Updates inform you about new followers, your publications that have been 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 to the new content, so you can see who’s interacting with your research and how.
Messages is where you can find private messages you’ve received or sent. You can find your messages by clicking on the envelope icon on the top-right of any ResearchGate page.
Requests contains 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.
How do I send a private message?
To ensure that messaging remains relevant and focused, we’ve limited the feature so that you can only message people who follow you.
There are a couple of ways to send a private message on ResearchGate:
1. From your messages inbox
You can send a message by clicking the envelope icon at the top of any page. You can then click Send message at the top right-hand corner. Select a recipient from the people who follow you, compose your message, and click send.
2. From a researcher's profile
When you visit the profile of someone who follows you, you'll see a Message button. Click the button to compose a message.
Note: Private messages are only visible to the sender and recipient.
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 right-hand corner of any ResearchGate page, then click View all. Select the message you want to delete. Click the three dots in the right-hand corner to open a dropdown message. You'll have the option to Archive message or Delete message.
I’m not a member but I want to contact a researcher. Can you help me?
For privacy reasons, we don't share the personal details of any researcher, nor can we forward any messages to them on your behalf. If you are a researcher and would like to sign up for a ResearchGate profile, you can sign up here.
You will then be able to follow other researchers and message them privately.
How do I archive a conversation?
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. Click the message you’d like to archive. From the message detail, click the three dots in the top-right corner. From the dropdown that appears, select Archive message.
To reverse this process, select Archived messages at the top right of your Messages inbox. Click the message you’d like to recover. From the message click the three dots in the top-right corner. From the dropdown that appears, select Unarchive message.
How do I view and respond to full-text requests?
To see the full-text requests you’ve received, click on the speech bubble icon at the top-right of any ResearchGate page.
If you do not see the request you want to respond to, click View all at the bottom of the drop-down menu to go to your Open requests inbox. To respond to a request, click the View request button below a request.
Here’s how to process your open requests:
How do I fulfill a request?
If you wish to fulfill a request, click on the View request button below the request and then click Respond to…
If your publication page has a privately-stored full-text:
You can choose the version of the stored publication you wish to upload and select Share this full-text. You can then 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, to select a different file from your computer, click Share different full-text. To add this file to your publication page as a public full-text, (i.e., making it visible to everyone), click 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 as a message, 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 your publication page doesn’t have a privately-stored full-text:
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.
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.
- 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.