Managing academic profiles on scientific social networks Francisco Campos and Andrea Valencia University of Santiago de Compostela International Network of Communication Management

CONTEXT  New ways of using and managing information  Social networks/Academic journals  antecedents of scientific social networks.  Specialized platforms focused on specific interests and professional capital.  Launched in 2007 (Mendeley) and 2008 (ResearchGate and Academia.edu)  The advance of networks has “remediated” (Bolter and Grusin, 1999) some of the traditional systems and has ended up with the monopoly exercised by the main international academic journals.

 Software service ecosystems, repositories and online communication platforms that allow researchers to create an academic profile in a specific system of dissemination and knowledge exchange (Benghozi; Campos)  They allow to establish a list of related users within one or many scientific areas, to access to references and scientific productions, using metadata and semantic intelligence tools. ACADEMIC NETWORKS

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH Sample of Spanish researchers from the Spanish Association of Communication Researchers, separated by University. Activity, interactions and monitoring in Academia.edu and ResearchGate. Analyze the new metrics and indicators established by these networks.

RESEARCHGATE  5 million active users  15 million papers  Connecting researchers and make it easy for them to share and access scientific output, knowledge, and expertise (RG, 2014)  Collaborative tool based on online- opened-questions.  Ranking  RG Score: impact and popularity

ACADEMIA.EDU 20 million users Iberoamerican social researchers Simple use because of its Page Rank. Share their research, monitor deep analytics around their research, and track the research of academics they follow.

METRICS AND INDICATORS Private (or public, if chosen) dashboard with different analytics. Researchers activity in the last 30 days. Top % based on activity. RG Score Metric that measures impact and popularity (h-index: impact and productivity) Based on: contributions, interactions and reputation. ACADEMIA.EDURESEARCHGATE

RESULTS 53% Spanish researchers are using Academia.edu. 15% Spanish researchers are using RG. Only 14% of the accounts reaches the Academia top mention. Although the number of accounts is growing, the interactions and monitoring between scholars in Academia is weak and tight-knit.

In RG, the University of Granada has the highest average mark, and the Autonomous University of Barcelona has the lowest. In social sciences, Academia is the most popular network within Iberoamerican countries. BUT Passive role, empty profiles and tight-knit relationships (Academia). RESULTS

THANK YOU This project took place in the research group Novos Medios from the USC, within the activities of the International Network of Communication Management, supported by the Regional Ministry of Education, Culture, and Academic Management of the Xunta de Galicia and a project from the Prometeo Program that belongs to the SENESCYT of the Ecuadorian Government.

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