A Critical Look at the ResearchGate Score as a Measure of Scientific Reputation

In this paper, we present an assessment of the ResearchGate score as a measure of a researcher’s scientific reputation. This assessment is based on well-established bibliometric guidelines for research metrics. In our evaluation, we find that the ResearchGate Score has three serious shortcomings: (1) the score is intransparent and irreproducible, (2) the score incorporates the journal impact factor to evaluate individual researchers, and (3) changes in the score cannot be reconstructed. Therefore, we conclude that the ResearchGate Score should not be considered in the evaluation of academics in its current form.