Dive Summary:
- ResearchGate, a leading social networking resource for academics, has bolstered its toolkit of offerings with a Klout-style means of scoring researchers' reputations.
- The company hopes to use the new metric to make interactions among the 1.9 million scientists currently sharing and communicating through their service more meaningful and quantifiable.
- Scores will be determined by community members' interactions with content, as well as how frequently interactions occur, and who interacts with what.
From the press release:
ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, today announced the launch of the RG Score, a new metric to measure scientific reputation. More than 1.9 million scientists currently share papers, publish data and engage in discussions on the platform. The RG Score makes these interactions, which are a crucial part of the research process, both visible and quantifiable.
Although the traditional scientific publishing model has brought countless innovations and advancements to light, the speed of discovery is often hindered by the lack of speed in publishing. ResearchGate fulfills the need for a new system that reflects the ever-increasing pace of science. Researchers are now able to publish their results in real-time, benefit from the immediate feedback of their peers and, through the RG Score, turn all of their work into a source of reputation.
Whether raw, negative or inconclusive data, there are no restrictions on what a researcher can publish on ResearchGate, or on what can become a factor in their RG Score. Not only does this help researchers receive credit for all their work, it also ensures absolute transparency across the entire research process. ResearchGate co-founder and CEO Dr. Ijad Madisch points out the need for a system that gives science back to the research community: "The RG Score allows real-time feedback from the people who matter: the scientists themselves." ...