What should you know about sharing your research on academic social networks? This guide provides an introduction to issues such as copyright and ethical sharing.

Scholarly collaboration networks, such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu, are like Facebook or LinkedIn for academic researchers. Before you create a profile on one of these sites, however, you should know certain things.

These are commercial ventures, and while there's currently no fee to use them, their business model is to find a way to profit from the data that users provide. You may be fine with that, but be aware that the sites could disappear if they don't meet investors expectations, and that you have no control over what they do with your information.

You should also be careful about uploading the full text of your publications. By doing so you could violate the copyrights held by your publishers.

For sharing the full text of your articles, your best (and safest) bet is to take advantage of the URI Open Access Policy and deposit your work in DigitalCommons@URI.

DigitalCommons@URI is URI’s institutional repository for preserving and sharing the University’s digital output. It contains faculty scholarship, student work, digital library collections, University records and publications, course materials, and more. Each academic department has a “Faculty Publications” section in the repository. 

If you are interested in having your work included in the DigitalCommons@URI, email a copy of your final submitted version of your work with all (or most) of the final edits to digitalcommons-group@uri.edu, and the Libraries' staff will deposit it.

You may also want to create a profile in SelectedWorks, which is integrated with DigitalCommons@URI and is supported by the URI Libraries.

These platforms can provide wide access to your research, but be aware that some may encourage you to upload materials that may not be eligible for broad sharing.