How does scholarly use of academic social networking sites differ by academic discipline? A case study using ResearchGate

Academic Social Networking Sites (ASNSs) are increasingly used by scholars to create academic profiles, share research publications, and interact with peers, among many other functions. However, it remains unclear how factors such as discipline may affect the scholarly use of such sites. This study chose ResearchGate (RG) as the sample site and gathered data from a total of 77,902 users from 61 U.S. research universities at different research activity levels as defined by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The sample users were categorized into six groups based on their affiliated departmental discipline as stated on their RG profiles. The results show that user participation and RG use characteristics vary by discipline. In addition, users from higher research activity level universities tend to show better performance in RG metrics than their lower research activity level counterparts regardless of discipline. The findings of this study help ongoing efforts to better understand the use of ASNSs among researchers, assist researchers in effectively connecting and interacting with peers in their respective disciplines, and contribute to the discussion of ASNSs in the context of scholarly communication, altmetrics, and information behavior in research communities and higher education institutions.