Why you should have a Researchgate profile

www.researchgate.net

I joined Researchgate only few weeks ago and I really regret not joining earlier. It is a platform where each researcher represents their research work including articles, current and completed research projects, peer reviews, books and conference papers. The most important factor for us, new researchers, is that it gives you very important information for someone you are interested in working with.

I am sure almost everyone had the struggle of finding the best possible advisor to conduct their research degrees. Below are a few factors you should consider, which Researchgate made easier;

1. How active is that person - By this I mean if that person attends one conference a year, or just publishes 1 article in every 2 years and if he/she carries research with international researchers. This clearly shows that how many and which conferences they'll potentially take you to, how much time they put to distribute their research and during your studies or after the doors they can potentially open you.
2. Continuity in one research field - This can be very important for a new researcher. If a person you are looking at has many articles and conference papers on future dates, it clearly shows that there is funding in that part of field. You can take it further and improve the literature.
3. Quality of their research - Even though I didn't like use the word quality for such a unique piece of work, depending on the field and timing some research is out date or has been done so many times that no one wants to cite. This could be an interesting point to keep on mind. 
4. Easy access to research - Sometimes it is hard to find one specific paper or to find previous research of someone that wrote a very interesting paper once upon a time. If you're lucky enough that such person has a profile, you can access (sometimes you have to ask for it) such information and other papers supporting it very easily.

Researchgate has been a very useful database for me and I highly recommend anyone to have it.