Social network as a tool of scientific work
An important stage of scientific research is the choice of the topic and the assessment of the degree of elaboration of the problem. In today's conditions of avalanche-like growth of information, the problem of choosing a topic becomes even more complicated: a scientist is simply unable to track all publications in his own field (not to mention related areas). In addition, at the initial stage of the study it is rather difficult (who wrote the candidate's thesis, he knows) to follow the process of studying his own field at the present stage (i.e., to receive up-to-date information about who does what and where, what publications are published, which dissertations are defended, etc.). Currently, this task is made easier with the help of scientific social networks, allowing scientists to track (and in some cases download) the latest publications on their own, to establish contact with each other, as well as providing some additional features. Consider some popular social networks for scientists in more detail. This review is not intended to be exhaustive; When choosing social networks, I was guided by the following criteria: 1) internationality (which is why services aimed at scientists of one particular country did not get into the review) and 2) interdisciplinarity (I was primarily interested in social networks that can be used by scientists of very different specialization, which is why the review does not affect services focused on representatives of any one particular discipline). I would be very happy if with the help of readers we can expand and supplement this list.
Academia.edu
A service that combines the functionality of social networks and microblogging services like Twitter and Tumblr. It allows you to find people with similar scientific interests, receive information about their scientific achievements and follow their publications. Some works can be downloaded in .pdf format
Russian scientists are present on the site, but their number is small; however, this is more of a plus than a minus: sometimes referring to the work of foreign colleagues allows you to look at the subject under study from an unexpected angle, and information on current foreign publications can be very useful. How this resource can help in the organization and planning of scientific work? With it, you can track current publications, identify current trends in the study of a topic, assess its degree of elaboration and outline a reading circle. The weaknesses of the service include an insufficiently thought-out search tool: there is no possibility for specifying search queries, searching for research areas, etc. I personally use this service to keep track of the latest publications on topics of interest to me; Sometimes I download full texts of works.
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Researchgate.net
Social network for scientists with quite wide opportunities. Allows you to receive current information on publications, dissertations, conferences. After the information is entered into the profile, the system offers each user a list of researchers close in interests, publications, gives recommendations to books (the mechanism is somewhat similar to what is used to search for neighbors and select music recommendations for Last.fm). However, the search for researchers who are close in interests seems to be insufficiently accurate and reliable: the system has picked me into the neighbors of people whose research interests do not intersect with mine at all.
There is a semantic search tool that allows you to track publications both in the internal base of the site and in external sources (including such large text databases as PubMed, CiteSeer, arXiv).
Using this service, you can also evaluate the degree of elaboration of problems, track current publications, form a reading circle on specific topics, establish scientific communication (special tools are provided for exchanging full-text versions of scientific works, etc.). There is a possibility of integration with other social services (Twitter and Facebook). With the help of this resource, I learn about the latest publications and conferences.
Scispace.net
Another social network resembling those described above, but more focused on finding people with similar scientific interests and organizing scientific communication than on searching for publications and working with current scientific information. I started an account on this network, but I have not used it fully yet. By the way, the essential disadvantage of this network is an insufficiently clear interface: it is not at all clear to the user who has visited the site for the first time how to find friends, how to join communities, etc. Any intelligible instructions on the site are also missing.
Mendeley.com
An interesting service for processing bibliographic information; with regard to text files, it has approximately the same set of functions as Last.fm with respect to sound files. It is possible to upload both bibliographic annotations of works and their full-text versions to the site, tag them. Naturally, there is the ability to search by keywords, tags and headings. Sometimes I use this service to search for texts.
Epernicus.com
Specialized social network focused on communication and exchange of experience in the field of research activities. The main task of the network is to help scientists find mentors, consultants, and scientific leaders. How can such a service help in planning your own scientific activities? After reviewing the reports, questions and answers and colleagues, the user of the service can learn about the problems he may encounter in his own research activities. Due to the possession of such information, he can more thoroughly think through his research and avoid the mistakes of his predecessors.
I have not used this service yet.
MyExperiment.org
Specialized social network designed to share the experience of experimental research. The research process is displayed in the form of diagrams created in the program Taverna (a special tool for modeling the research process - by analogy with software for modeling business processes). Allows you to plan your own experiments, based on the experience of predecessors, as well as analyze their mistakes and shortcomings. The service focuses primarily on natural scientists (the lion’s share of materials is made up of publications by physicians and biologists), but it may also be of some interest to humanists engaged in experimental and field research (linguists, psychologists, sociologists).
Academia.edu
A service that combines the functionality of social networks and microblogging services like Twitter and Tumblr. It allows you to find people with similar scientific interests, receive information about their scientific achievements and follow their publications. Some works can be downloaded in .pdf format
Russian scientists are present on the site, but their number is small; however, this is more of a plus than a minus: sometimes referring to the work of foreign colleagues allows you to look at the subject under study from an unexpected angle, and information on current foreign publications can be very useful. How this resource can help in the organization and planning of scientific work? With it, you can track current publications, identify current trends in the study of a topic, assess its degree of elaboration and outline a reading circle. The weaknesses of the service include an insufficiently thought-out search tool: there is no possibility for specifying search queries, searching for research areas, etc. I personally use this service to keep track of the latest publications on topics of interest to me; Sometimes I download full texts of works.
')
Researchgate.net
Social network for scientists with quite wide opportunities. Allows you to receive current information on publications, dissertations, conferences. After the information is entered into the profile, the system offers each user a list of researchers close in interests, publications, gives recommendations to books (the mechanism is somewhat similar to what is used to search for neighbors and select music recommendations for Last.fm). However, the search for researchers who are close in interests seems to be insufficiently accurate and reliable: the system has picked me into the neighbors of people whose research interests do not intersect with mine at all.
There is a semantic search tool that allows you to track publications both in the internal base of the site and in external sources (including such large text databases as PubMed, CiteSeer, arXiv).
Using this service, you can also evaluate the degree of elaboration of problems, track current publications, form a reading circle on specific topics, establish scientific communication (special tools are provided for exchanging full-text versions of scientific works, etc.). There is a possibility of integration with other social services (Twitter and Facebook). With the help of this resource, I learn about the latest publications and conferences.
Scispace.net
Another social network resembling those described above, but more focused on finding people with similar scientific interests and organizing scientific communication than on searching for publications and working with current scientific information. I started an account on this network, but I have not used it fully yet. By the way, the essential disadvantage of this network is an insufficiently clear interface: it is not at all clear to the user who has visited the site for the first time how to find friends, how to join communities, etc. Any intelligible instructions on the site are also missing.
Mendeley.com
An interesting service for processing bibliographic information; with regard to text files, it has approximately the same set of functions as Last.fm with respect to sound files. It is possible to upload both bibliographic annotations of works and their full-text versions to the site, tag them. Naturally, there is the ability to search by keywords, tags and headings. Sometimes I use this service to search for texts.
Epernicus.com
Specialized social network focused on communication and exchange of experience in the field of research activities. The main task of the network is to help scientists find mentors, consultants, and scientific leaders. How can such a service help in planning your own scientific activities? After reviewing the reports, questions and answers and colleagues, the user of the service can learn about the problems he may encounter in his own research activities. Due to the possession of such information, he can more thoroughly think through his research and avoid the mistakes of his predecessors.
I have not used this service yet.
MyExperiment.org
Specialized social network designed to share the experience of experimental research. The research process is displayed in the form of diagrams created in the program Taverna (a special tool for modeling the research process - by analogy with software for modeling business processes). Allows you to plan your own experiments, based on the experience of predecessors, as well as analyze their mistakes and shortcomings. The service focuses primarily on natural scientists (the lion’s share of materials is made up of publications by physicians and biologists), but it may also be of some interest to humanists engaged in experimental and field research (linguists, psychologists, sociologists).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/123932/
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