ResearchGate

= "Berlin-based startup, a kind of Facebook for scientists".

URL = http://www.researchgate.net/

Status

"The platform, founded in 2008, already has 6 million members. By Madisch’s estimate, that might be as many as 80 percent of the world’s researchers. Every day, Madisch said, 10,000 new scientists sign up. ,,, has received $35 million in capital from Bill Gates and others" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/11/ijad-madisch-researchgate_n_7244490.html)

Discussion

via Talia Lavin:

"members make new connections on a regular basis, exchange information about projects they’re working on, and help each other when they’ve reached a dead end in their research.

The exchange of information in this gigantic digital lecture hall is Madisch’s top goal.

“Until now,” he said, “scientists have worked very inefficiently.”

The exchange of research happens in real time among members of ResearchGate -- rather than through slow-moving and expensive publication in specialized periodicals -- and speeds up scientific progress worldwide.

Among other achievements, researchers from Europe and Africa have come together on ResearchGate to discover deadly and previously unknown pathogens, progress has been made in the use of renewable energy, and doctors from various countries developed a notification system during the Ebola epidemic in Africa that would inform infected individuals of the nearest treatment options.

The researchers also share failed experiments, in order to prevent others from repeating their mistakes. And the platform, which puts together the smartest minds on the planet, uses the collective knowledge of its members to identify errors. That’s how ResearchGate found itself at the center of an international scientific scandal last year -- members of the social network revealed critical errors and deliberate misrepresentations in a high-profile Japanese stem cell study published in the journal Nature. " (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/11/ijad-madisch-researchgate_n_7244490.html)