Before I joined ResearchGate as a product manager, I was a researcher in the field of antibiotics. Staying up to date with what was being published in my area or finding a specific paper that would help me solve a problem that I encountered in the lab was a daily task. Although I used many different ways to discover new research online, I was always frustrated if I found an article of interest, but could not access it straight where I found it. This usually meant having to jump to another platform or database, log in again, and find the article I needed again — only to potentially find out that I did not have access through this other pathway. All of this added effort was time wasted that could have been better spent on actually reading the article or putting the new information to use in my next experiment.
Now, as a product manager at ResearchGate, I have the opportunity to make the discovery process smoother for researchers by building publisher partnerships. As part of our latest collaboration with Wiley, content from a wide range of Wiley journals is now directly accessible from our platform. We know that the discovery experience on ResearchGate is powered by the social connections between researchers and their work. By pairing this with the ability to access relevant content right on the platform, we hope to save researchers time and effort so they can focus on advancing their research.
Developing cooperative relationships with publishers helps research to be more visible and easily shareable on the ResearchGate platform. Our new collaboration with Wiley makes publications more accessible for our users, advancing our mission of making research open to all.
In this post, we’ll cover how the Wiley partnership is being implemented, and what it means for ResearchGate users.
When I was working in a chemistry lab during my PhD studies and PostDoc, Wiley journals covering chemistry and biochemistry were a must-read for me in order to stay up to date with the latest high quality research in my area. With more than 8 million articles in over 1,600 journals, Wiley is the third-largest publisher in the world, with publications covering a vast variety of disciplines. We believe making Wiley publications more accessible through our platform will enable quicker discovery and more fruitful collaborations for our members.
At ResearchGate, we strive to make it as easy as possible for our members to maintain a complete profile showcasing their contributions and increasing the visibility of their work. However, it still takes some manual effort to make sure all publications are linked, up to date, and properly shared according to licensing terms and copyright. By partnering with Wiley, we can ensure that content from participating journals gets automatically added as soon as it is published and is always available in the final published version. We’ve already received some early feedback from Wiley authors who tell us that automatically adding the full-text articles to their ResearchGate publication pages saves them time.
ResearchGate members have often told us in user interviews, Researcher Stories, and on social media, that one of our platform’s unique strengths is its ability to encourage conversation around science. Readers can discuss the findings or conclusions of a paper, contact an author with questions or opportunities for collaboration, or find related content based on their individual interests. With final, published versions of Wiley articles available in context, members can make better use of personalized research recommendations and form more personal connections with authors and other readers. This kind of discourse helps to bring the concept of open science beyond open access to publications.
From now on, you will see this collaboration in action through more visible publisher branding. Content from the 17 journals in the pilot program will be marked with Wiley journal logos on their publication pages.
There will also be publisher branding and attribution above the full-text and next to the figures.
During the first stage of the pilot, we’ll be checking in with authors and readers to ask about their experience with the newly added content. The early feedback we see is promising: authors appreciate the ability to make their work more visible with minimal effort, while readers highlight the importance of being able to access relevant publications easily. Behind the scenes, we are already busy planning the next phase of the pilot, in which we will enable ResearchGate members to read and download content from select Wiley subscription journals if they have corresponding institutional subscriptions.
For any questions about our partnerships with Wiley and other publishers, head to our Help Center.
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