing everything on the internet, most research papers are locked behind a large paywall. One of the biggest perks of studying at a University is that most of these paywalls can be “broken” through with a simple login. However even with this it is still not possible to access every paper you want to read. Typically the ones that excite you the most are the ones that are inaccessible unless you pay a £50 “donation”.

ResearchGate does not have this paywall and allows researchers and academics to freely post and and share any papers that they have written. One of the things that I did in the early stages of my EngD project was to set up an account, and fill it out with my research area and University. I did refrain from adding a picture though.

Through ResearchGate I am now following several different researchers that are conducting research into areas and topics that are very similar to my project. This allows me to quickly and visibly see when they publish and upload new papers which is a bonus when conducting your own research.

The problem with this is getting “tunnel vision” with the same researchers that I have become familiar with. By this I essentially mean that it can become very easy to forget that there are others out there doing research that can be very relevant to my work. By forgetting this and only becoming focused on certain work significant important scientific gains and findings could quite easily get missed!

Facebook is not an environment that was designed for the use of sharing research, posting papers and professional collaboration. Every aspect of Facebook was, and is, designed for personal social networking. Saying this however, there are some pages and groups that are used in a more professional manner, but these are mainly used for advertising or discussions for events.