We have 15 million members and many ways to make sure your research is seen by the people it matters to.

Early stage research is our focus at ResearchGate, so when you share something we want to make sure people discover it.

After you add your preprint to your ResearchGate profile (here’s how) we get to work promoting it using four different channels: your profile, researchers’ home feeds, search engines, and email.
Profile
Your profile is a powerful tool for discovery – the average researcher visits three profiles each time they log in. Researchers who browse your profile will be able to see your work through your featured research (here’s how to edit this) and your list of contributions. If your preprint has co-authors, it will also be shown on their profiles.

Home Feed

When you share a preprint to ResearchGate, your co-authors and the people who follow you will see it on their home feeds. What’s more, if they follow or recommend your preprint, it will appear on their connections' home feeds as well. By the way, preprints are almost twice as likely to get a recommendation when compared to a published article.

You may have also noticed a “Suggested for you” section at the top of your home feed. This is where we display content that may be of interest to you based on your field of research. Preprints and other types of early stage research have a higher chance of being featured in someone’s “suggested for you” section.

Search Engines

ResearchGate pages usually appear at or near the top of search engine results. This means your profile and any preprints you share to ResearchGate will be easy to find on sites like Google. There are a few things you can do to improve your visibility on search engines by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). For example, putting links to your research and profile on sites outside of ResearchGate, making sure your profile is complete, and adding full-texts, abstracts, and other data to your research. You can read more here about how to use SEO to help make you and your research more visible.

Your preprint can also be found through the search bar at the top of every ResearchGate page (here’s how to search on ResearchGate).

Emails

We send a weekly email that highlights research from your network. Because we are committed to helping others discover your early stage research, like preprints, they are more likely to appear in the emails people in your ResearchGate network receive.

Your work may also be featured in other emails including ones that notify authors you have referenced and authors who have previously cited you.

Inspired? Here's how you can share your preprints.

‍