Updates inform you about new followers, new publications of yours added by your co-authors, comments on your publications, answers to questions you asked or followed, and much more. You can find your updates by clicking on the bell icon at the top-right of any ResearchGate page. Clicking on a specific update takes you directly to the new content, so you can instantly see who is interacting with your research and how.
Messages are where you can find private messages either sent to you or sent by you. You can find your messages by clicking on the envelope icon on the top-right of any ResearchGate page.
Sending a private message
There are a couple of ways to send private messages to other members on ResearchGate:
If you follow the researcher you're like to message:
- Click on the envelope icon at the top right-hand side of any page, then select Send message at the top right-hand corner of the dropdown menu
- Or go to the profile page of the researcher you'd like to message and click the blue Message button on the right-hand side.
If you're not following the researcher you'd like to message, you can go to their profile page and click the white Message button to compose your message.
Note: Private messages are only visible to the sender and recipient.
Archiving conversations
You can move a message from your inbox to your archive folder by going to your message inbox. Find your message inbox by clicking on the envelope icon at the top of any ResearchGate page and selecting View all. Tick the box by the message you would like to move to select it, then select Archive conversation.
To reverse this process, select the Archive tab on the right-hand side of your inbox, tick the box by the message you want to recover to select it, and select Unarchive conversation.
How do I delete my private messages?
To delete a private message, go to your message inbox by clicking on the envelope icon at the top of any ResearchGate page and selecting View all. Select the message you would like to delete, click More underneath the message, select Delete conversation, and confirm by selecting Delete in the pop-up message.
How do I respond to full-text requests?
Requests contain all Full-text, Author, and other types of requests. These generally require some kind of answer or confirmation. You can find your requests by clicking on the speech bubble icon at the top-right of any ResearchGate page, or by going directly to Requests.
To send a full-text that has been requested:
- Click on the speech bubble icon at the top-right of any ResearchGate page. Select the request you want to fulfill in the drop-down menu to view it. If you do not see the request you want to respond to, go to Requests by clicking View all at the bottom of the drop-down menu
- In Requests, you can manage all of your old and new requests. Select the blue View request button on the bottom left-hand side of the request you want to fulfill, then select Respond to...
- If a privately stored copy of the full-text is available on ResearchGate, you can choose the version of the stored publication you wish to upload and select Share this full-text. You can choose to make the full-text public by selecting Add as a public full-text, or send it privately to the researcher by selecting Send in message.
Alternatively, there is an option to Share different full-text, in which case you can select a file from your computer.
To add a public full-text to your publication page, making it visible to everyone, select Select and upload file under Add as a public full-text, then select Upload to confirm.
To send the full-text privately to the researcher, select Select and upload file under Send full-text in a private message, then add a message or a quick reply and click Send. - If there is no privately stored copy of the full-text available on ResearchGate, you will see two options. Select I have the full-text and you will have the option to add a public full-text, or to send a full-text in a private message. If you select No full-text to share, you can choose to send a message to the researcher who requested the full-text from you.
Please always remember to fully investigate and confirm that you have sufficient rights to publicly or privately share particular content before you do so. As we do not have any information about rights you may hold, or any license terms or other restrictions which might apply to content, we necessarily rely on you to understand your rights and act accordingly. For further information, please see our Intellectual Property Policy: https://www.researchgate.net/application.IntellectualPropertyPolicy.html.
How can I decline a full-text request?
To decline a full-text request:
- Visit Requests
- In the Open requests tab, scroll down to the relevant research item and select Decline request.
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If you want to give a reason for declining (e.g. I don’t have the full-text of this paper), enter the reason in the pop-up window, or choose a quick reply, then click Send message.
- To decline with no message, click Decline without message.
Note: If you choose to give a reason for declining, your message will be recorded in the Sent tab of your inbox.
