ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators.The site has been described as a mash-up of “Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn” that includes “profile pages, comments, groups, job listings, and ‘like’ and ‘follow’ buttons”. Members are encouraged to share raw data and failed experiment results as well as successes, in order to avoid repeating their peers’ scientific research mistakes.Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is among the company's investors.
The company was founded by Ijad Madisch, who has stated that he wishes to win a Nobel Prize through the site by disrupting the way in which science is conducted. Madisch envisions a future in which scientists will publish their positive and negative results and data on his site instead of paying to publish it elsewhere