Publications

[HigherEd7]

Are tools like research gate or academia good to use?

[nescafe]

Are tools like research gate or academia good to use?

My opinion? No.

[Parasaurolophus]

Are tools like research gate or academia good to use?

Not especially, although every once in a while I see a paper that's of interest and freely available through those portals. Just have your own website.

[Puget]

Are tools like research gate or academia good to use?

Good to use for what?

In the sciences Research Gate is used a lot. I have my papers there because it makes it easier for those without good access to journals to access them before they are available on PMC-- I mainly get full text requests from researchers in developing countries, and it makes it easy to send them the stored full text with a few clicks. I occasionally request things too when someone has posted a preprint or chapter that's not otherwise readily available.

It's also useful for me to get alerts when researchers I follow publish something new, and to see citations to my papers, though google scholar provides very similar functionality there (I use both).

If however, you mean good as a substitute for peer reviewed publications, then no-- "self publishing" something there isn't going to get you anywhere.

[HigherEd7]

I was wondering if these are good tools to meet other professors in the field to work together on future studies. Also, I have read a few books one called Publish and Don't Perish and one of the skills that all of these books teach is to write everyday for an hour. How can you write everyday if you have to spend time read the literature?

[Ruralguy]

So called "rules of thumb" aren't meant as absolutes, just guidelines to keep people on top of things. So "write every day for an hour" can easily just be "write  on Tuesday afternoon and weekends for 2 hrs."

You don't have to read everything. Read key articles in your field (the one's that cite your work might be a place to start). Read a couple of thinks that might help in your teaching (stuff that was in the news, etc.). Ask a collaborator or mentor what they are reading. See what web sites in your field are featuring.

If you start letting a week or two go by without any scholarship activity, especially at an R1, you probably should take a few minutes at the end of the day to organize yourself to get started the next day with scholarship.

Its difficult to give general advice for everyone since there are so many specifics of a field or institution.

[Puget]

I was wondering if these are good tools to meet other professors in the field to work together on future studies. Also, I have read a few books one called Publish and Don't Perish and one of the skills that all of these books teach is to write everyday for an hour. How can you write everyday if you have to spend time read the literature?

No, I wouldn't say they are useful for that-- they are a platform for sharing your papers, not really a social media platform.

Conferences are much better for networking, especially smaller more targeted ones where there may be opportunities to interact over breakfast, during coffee breaks, etc. Really though, the main way to gain new collaborators in my experience is through your existing collaborator network (colleagues of colleagues) and  for people to read your work and e.g., invite you participate in a symposium submission they are doing or vice versa.

As to writing, the idea is to write regularly, on a set schedule (whether that's every day or on set days of the week), not "when you feel inspired" (rarely for most people) or "when you have more time" (which never comes). In other words, the only way to be a productive writer is to write.

Reading can be part of that writing time if it is leading directly to writing. Reading the literature and writing a paper intro or discussion section are integrated. But don't wait till you've read everything to start writing-- writing is thinking, it will help you organize and synthesize what you are reading.

How do you fit this in? You have to prioritize it and schedule it into your week. Teaching and service tasks will take up all the time you allow them to, so you have to protect your research and writing time. And you need a plan for this time-- a term plan (semester or whatever unit makes sense for you), then a weekly plan, so you always know what writing task you need to work on during your writing time.

[Myword]

I am on ResearchGate (and one for only my field) thanks to a suggestion on this board.

Now my papers are being read around the world, and they would not be read within the journal itself. Oddly, my readers are mainly from Africa and Mideast...my work has nothing to do with those regions. I am very pleased.

Clearly, it is not a good substitute for publishing, but if you mainly want to be read, as I do, it is okay. Some networking is there though not for me. Copyright laws and rules prohibit some articles from being posted. ResearchGate is not publication as I see it.