Sign up for ResearchGate by creating a new login or using your existing Facebook account.

Upload your articles and documents.

The site was co-founded by Ijad Madisch, Sören Hofmayer, Horst Fickenscher in Boston. Their main office is now located in Berlin but they maintain an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Many articles and other sources describe ResearchGate as a hybrid, or mash-up, of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Users maintain a profile page, can form or join groups, browse job listings, and employ "like" or "follow" buttons.

Recently acquired another academic social media site called scholarz.net. 

Getting started on ResearchGate

• Sign in and create an account with a login or use your Facebook account
  
• Follow the prompts to fill in the basic profile information and begin uploading articles or raw data sets
  
• Review the list of suggested people to follow or search for others
  

Researchers are encouraged to upload their articles, raw data sets for discussion, or discuss failed experiments.

One of the founders of ResearchGate discusses the creation of the site

A reporter from Forbes interviews Dr. Madisch

Read what Dr. Madisch has to say about the future of peer review in this article from the January 2013 issue of Discover.