RG Score
A new way to measure scientific reputation.
How does the RG Score work?
We believe that researchers are best placed to evaluate each other’s work, and that you should receive credit for all of your research, whether published or not. With this in mind, our algorithm looks at how both your published research and your contributions to ResearchGate are received by your peers. Here’s how it works.
Contributions
A contribution is anything you share on ResearchGate or add to your profile. So whether it’s the questions and answers you contribute in Topics, a published paper you add to your profile, or the negative results and raw data you upload, anything you contribute can count towards your RG Score.
Interactions
Interactions form the basis of your RG Score. Not only does our algorithm look at how your peers receive and evaluate your contributions, it also looks at who these peers are. This means that the higher the scores of those who interact with your research, the more your own score will increase. Your published research is then factored in to reflect your current standing within the scientific community.
Reputation
With the RG Score, reputation is passed from researcher to researcher, allowing you to build and leverage your reputation based on anything you choose to contribute.
What is the aim of the RG Score?
The aim of the RG Score is to help you measure and leverage your standing within the scientific community. We want to provide you with a metric that is calculated based on how all of your research is received by your peers, not just the work you’ve published.
What makes the RG Score different to other metrics?
In contrast to more traditional metrics, the RG Score focuses on you, an ever-growing community of specialists. By opening up the idea of what you can gain credit for and handing you the power to evaluate it, the RG Score puts reputation back into the hands of researchers. As all of this happens in parallel to your research process, the RG Score greatly increases the speed at which you can build your reputation.
The RG Score provides you with an alternate way to measure your reputation. This is why we fully intend for it to be used in combination with other metrics.
How does the RG Score account for quality?
And how is misuse dealt with?
Because the RG Score is based on what your peers think of your work, nobody can directly affect their own RG Score. The same principle applies to low-quality contributions: they won’t attract positive feedback and recognition from the rest of the community, meaning they won’t contribute to a researcher’s score in any significant way. With this in mind, we’ve given you the ability to downvote and flag any contribution that doesn’t reach the standards upheld by the rest of the community. We’ll be introducing more ways for you to point out these contributions in the near future.
Does my published research play a role in my RG Score?
If you’ve added your published research to your ResearchGate profile it will be factored into your RG Score. Our algorithm looks at a lot of data when considering the weight of your publications, so be sure to keep your list up to date.
How is the RG Score used to rank institutions?
Although the RG Score is a measure of an individual researcher’s reputation, collectively, a group of colleagues’ RG Scores can be seen as a reflection of an institution and its standing. Our Top Institutions page provides you with an alternative view of the world’s institutions by ranking them according to the sum of their members’ RG Scores.
