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ResearchGate Wiki2Web Clarity Challenge

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Study Guide: ResearchGate: A Comprehensive Overview of the Academic Social Network

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ResearchGate: A Comprehensive Overview of the Academic Social Network Study Guide

ResearchGate: Founding and Core Operations

ResearchGate was initially launched in Berlin, Germany, before relocating its headquarters to Boston, Massachusetts.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate was launched in May 2008, initially starting in Boston, Massachusetts, before relocating its headquarters to Berlin, Germany.

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One of ResearchGate's core functions is to enable scientists to share academic papers and find collaborators for their research.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate's primary function is to facilitate the sharing of academic papers and help researchers find collaborators for their work.

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Ijad Madisch, a computer scientist, co-founded ResearchGate and currently serves as its CEO.

Answer: False

Explanation: Ijad Madisch, a virologist, co-founded ResearchGate and serves as its CEO. Horst Fickenscher is the computer scientist co-founder.

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ResearchGate members are restricted to uploading only peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers to their profiles.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate members can upload a variety of research output, including papers, data, book chapters, negative results, patents, research proposals, methods, presentations, and software source code.

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To become a member of ResearchGate, an individual must have an email address from a recognized academic institution.

Answer: True

Explanation: Individuals wishing to become site members must have an email address from a recognized institution or be manually confirmed as a published researcher.

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The New York Times described ResearchGate's platform as a unique, entirely novel social media concept with no parallels to existing sites.

Answer: False

Explanation: The New York Times described ResearchGate's platform as a 'mashup' of popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, indicating parallels to existing sites.

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ResearchGate requires all uploaded materials to undergo a rigorous peer review process, similar to traditional academic journals.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate does not require peer review for uploaded materials, which differs significantly from traditional academic journals.

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ResearchGate's content approach, which does not require peer review for uploaded materials, is a key difference from traditional academic journals.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate does not require peer review for uploaded materials, a significant departure from the practices of traditional academic journals.

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What is the primary function of ResearchGate?

Answer: To facilitate the sharing of academic papers and help researchers find collaborators.

Explanation: ResearchGate's primary function is to facilitate the sharing of academic papers, enable users to ask and answer questions, and help researchers find collaborators for their work.

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In what year was ResearchGate launched?

Answer: 2008

Explanation: ResearchGate was launched in May 2008.

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Who among the following is NOT listed as a founder of ResearchGate?

Answer: Matt Cohler

Explanation: ResearchGate was founded by Ijad Madisch, Sören Hofmayer, and Horst Fickenscher. Matt Cohler was a partner at Benchmark who joined the board after the first funding round.

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Which of the following types of content can ResearchGate members upload to their profiles?

Answer: Papers, data, book chapters, and software source code.

Explanation: Members can upload a variety of research output, including papers, data, book chapters, negative results, patents, research proposals, methods, presentations, and software source code.

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What is a requirement for individuals to become site members of ResearchGate?

Answer: An email address from a recognized institution or manual confirmation as a published researcher.

Explanation: Individuals who wish to become site members must have an email address from a recognized institution or be manually confirmed as a published researcher.

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How did The New York Times describe ResearchGate's platform?

Answer: As a 'mashup' of popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Explanation: The New York Times described ResearchGate's platform as a 'mashup' of popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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How does ResearchGate's approach to content differ from traditional peer-reviewed journals?

Answer: It does not charge fees for uploads nor require peer review for uploaded materials.

Explanation: ResearchGate does not charge fees for users to upload content to its site, nor does it require peer review for uploaded materials, unlike traditional academic journals.

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ResearchGate's headquarters are located in which city?

Answer: Berlin, Germany

Explanation: ResearchGate's headquarters are located in Berlin, Germany.

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What was the profession of ResearchGate co-founder Sören Hofmayer?

Answer: Physician

Explanation: ResearchGate was co-founded by physician Sören Hofmayer.

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Growth, Funding, and Business Strategy

ResearchGate's user base grew from 25,000 in 2009 to over 1 million by 2011.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate's user base expanded from 25,000 users in 2009 to more than 1 million users by 2011.

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Bill Gates was among the investors in ResearchGate's Series A financing round in 2010.

Answer: False

Explanation: Bill Gates contributed to ResearchGate's Series C financing round in June 2013, not the Series A round in 2010.

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ResearchGate's business strategy, as described by its CEO, primarily focused on charging researchers subscription fees for premium features.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate's business strategy, as articulated by CEO Ijad Madisch, focused on highly targeted advertising based on the analysis of user activities, not subscription fees.

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ResearchGate's employee count increased tenfold from 2011 to 2014.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate's employee count grew from 12 in 2011 to 120 in 2014, which is a tenfold increase.

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ResearchGate reported increasing profits in 2014 and 2015, indicating a strong financial position.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate reported increasing financial losses, from €5.4 million in 2014 to €6.2 million in 2015.

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As of September 2023, ResearchGate reported having 15 million users.

Answer: False

Explanation: As of September 2023, ResearchGate reported having 25 million users.

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ResearchGate's initial funding round in 2010 was led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate's first funding round in 2010 was led by Benchmark; Peter Thiel's Founders Fund led the second round in February 2012.

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ResearchGate's CEO, Ijad Madisch, estimated that approximately $100 billion is spent on science annually.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate's CEO, Ijad Madisch, estimated that $1 trillion is spent on science annually, not $100 billion.

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ResearchGate's employee growth included a sales staff of 100 by 2016.

Answer: True

Explanation: By 2016, ResearchGate had approximately 300 employees, which included a sales staff of 100.

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ResearchGate's financial losses increased from €5.4 million in 2015 to €6.2 million in 2014.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate's financial losses increased from €5.4 million in 2014 to €6.2 million in 2015, not the other way around.

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What was ResearchGate's user growth from 2009 to 2011?

Answer: From 25,000 to over 1 million users.

Explanation: ResearchGate's user base grew from 25,000 in 2009 to more than 1 million users by 2011.

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Which notable investor contributed $35 million in Series C financing to ResearchGate in June 2013?

Answer: Bill Gates

Explanation: Bill Gates was among the investors who contributed $35 million in Series C financing to ResearchGate in June 2013.

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According to CEO Ijad Madisch, what was ResearchGate's primary business strategy?

Answer: Highly targeted advertising based on user activities.

Explanation: CEO Ijad Madisch articulated ResearchGate's business strategy as focusing on highly targeted advertising based on the analysis of user activities.

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What was ResearchGate's approximate employee count by 2016?

Answer: 300

Explanation: ResearchGate's employee count grew to approximately 300 employees by 2016.

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What was ResearchGate's financial situation in 2015?

Answer: A loss of €6.2 million.

Explanation: ResearchGate reported a financial loss of €6.2 million in 2015.

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As of September 2023, what was the reported user count for ResearchGate?

Answer: 25 million

Explanation: As of September 2023, ResearchGate reported having 25 million users.

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What was the employee count of ResearchGate in 2011?

Answer: 12

Explanation: ResearchGate had 12 employees in 2011.

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What was the financial loss reported by ResearchGate in 2014?

Answer: €5.4 million

Explanation: ResearchGate reported a financial loss of €5.4 million in 2014.

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Platform Features and User Interaction

ResearchGate's features for user interaction include a blogging feature for short reviews of peer-reviewed articles and private chat rooms for discussing confidential topics.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate offers a blogging feature for short reviews of peer-reviewed articles and private chat rooms for sharing data, editing shared documents, or discussing confidential topics.

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ResearchGate includes a job board specifically designed to connect researchers with employment opportunities in their fields.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate features a research-focused job board that serves as a platform for connecting scientists and researchers with employment opportunities relevant to their fields.

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ResearchGate's Q&A system is designed to field questions to users with relevant expertise.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate offers a system that fields questions to users with relevant expertise as part of its interaction and collaboration features.

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Which of these is a feature offered by ResearchGate for user interaction and collaboration?

Answer: A system that fields questions to users with relevant expertise.

Explanation: ResearchGate offers a system that fields questions to users with relevant expertise as a feature for user interaction and collaboration.

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What is the purpose of ResearchGate's 'job board' feature?

Answer: To connect scientists and researchers with employment opportunities.

Explanation: ResearchGate's research-focused job board serves as a platform for connecting scientists and researchers with employment opportunities relevant to their fields.

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Which of the following is NOT a feature of ResearchGate's user interaction and collaboration tools?

Answer: A system for anonymous peer review of submitted articles.

Explanation: ResearchGate offers features like following research interests, a blogging feature, and private chat rooms, but not a system for anonymous peer review of submitted articles.

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Controversies: Ethics and Metrics

The 'RG Score' was a highly praised author-level metric known for its transparent calculation methodology and reliability.

Answer: False

Explanation: The 'RG Score' was criticized for having questionable reliability and an unknown, intransparent calculation methodology.

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ResearchGate was criticized for sending unsolicited email invitations that appeared to be personally sent by users, a practice it discontinued in November 2016.

Answer: True

Explanation: ResearchGate faced criticism for sending unsolicited email invitations that were automatically generated and appeared personal, a practice it stated was discontinued as of November 2016.

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ResearchGate readily removed automatically generated profiles for non-users upon request, addressing concerns about misrepresentation.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate was criticized for often refusing to remove automatically generated profiles for non-users upon request, leading to concerns about misrepresentation.

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The RG Score showed a strong positive correlation with network centrality, meaning the most active users typically had high scores.

Answer: False

Explanation: The RG Score was found to be negatively correlated with network centrality, meaning that the most active users on ResearchGate typically did not have high RG scores.

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ResearchGate received widespread praise for its swift action in removing Benjamin Levin, a convicted sex offender, from its platform.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate faced criticism for its decision not to remove Benjamin Levin, a convicted sex offender, from its platform, leading to protests and account deletions by other researchers.

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A 2014 study found that a dormant ResearchGate account automatically generated hundreds of invitations and was attributed to a large number of publications without active user input.

Answer: True

Explanation: A 2014 study found that a dormant ResearchGate account, using default settings, automatically generated 297 invitations and was attributed to more than 430 publications over a 16-month period.

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ResearchGate directly hosts all PDF versions of articles found by its crawler on its own servers.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate displayed scraped PDFs embedded in a frame, with an 'External Download' button indicating the file was not actually hosted directly on ResearchGate's servers.

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ResearchGate was praised for its robust safeguards against unethical academic practices like predatory journals and fake impact ratings.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate was criticized for failing to provide adequate safeguards against unethical academic practices such as fake publishers, 'ghost journals,' predatory publication fees, and fake impact ratings.

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The RG Score was removed by ResearchGate after July 2022 due to its widespread acceptance and reliability.

Answer: False

Explanation: The RG Score was removed by ResearchGate after July 2022 due to criticisms regarding its questionable reliability and unknown calculation methodology.

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The RG Score was noted to incorporate the journal impact factor into the user score.

Answer: True

Explanation: The 'RG Score' was noted to incorporate the journal impact factor into the user score, which was a point of criticism.

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The RG Score showed a strong positive correlation with Elsevier SciVal rankings of individual authors.

Answer: False

Explanation: The RG Score showed only a weak correlation with Elsevier SciVal rankings of individual authors, though a strong positive correlation with Quacquarelli Symonds university rankings at the institutional level.

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Why was the 'RG Score' criticized?

Answer: It had questionable reliability and an unknown calculation methodology.

Explanation: The 'RG Score' was criticized for having questionable reliability and an unknown, intransparent calculation methodology.

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ResearchGate faced criticism for which of the following practices, discontinued in November 2016?

Answer: Sending unsolicited email invitations that appeared personal.

Explanation: ResearchGate was criticized for sending unsolicited email invitations that appeared to be personally sent by users, a practice it discontinued in November 2016.

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How did ResearchGate handle automatically generated profiles for non-users?

Answer: It scraped details from the web and often refused removal requests.

Explanation: ResearchGate automatically generated profiles for non-users by scraping details from the web and was criticized for often refusing removal requests for these pages.

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How did the RG Score correlate with network centrality?

Answer: Negative correlation.

Explanation: The RG Score was found to be negatively correlated with network centrality, meaning that the most active users on ResearchGate typically did not have high RG scores.

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ResearchGate faced criticism for its decision regarding which individual?

Answer: A convicted sex offender who published papers on the site.

Explanation: ResearchGate faced criticism for its decision not to remove Benjamin Levin, a convicted sex offender, from its platform.

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A 2014 study by the Association for Information Systems highlighted issues with ResearchGate's automated activity, including a dormant account generating how many invitations over 16 months?

Answer: 297

Explanation: A 2014 study found that a dormant ResearchGate account automatically generated 297 invitations to 38 people over a 16-month period.

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How did ResearchGate display PDFs that were scraped from other websites?

Answer: It displayed them embedded in a frame, with an 'External Download' button.

Explanation: ResearchGate displayed scraped PDFs embedded in a frame, appearing as if uploaded by the author, with an 'External Download' button indicating they were not hosted on ResearchGate's servers.

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ResearchGate was criticized for failing to provide adequate safeguards against which of the following unethical academic practices?

Answer: Fake publishers and predatory publication fees.

Explanation: ResearchGate was criticized for failing to provide adequate safeguards against unethical academic practices such as fake publishers, 'ghost journals,' publishers with 'predatory' publication fees, and fake impact ratings.

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The RG Score was removed by ResearchGate after which month and year?

Answer: July 2022

Explanation: ResearchGate announced the removal of its 'RG Score' after July 2022.

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What was the correlation between the RG Score and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) university rankings at the institutional level?

Answer: A strong positive correlation.

Explanation: The RG Score showed a strong positive correlation with Quacquarelli Symonds university rankings at the institutional level.

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What was the main reason for the criticism regarding ResearchGate's display of scraped PDFs?

Answer: They appeared to be uploaded by the author, but were not hosted directly on ResearchGate.

Explanation: ResearchGate displayed scraped PDFs embedded in a frame, appearing as if they had been uploaded by the author, but were not hosted directly on ResearchGate's servers, leading to criticism.

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Which of the following was NOT a criticism raised about ResearchGate's safeguards against unethical academic practices?

Answer: Failure to detect plagiarism in uploaded content.

Explanation: Criticisms included leniency towards fake publishers, predatory publication fees, and fake impact ratings, but not specifically failure to detect plagiarism.

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Academic Impact and Demographics

A 2014 study indicated that ResearchGate was the largest academic social network in terms of active users, despite other services potentially having more registered users.

Answer: True

Explanation: A 2014 study by Nature and a 2016 article in Times Higher Education indicated that ResearchGate was the largest academic social network in terms of active users, though other services might have more registered users.

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A 2009 BusinessWeek article highlighted ResearchGate's potential to promote innovation by connecting scientists in developing countries with their peers in industrialized nations.

Answer: True

Explanation: A 2009 BusinessWeek article described ResearchGate as a 'potentially powerful link' for promoting innovation in developing countries by connecting scientists globally.

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Academic reception of ResearchGate has been overwhelmingly negative, with most academics refusing to use it.

Answer: False

Explanation: Academic reception of ResearchGate has been generally positive, with an accepting audience, though often used as an 'online CV'.

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As of 2014, China had a particularly high number of ResearchGate users compared to its number of publishing researchers.

Answer: False

Explanation: As of 2014, China had relatively few ResearchGate users when compared to its number of publishing researchers, while Brazil had a particularly high number.

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While ResearchGate attracts users from diverse fields, the majority are involved in medicine or biology.

Answer: True

Explanation: Most of ResearchGate's users are involved in medicine or biology, although it attracts participants from a diverse range of other fields.

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The widespread use of ResearchGate contributed to 'big deal' cancellations by library systems due to reduced perceived value of 'toll access' subscriptions.

Answer: True

Explanation: The widespread usage of ResearchGate was identified as a factor that reduced the apparent value of subscriptions to 'toll access' resources, leading to 'big deal' cancellations by several library systems worldwide.

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The 2015–2016 survey indicated that Google Scholar had significantly fewer academic profiles than ResearchGate.

Answer: False

Explanation: A 2015–2016 survey indicated that Google Scholar had almost as many academic profiles as ResearchGate.

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ResearchGate's popularity in developing countries was attributed to its complex interface and limited cross-country collaboration features.

Answer: False

Explanation: ResearchGate's popularity in developing countries was attributed to its ease of use and its involvement in notable cross-country collaborations, not a complex interface or limited features.

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ResearchGate's user base includes participants from fields such as engineering, law, and psychology, in addition to medicine and biology.

Answer: True

Explanation: While most users are in medicine or biology, ResearchGate also attracts participants from engineering, law, computer science, agricultural sciences, and psychology.

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According to a 2014 study by Nature, how did ResearchGate compare to other academic social networks?

Answer: It was the largest in terms of active users.

Explanation: A 2014 study by Nature indicated that ResearchGate was the largest academic social network in terms of active users.

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A 2009 BusinessWeek article described ResearchGate as a 'potentially powerful link' for promoting innovation in which context?

Answer: In developing countries by connecting scientists globally.

Explanation: A 2009 BusinessWeek article highlighted ResearchGate's potential to promote innovation in developing countries by connecting scientists from these nations with their peers in industrialized nations.

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What was the general academic reception of ResearchGate?

Answer: Generally positive, with an accepting audience, though often used as an 'online CV'.

Explanation: Academic reception of ResearchGate has been generally positive, with an accepting audience, though some studies noted it is often used as an 'online CV'.

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As of 2014, which country had a particularly high number of ResearchGate users?

Answer: Brazil

Explanation: As of 2014, Brazil had a particularly high number of ResearchGate users, while China had relatively few.

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What is the primary professional field of most ResearchGate users?

Answer: Medicine or biology

Explanation: Most of ResearchGate's users are involved in medicine or biology, though it attracts participants from diverse fields.

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The widespread usage of ResearchGate was identified as a factor contributing to what phenomenon?

Answer: 'Big deal' cancellations by library systems worldwide.

Explanation: The widespread usage of ResearchGate was identified as a factor that reduced the apparent value of subscriptions to 'toll access' resources, leading to 'big deal' cancellations by several library systems worldwide.

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What did a 2015–2016 survey indicate about Google Scholar compared to ResearchGate in terms of academic profiles?

Answer: Google Scholar had almost as many profiles.

Explanation: A 2015–2016 survey indicated that Google Scholar had almost as many academic profiles as ResearchGate.

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What was the primary reason for ResearchGate's popularity in developing countries, according to a 2009 BusinessWeek article?

Answer: Its ease of use and involvement in cross-country collaborations.

Explanation: ResearchGate's popularity in developing countries was attributed to its ease of use and its involvement in notable cross-country collaborations.

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Which of the following fields is NOT explicitly mentioned as attracting participants to ResearchGate, besides medicine or biology?

Answer: History

Explanation: ResearchGate attracts participants from engineering, law, computer science, agricultural sciences, and psychology, in addition to medicine or biology, but history is not explicitly mentioned.

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