“Facebook for Scientists”

I recently discovered ResearchGate, which is a Cambridge and Berlin based social network for researchers. It is described by its founders as “Facebook for scientists” and helps scientists to collaborate with colleagues and find new publications. ResearchGate has implemented workgroups, which are invitation-only. Own workgroups can be created in order to collaborate in a closed and secure environment. “ResearchGate was built for scientists, by scientists, with the idea that science can do more when it’s driven by collaboration.” This ResearchGate slogan reminds a little of supply chain management. Over 1 million researchers have already joined this service, tens of thousands of documents have been uploaded, and thousands of subgroups have been formed. So far, ResearchGate is particularly popular in the fields of biology and medicine. However, the topic Supply Chain Management has already more than 100 followers and a search for the keyword “supply chain” results in more than 500 researchers.