Useful social media platforms related to RDI activities include LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu. Networking can provide several benefits in expert work:
Social networking sites for researchers are platforms like ResearchGate and Academia.edu. For example, on ResearchGate, you can create your own profile, add links to your publications, follow the latest research in your field, set up groups and participate in discussions. Through the service, you will get more visibility for your research. In general, being active online can increase your visibility.
If your article has been published in a scholarly journal and you want to upload it to a social networking site make sure you have the right to do so or if it is only the publisher/funder who has the right to distribute the publication.
If you download any publication by a fellow researcher/author from, for example ResearchGate, and you want to share them with others, remember to check the publication's terms of use from the original source (e.g. journal or publisher), or ask for permission or more information from the person who uploaded the publication into the social networking site.
NOTE: Social networking sites do not meet the criteria of open access publishing and can even decrease the positive effects of open access. They are not publishing platforms.
It does not. Researcher social networking services have a lot of problems:
Read more in the article by Irene Ylönen ResearchGate vai julkaisuarkisto - vai molemmat? (in Finnish)
You can be sure to act in accordance with the terms of your publishing agreement when you link your publication to a social networking site instead of uploading a PDF version there. For example, ResearchGate encourages you to upload the publication file (in e.g. PDF format), but you can also share it by adding the URL of your publication to the service. Instead of the URL in the browser's address bar, use the URL that includes the persistent identifier of the publication:
To link an Open Access publication, use the link that includes the DOI identifier of the publication, for example https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24770
To link a self-archived version of your publication, use the persistent URN address, for example https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025041426624
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
Probably increases your research's impact and visibility. The services are primarily for communication and networking, they should not be used for long-term preservation of your publications. Remember to first self-archive your publications to an open institutional repository (Theseus in Turku UAS). |
Long-term preservation and access is not guaranteed. Usually no persistent identifiers, version control, CC licensing, or descriptive metadata available. Usually requires logging in and creating a personal profile, which is against the Open Science principles. |
|
Commercial services and apps offer many interactive features, like comment sections and the ability to follow what your colleagues are working on and vice versa. |
The services require you to give your personal information, and any data you share or create to the service provider. Management of sensitive information may not be taken care of. Your and your contacts' data may be sold to third parties. Most of the services operate outside the EU/EEA area. |
| Gaining new contacts and community building. Makes direct feedback and discussion possible in the research community. | Business logic: Service provider can be sold to a multinational company whose operations you may not want to support. |
| Opportunity to save teaching resources, drafts and other materials. |
Service or parts of the service may change without notice and turn from free to fee-based (cf. Spotify, Academia.edu). Services include ads and send you spam. |
Source: Helsinki University Library: Open Access: Self-archiving (Green OA), CC BY.
This guide has instructions and information on the Turku UAS library services for research.
NOTE: You may end up in other guides through the links in this guide, use the backspace button to return.
You have to make sure you are following copyright law if you share posts on social media. Check the copyright policies of journals and publishers:
Many journals include information on their websites on how you can share your article in commercial social media services. Below are some examples:
Previously, authors of scholarly articles received so-called 'complimentary copies' of their own article to be freely shared with others. Now that publishing has moved online, you still have a similar opportunity, for example, with Elsevier and Wiley:
This resource has been licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. It does not apply to photos or videos unless otherwise stated.