Motivations and Information Interactions of Scientists in Re-searchGate

This study aims to identify the motivations and information interactions of scholars in ResearchGate.
This research is an applied research that is done with a mixed-method approach (quantitative and qualitative). The study population consisted of all network users in the ResearchGate and quantitative sample checks the profile information of a 1200 researchers and in the qualitative sample interviews with 30 users.
Findings: Results showed that recommendation by friends was the reason to join ResearchGate for most of the members. The most important characteristics of ResearchGate are the possibility to connect and interact in the national and international levels, and rapid publication of scientific results without peer review. Researchers’ main aim for using ResearchGate is promoting and showcasing their scientific activity. Moreover, Iranian users use ResearchGate to access information sources due to the existing barriers for access to resources. Researchers in medical physics and basic science are more active in comparison to other researchers. In total, more than 85 percent of users are in favor of using ResearchGate, and consider it helpful.
The results show that in terms of most indicators researchers of medical physics have more interactions in ResearchGate compared to other majors, which implies the dominance of scholars of basic sciences.