Security and privacy

You can log out of ResearchGate in two simple steps:

1. Click on the arrow in the top right-hand corner of any page
2. Click Log out.

To log back in to your ResearchGate account, visit researchgate.net. 

ResearchGate gives you the option to choose how much of your information is displayed – both publicly and to other ResearchGate members. To customize who sees what, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Privacy Settings
2. Select the drop-down menu underneath Research data
3. Choose who can see your research data by selecting Mutual followers, ResearchGate members, or Everyone
4. Click Save to confirm your changes.

When you sign up to ResearchGate your public page is automatically enabled, so most of your profile information will be visible to search engines. To manage your public page:

1. Go to your Privacy Settings
2. Choose whether you want to enable or disable your public page
3. You can also choose whether your profile photo and questions and answers are displayed on your public page
4. Click Save to confirm your changes.

ResearchGate pages are automatically visible in search engines. However, due to the speed that search engines manage and index changes to web pages, it can sometimes take a while for public ResearchGate profiles to appear in search results. 

Once a publication, profile or profile image has been removed from ResearchGate, it is our policy that its old URL redirects to our main publications page or researcher index. It can often take a few weeks for public profiles to disappear from search engines due to the speed they manage and index changes to web pages.  

Only your mutual followers (researchers who are following you and you’re following back) can see your personal contact details, including address and phone numbers.  

To block a researcher from interacting with you on ResearchGate, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the profile of the researcher you want to block
2. Click on their Info tab
3. Scroll down to the bottom right and click Block researcher.

Blocking a researcher means they’ll be removed from your list of followers and won’t be able to message you or see updates about you. Blocking works both ways, so your contact with them will be limited in the same way. 

Researchers can decide whether they want to read research privately or publicly. This can be updated in the Privacy settings, in the Reader data section, by selecting the box that says 'Allow other researchers to see that you've read their publications'. If researchers untick this box, granting anonymity, this means that they also won't be able to see which researchers have read their publications.

It is our policy to never share email addresses used on our site with external parties. The only way this could have happened through ResearchGate is if you made your email address publicly available on your profile, e.g. in your 'About' section, or if it features on a full-text which has been made public. We use email addresses associated with your account only to send you ResearchGate-related emails.