Many academic social networks will allow you to upload the full-text of your publications. However, this may not comply with the publisher's copyright permissions. Publishers may only allow you to share certain versions of your manuscript or only allow you to upload the full-text to your institutional repository.
A good starting place is the check your publisher's typical permissions in the SHERPA/RoMEO database before sharing.
For more information see the Library Office of Copyright.
Publishing Open Access work allows the author to more freely share their work, removes pay wall restrictions for the public, and can therefore increase the overall visibility of research.
More information on Open Access publishing and its effect on research impact is available here.
Academic social networks can help you define your online public image and serve as a central access point for your papers, conference presentations, posters, and other research outputs. Creating a cohesive presence across platforms will allow the public and fellow scholars understand your scholarly identity and increase access to your research outputs.
When creating an online research presence think about the following questions:
Social Media for Academics by MSU Scholars is a searchable database of MSU faculty research profiles. Each profile provides a research summary, timeline of activities, and network analysis of MSU collaborations for the chosen scholar. Faculty can update and maintain their profiles through Faculty Insight.
The type of online profile you choose to create should be dependent on your field and what other researchers you would like to connect with are currently using. However, it is important to keep your online profiles up to date and consistent, so only sign up for what you think you can manage.
Below is a list of some of the most popular academic social networking sites and their defining features to help you make more informed decisions.
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Free social media platform intended to connect researchers. Facilitates file and data sharing. Over 15 million users. |
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Free social media platform intended for paper sharing among academics. Over 96 million users. |
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Google Scholar profiles allow you to claim your citations within their search engine. Creating a profile allows Google Scholar users to easily discover your other publications and view your academic affiliation and contact information. |
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ORCiD provides unique identifiers to researchers to assign to their work and distinguishes them from other researchers. Similar to Google Scholar, your ORCiD page will allow you to claim your publications and include a comprehensive list. ORCiD integration is supported through a number of different platforms (ResearchGate, LinkedIn) and workflows (manuscript submissions and grant applications). |
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Web of Science allows you to claim your publications and create a ResearcherID. Users have the option to both import their publications from ORCiD or sync their ORCiD and Web of Science profiles. Additional features are available through Web of Sciences' impact tracking products Publons. Profiles are public and accessible through both Web of Science and Publons. |
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Professional social networking site that allows users to build profiles visible to other users. Profiles are more customizable than other academic social networking sites but are not publicly accessible. The user base of LinkedIn is much broader than just the academic and research communities. | ✓ | |
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Mendeley is more widely known as a citation management tool but it now also allows users to build research profiles viewable to other Mendeley users. Over 6 million users. |
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Open-source service that allows users to build a publicly accessible research profile that tracks online engagement with publications and research outputs. Tracks similar engagement to Altmetrics but at the researcher level. A Twitter account and ORCiD id are required to create a page. |
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