Abstract

Scientific social networks are a new meeting place for researchers and a major instrument for the promotion of knowledge. Their use is increasing in the scientific community, as they are practical tools to disseminate research results and to share knowledge. This paper examines the presence of 77 Spanish universities in the two main scientific social networks (ResearchGate and Academia.edu). The results show that, despite the continuous development that those networks are having worldwide, the number of Spanish members in them is considered insufficient and in some universities is almost anecdotal. These results should be the starting point for an action program of the universities to increase the membership of their academic staff in those networks, as part of their mission of disseminating knowledge.

Abstract

The expansion of social media forces the communication of science and scientific journals to adapt to this new environment. Previous studies and theoretical models such as Utaut and Utaut2 have proven that there is a relationship between the perception of future performance of technology (performance expectancy), the difficulty of use (effort expectancy) and the social influence to which the individual is subject, on the real use of technology, but there is still scarce research about the mechanisms that cause this effect. Starting with Utaut, the hypothesis is that there is an indirect conditional effect of the performance expectancy, the effort expectancy and social influence, over the actual use of social media in scientific journals, where the effect is driven through the intention of use and the size of the effect is moderated by gender and age. A survey was carried out on 300 editors of the top 20 in Social Sciences of the Google Scholar ranking. Confirming partially Utaut, the results of moderated mediation show that performance expectancy and social influence of editors affect the use of Facebook and Twitter, through the intention to use, but it is not the case of ResearchGate, Academia and LinkedIn. There is not enough evidence about the moderation of age and gender.