The Use of Academic Social Networks Among Arab Researchers: A Survey

Abstract

This study investigates Arab researchers’ attitudes and perceptions toward the use of academic social networks (ASNs), with a sharp topical focus on the ResearchGate (RG) network. From six Arab universities, a sample of 2,991 Arab researchers was invited to participate in the survey. The research instrument was a web-based questionnaire. In total, 315 participants filled out the questionnaire. The study reveals that three quarters of the respondents use ASNs to share publications, and most researchers subscribed to more than one ASN, but RG was the most frequently used one. Academic discipline appears to play a role in defining Arab researchers within RG, as the majority of them were from the pure and applied sciences.