In response to user feedback, we have decided to add a new feature that enables group messages to be moved to specific group topics.

Here is the work flow:

Somebody asks a question via a group message. The group's super-administrator will receive the following message:

After clicking on "view messages" you will see that there is a new option to "move to discussion board".

After clicking on it, you will see a new window which allows you to select the topic where the group message should become a thread.

Once again, thank you very much for your valuable feedback!

It has been one year since ResearchGATE.net was launched, and the ResearchGATE team would like to extend its gratitude to all the research scientists who have joined the community.  You have made ResearchGATE's first year astoundingly successful, and year two promises to be even more exciting.

ResearchGATE's ambition is to promote communication among scientists across the globe.   The professional goals of research scientists demand a commensurately professional online network that is tailored to the needs of serious research.  With a rich set of communication tools to enhance professional networking, ResearchGATE's platform has already attracted scientists from over 190 countries.

In the upcoming year, we will work tirelessly to guarantee that scientists on ResearchGATE will derive as much value as possible from their participation in the network.  Our goal remains to reduce research redundancy and increase efficiency for all the scientists we are privileged to count as members of our community.

The ResearchGATE Team

We've added a new feature to the group creation process called "Secure Group".  Data within groups on ResearchGATE has always been secure, but this feature makes it easier for a group to be certain that only specific people can access group data.

If you select this option, your new group will have the following properties:

1.) Only administrators can invite new members to the group

2.) Only group members can access data such as discussions, files, appointments

3.) The group name is not displayed in any member's group list

4.) The group is not indexed under "Browse Groups" and cannot be found within ResearchGATE

Some ResearchGATE users have complained that they have received messages that are not relevant to science or research.

In our feedback forum, we discussed with ResearchGATE users how we might be able to offer more tools for reporting this type of unwanted SPAM.

We have now added a "Report Message" function to your Inbox.

Please contact us immediately if you think someone is misusing ResearchGATE.

In this troubled time of economic turmoil, I am sure many scientists are glad to see the US government continuing to increase funding for research in the US. President Barack Obama has stated he wants the research and development spending to rise to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP). "This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history," Obama remarked at a recent National Academy of Sciences general meeting.

With two-thirds of the money expected to come from the private sector, will the expected $46 Billion increase in funding be delivered without a hitch?  This money is on top of the $21 Billion boost in funding already announced in February as part of the economic stimulus package.

Even if there are delays in disbursement, it is quite a good omen indeed to see scientific research held in such high public regard.

Recently, a researcher in ResearchGATE approached us with a very nice idea. He claimed that having a lot of contacts and sorting them in complicated lists is rather cumbersome. He suggested that it would be much easier and more efficient to allow ResearchGATE members to "tag" their contacts.

We agreed with him wholeheartedly and implemented his idea as soon as we could!

Here's the new workflow:

Click on a contact and you will immediately see a new feature in the vcard: Tags!  Now you can enter any tag you wish for this researcher.

Whenever you visit your contact list you will have the opportunity to click on one of your tags and only the contacts you have designated will be displayed.

Please continue to share your helpful feedback with us!

We've added a helpful new feature that allows you to write a brief memo about each of your contacts.

This memo is only visible to you, and you can use it to note where you met a particular contact or to easily recall which lab a contact is working in.

According to The New York Times, a Mexican child has just died in Texas from the swine flu.  This is tragic news, and very alarming for public health officials in the United States who are attempting to prevent widespread panic over the swine flu outbreak.  There is indeed great cause for alarm:  the number of swine flu deaths worldwide is currently estimated to be approximately 160, with most of the fatalities taking place in Mexico.

We would like to invite researchers working on influenza to collaborate on ResearchGATE.  We have created a group for Influenza Research and hope that scientists in different parts of the world can discuss their research on this deadly virus.

The ResearchGATE Team

UPDATE May 1st, 2009 9:47pm: ResearchGATE has received a phone call from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States.  The NIAID has offered to support the activities of the Influenza Research group on ResearchGATE.

We have just added a new feature which shows you papers from four different categories:

1.) Highest Ranked

2.) Most rated

3.) Most read

4.) Recently added

We will continue refining this functionality and would greatly appreciate your suggestions. Please contact us (contact (at) researchgate.net) if you have any ideas about how we can improve the literature section on ResearchGATE.net.

A lot of ResearchGATE.net members have asked whether it is possible to customize their start page. This blog entry will show you exactly where this feature is and what you can do with it.

Refer to the red box within the screenshot below to locate the customization section. If you click on it, you will be presented with 6 different options that allow you to customize the content on your start page.

Furthermore, we designed the boxes on the start page in such a way that you can drag and drop them (as you would do on your computer's desktop). Give it a try and tell us what you think about this nice tiny feature--and be sure to let us know how it might be improved!

The ResearchGATE.net Team

The Literature section on ResearchGATE.net offers you access to an incredibly powerful research tool.  Simply by visiting it, you will receive suggestions of papers that might be of great interest to you.

Many researchers have asked us how our system determines the papers it suggests to you. Here is a brief overview of the information that our system relies on:

1.) Your own publications and the publications which you read or keep in your library

2.) The scientific disciplines you indicate (including the additional keywords)

3.) All the other science related information that you provide in your profile

The more you invest in the ResearchGATE platform, the better the literature suggestions will be over time.

We recently had a long discussion with some of our members about what the best structure would be for administering topics and threads within groups. Initially, we allowed all members of groups to create topics and threads. In some groups this system got very confusing because topics were often duplicated.

We subsequently changed the administration structure so that only administrators could create topics, whereas threads could be started by any group member.  A new problem arose, however, in some groups whose administrators visited ResearchGATE infrequently and failed to start the first topic.

In the following screenshot you can see our new layout of the discussion board:

Your feedback suggested that we resolve this matter by automatically starting at least one topic in each group.  This topic will always be called "General Discussion".

Thank you to everyone who provided us with feedback on this matter and please contact us (contact@researchgate.net) if you have further suggestions.

The ResearchGATE Team

ResearchGATE is proud to share that its 1,000th group has been created!  Groups in ResearchGATE represent a wide array of scientific disciplines and the largest group remains the interdisciplinary Methods group with over 1,200 members. Smaller groups can easily attract members from other groups by taking advantage of the "group linkage function".  The group linkage function allows groups within ResearchGATE.net to link to each other in a hierarchical order (see screenshot).

Here are some helpful applications of the group linkage function:

(1) Connect groups within a scientific discipline to one another

(2) Connect groups which, although not within a scientific discipline, will benefit from interdisciplinary interaction

(3) Connect several lab groups from your department with each other.

Follow the official ResearchGATE Twitter account today!  We plan to write tweets often with news and updates from the ResearchGATE community.  We also hope to bring attention to some of the most urgent research questions and problems that arise in group discussions on ResearchGATE.net.

If you have a twitter account, please follow @researchgate and we'll follow you too!

ResearchGATE.net, the leading professional network for scientists, is pleased to announce a partnership with the German Society of Virology. The German Society of Virology, which includes the 2008 Nobel laureate Harald zur Hausen, will use ResearchGATE.net as the online communication platform for its 1,000 members.  ResearchGATE.net customized its existing functionality to facilitate this cooperation and to provide its German partner with a unique virtual environment for improving member administration and internal communication. “Our society’s members can interact more efficiently than ever before with ResearchGATE.net,” reports Professor Albert Heim of the German Society of Virology.  “ResearchGATE.net also helps our scientists gain access to information about the latest developments in Virology research by connecting them with the global research community.”