A few remarks on ResearchGate score and academic reputation

An article recently published in Scientometrics sheds light on the way ResearchGate works in calculating its RG score, which seems to be affected primarily by the members’ engagement in the social network environment, and only secondarily by publications. Here we show that the will to understand the rationale behind the score should also consider the ratio between full-text sources uploaded to the repository and publications. The finding supports the claim that the RG score is not a reliable indicator of scientific and academic reputation. Instead, it appears to be much more a tool to implement the entrepreneurial strategy of the RG’s owner company.