ResearchGate terms and policies
We've made it easy for you to read all our legal terms, policies, and community guidelines from one place. Here, you can access all the information you need to understand your rights when using ResearchGate, and make sure you're respecting the rights of others too.
If you're using one of our business products, this is where you'll find the terms and guidelines that apply to your use of that product and any related features or services.
You can access downloadable copies of the current and previous versions of our terms and policies here.
Last updated: February 20, 2024
Community Guidelines
Here at ResearchGate, it is our mission to connect the world of science and accelerate scientific progress. A big part of connecting this world of science is the meaningful scientific discussions that happen in our Q&A forum and around publications and projects.
We want to make sure that discussions on ResearchGate are constructive and that everyone feels free to express their professional opinions while remaining respectful and tolerant of others. That's why we aim to keep all content, comments, questions, and answers on ResearchGate professional and focused.
At times, finding the right balance between healthy scientific debate and a respect for other people's opinions can be tricky. Because of this, we've put together some guidelines to show what behavior is encouraged and what we consider inappropriate.
ResearchGate is a professional network and we require our members to use their real identity, using their real names, real photos, and accurate information about themselves. Please do not provide misleading information about your qualifications or work experience, affiliations, or achievements on ResearchGate.
People use ResearchGate to discuss their work and engage with researchers in their field. We believe that scientific disagreements and healthy scientific debate can lead to great progress. To facilitate these important conversations, we ask that our members respect each other's ideas and acknowledge the diversity of thought and opinion.
Harassment, defamatory and derogatory comments, explicit comments and content, and hate speech will not be tolerated. This includes personal attacks and attacks on other people based on their:
- Race
- Ethnicity
- National origin
- Political or religious affiliation
- Sexual orientation
- Sex, gender, or gender identity
- Age
- Serious disease or disability
This can be a delicate balancing act, but if the primary purpose is to attack a protected group, the content crosses the line.
Please note: Members who repeatedly engage in disrespectful behavior as well as those who post excessively within a short space of time, risk having their content deleted and their membership disabled.
In the User Obligations section of our Terms of Service, we explain in more detail your responsibilities when you have a ResearchGate account, when you upload your work, and when you interact with other members.
Our network is growing every day and we strive to create an environment that is free of inappropriate and abusive content. To do this, we rely on help from researchers from our network. If you see something on ResearchGate that is inappropriate or abusive, please report it to us.
Our Community Support team will review reported content, remove it if necessary, and take further action if needed.
Please refer to our section on reporting content on ResearchGate for in-depth guidelines on how to report different types of content.
Reports specifically relating to hate speech can be sent directly to [email protected].
