Abstract
There is an abundance of free online tools accessible to scientists and others that can be used for online networking, data sharing and measuring research impact. Despite this, few scientists know how these tools can be used or fail to take advantage of using them as an integrated pipeline to raise awareness of their research outputs. In this article, the authors describe their experiences with these tools and how they can make best use of them to make their scientific research generally more accessible, extending its reach beyond their own direct networks, and communicating their ideas to new audiences. These efforts have the potential to drive science by sparking new collaborations and interdisciplinary research projects that may lead to future publications, funding and commercial opportunities. The intent of this article is to: describe some of these freely accessible networking tools and affiliated products; demonstrate from our own experiences how they can be utilized effectively; and, inspire their adoption by new users for the benefit of science.
Highlights
In the past 40 years, society has undergone considerable changes driven by the development of affordable personal computers, the internet and most recently, mobile devices, which allow widespread connection to the internet
The public online networking, tracking and amplification tools described in this article that can be used for raising awareness of scientific outputs are just the tip of the iceberg
We acknowledge that our efforts invested in them would dissipate if the software tools cease or are overtaken with new offerings
Summary
Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. This article is included in the Research on Research, Policy & Culture gateway
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