Frequently Asked Questions

You can edit your research item’s details by following these steps:

1. Go to the research item’s ResearchGate page by clicking on its title 
2. Click on the blue arrow at the top right-hand side of the page and select Edit from the drop-down list
3. Make the necessary changes
4. Click Save.

Or:

1. Go to your Research tab and scroll down to the research item
2. Click on the downward-facing arrow and select Edit
3. Make the necessary changes
4. Click Save.

If you’re the creator of the research item and the sole claimant, you can modify the authors instantly. Otherwise, these changes will be reviewed manually and can take a small amount of time to be processed. To edit author names:

1. Click Edit authors when you’re in the Edit dialog
2. Update the author information and click Request changes or Save.

Note: Certain types of research cannot be changed to another type, including data and pre-prints. To change the type, you will need to remove the research item and re-upload it as the correct type. Similarly, research with a ResearchGate DOI attached cannot be edited. Instead, you need to remove the research completely, re-upload it with the correct details and then generate a new DOI for it. A DOI is a unique identifier – that’s why any edits after its creation render the DOI invalid.

While citations using standard citation styles are usually extracted accurately on ResearchGate, there are some instances where they cannot be extracted – for example, for full-text PDFs that have been created from scanned hard copies. PDF as a format is not particularly standard, and therefore creating algorithms to extract this information is an ongoing process, with varying levels of success. Please also note that citations that do not have complete metadata (publication date, journal, abstract) may not be included in your citation counts, as this is an important piece of information when it comes to matching citations to publications correctly. Our citation data is regularly updated and we are working hard to improve how we extract and match citations, so if you notice some are missing, they may be added soon.

If you haven’t received your email confirmation within 24 hours you can try the following options:

• Make sure the email did not end up in your junk mail folder
• Some email clients have an automatic filtering option where emails can be sent to different types of folders and are easily hidden
• Add ResearchGate to your address book. Find out more
• Contact your email administrator to ensure all emails from @researchgate.net or @researchgatemail.net can be received. For more information on how to do this, see Managing your email settings. 

• Once you’ve tried all of the above options, you can request another activation email here:
  Contact us. Under Didn't find what you were looking for in the help center? select the option I would like to receive the account activation email again. Please fill in your email address, and click Send activation email. You should receive a new activation email within 5 minutes. If you have requested the confirmation email multiple times, please note only the latest link will be active

• If you've tried all of these options and still haven't received the email, please Contact us. 

Duplicate profiles are sometimes created because of the various ways you can sign up to ResearchGate. If you have two ResearchGate accounts, you can merge them quickly and easily. Merging allows you to transfer all your publications (including their related data, such as citations and reads) from your duplicate account to the account that you want to keep. The duplicate account will then be removed.

Please note that removing the duplicate account is irreversible so be careful when choosing which account to delete.

To merge your accounts:

1. Log in to the ResearchGate account you want to keep
2. Visit the profile page of your other account
3. Select More on the right-hand side of the page and select Report duplicate
4. Enter the email addresses associated with both of your accounts and select save.

Your request to merge your accounts will be reviewed and you will receive an email confirmation from us when the merge has been completed.

Please note that profile views, followers, followings, and questions will not be transferred.

For more information about reporting duplicates, see Reporting duplicate publications and profiles

It is possible to use a deactivated email address to log into your ResearchGate account as long as you can remember the password. This is how you can change the email address associated with your ResearchGate account:

1. Log in to ResearchGate using your current login email address
2. Click the arrow at the top right-hand side of any page
3. Click Settings, and then Account Settings
4. Under Email address, click Add additional email
5. Type in the email address you want to use as your login
6. Enter your password and click Add
7. A confirmation email will be sent to your new email address. Click the link in this email to complete the verification process. If you encounter an error message "Oops! We couldn't find that token in our database", please make sure you are using the link in the latest email, as all previous links are invalidated. Check your spam folder and filters if you can't find any others.
8. Then go back to your Account Settings
9. Click the Set as primary button next to the email address you've just added to make it the primary email address for your ResearchGate account.

Please remember – This is the email address you'll use when you next log in to ResearchGate.

Here’s how you can remove a publication page and/or full-text from your profile or from ResearchGate entirely:

1. Visit the Research tab on your profile and scroll down to the research item
2. Click on the arrow next to Add supplementary resources
3. Select Remove
4. Select the relevant option
5. Select your reason for removing
6. Proceed by clicking on the relevant button.

Note: If you didn’t create the publication page, you will not have the option to remove it from ResearchGate entirely. You can, however, remove it from your profile. It’s also not possible for you to remove a full-text that has been uploaded by a co-author.

There’s an option to make your full-text private rather than removing it entirely from ResearchGate. This means the full-text will no longer be publicly displayed, but a private copy will be available to you and your co-authors. You must always ensure that you have the right to publicly share or privately store your full-text before doing so. For more information see Am I allowed to share my research on ResearchGate?