Academic social networking sites for researchers in Central Universities of Delhi. A study of ResearchGate and Academia
| Published date | 05 February 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-01-2017-0004 |
| Pages | 91-108 |
| Date | 05 February 2018 |
| Author | Nowsheeba Ashraf Asmi,Madhusudhan Margam |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information in society,Information literacy,Library & information services |
Academic social networking sites
for researchers in Central
Universities of Delhi
A study of ResearchGate and Academia
Nowsheeba Ashraf Asmi and Madhusudhan Margam
Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to explore the usage of academicsocial networking sites (ASNSs) among the
researchscholars in Central Universities of Delhi, India.
Design/methodology/approach –A structured questionnairewas designed and personally distributed
among 200 researchscholars in Central Universities in Delhi in May 2016.Of this, 180 filled-in questionnaires
were personallycollected by the investigator, elicitinga response rate of 90 per cent.
Findings –Findings of the study reveals that research scholarshave knowledge of ASNSs. ResearchGate
and Academia are the most used ASNSs among research scholars. ResearchGate is used the most for
connectingto other research scholars, and Academia is usedfor sharing and following research. Additionally,
ASNSs help research scholars in research and learningand to share research ideas and experience. Finally,
research scholars find ASNSs time-consuming and have cited data security as main concern for using
academicsocial networks.
Research limitations/implications –The findings of the study show that potentialuses of ASNSs in
Indian libraries are slow compared to the libraries of developed countries and some of the developing
countries. It is suggested that universities under study may realize the benefits of ASNSs and incorporate
these toolsin their websites to enhance faster transfer and retrievalof information.
Practical implications –The results alsostress upon the responsibility of research supervisorsto accord
knowledge of ASNSs among research scholars and encourage them to join and use ASNSs efficiently and
effectivelyfor building professional connectionsand collaborations in their researcharea.
Social implications –The study is significantbecause it represents one of the earliest works to shed the
light on the current level of use of SNSs and ASNSs by research scholars in Central Universities in Delhi,
which are in primitive nature. They provide space for self-expression, research updates, expert advice,
connecting with fellow scholars, creating and joining events and discussions, presenting their views on a
particulartopic, finding collaboration on projects, findingjobs and much more.
Originality/value –ASNSs have further promoted the open source movement. The paper apprises the
academic stakeholders about the unique features, adoption, acceptability and usage of ASNSs for research
work, exchange of informationand collaborations, so that more productive and quality research is produced.
The findings will also guide researchscholars to find popular ASNSs, so that they can build more academic
connections.
Keywords Social networking, Universities, Delhi, Academia & ResearchGate,
Academic social networking sites, Social media
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The evolving world of the internet has given rise to new products and services including
blogs, podcasts, wikis and social networksthat offer instructors and students’radically new
Academic
social
networking
sites
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GlobalKnowledge, Memory and
Communication
Vol.67 No. 1/2, 2018
pp. 91-108
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0024-2535
DOI 10.1108/GKMC-01-2017-0004
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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ways to communicate and learnnew and existing research in varied domains of universe of
knowledge (Muñoz and Towner, 2011). Parallel to this development, an increasing use of
electronic methods for searchingand accessing scholarly content has been witnessed among
academic community (Niu et al., 2010). Social media in this context has emerged as the
conquistador. Social media is a term that refers to a set of Web technologies that allow the
creation and exchange of user-generated content (Nández and Borrego, 2013). These tools
are intended to support the collaborativecreation and dissemination of knowledge. Research
scholars have explored their usefor academic purposes, and thus a number of social media
services specifically targeted at the academic community have emerged in the past few
years. These tools are used at all points of the research cycle, from identifying research
opportunities to disseminating research results (Procter et al., 2010;RIN, 2010). Among the
social media tools, social networking sites (SNSs) are the most popular among student
community and a powerful new information sharing resource in society (McCarroll and
Curran, 2013). It has become a popular method for students to share information and
knowledge and to express emotions. They enable students to exchange video files, text
messages, pictures and knowledge sharing. They provide an opportunity for students to
improve social networking and learning processes, which promotes knowledge in society
(Al-Kindi and Alhashmi,2012).
Specialized academic social networking sites (ASNSs) are equally gaining popularity.
They target the academic audienceand provide services directed to community of students,
research scholars,teachers and other academic stakeholders (Ovadia, 2014). ASNSs, namely,
Academia.edu and ResearchGate, and reference sharing sites, namely, Mendeley,
Bibsonomy, Zotero and CiteULike, give scholars the ability to publicize their research
outputs and connect with each other. Millions of users are joining and using these ASNSs.
Thus, there is a significant addition to the scholarly communication and academic
information seeking eco-structure (Thelwall and Kousha, 2014). The SNS serve as an
invaluable tool for disseminatinginformation that may be used to reach the target audience
and in turn be used in designing and development of policy and programming in an
organization (Vyasand Trivedi, 2014).
1.1 ResearchGate
ResearchGate is a specialized ASNS that connects researchers across varied subjects to
collaborate and share their experiences.It helps them access scientific literature,knowledge
products and shared expertise by varied subject experts. It is free to join the forum that
currently incorporates morethan 11 million users. It features many specialized benefits and
various functionalities associated with SNSs (e.g. creating profiles, following/endorsing
pages/groups/people, commenting, feedback, sharing updates, livefeed, messages and live
chat). Other specialized features include sharing, accessing and publishing data, building
connections and collaborations with peers and specialists in a particular field, getting
research statistics in terms of most read and cited works. ResearchGate indexes self-
published information on user profiles to suggest members to connect with those that have
similar interests (ResearchGate - Share and discover research, 2016). It combines
bibliometrics and altmetrics to create a more comprehensive performance measure for
researchers and institutions. The ResearchGate score, the agship indicator calculated by an
undisclosed algorithm,is a metric that measure scientific reputation (Yu et al., 2016).
1.2 Academia.edu
Academia.edu is another ASNS created and designed for academics to create communities
for staying updated and current in their respective domains. It helps to monitor “deep
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