How to make content private or remove it
We understand that managing your research content is important. This guide provides step-by-step instructions for making full-text content private and for removing publication pages or full-texts entirely.
Important: Know Your Rights First
Before sharing or storing your full-texts on ResearchGate, please ensure you have the necessary rights.
Publisher Policies: Your starting point should be the copyright agreement you have with the copyright owner (usually your publisher). For specific policies, check our Directory of Publisher Copyright Policies.
General Information: For a broader understanding of copyright, please see the Copyright section of our Help Center.
Private Storage: Even if you cannot share your work publicly, you may still be permitted to privately store a copy for your own use and access by co-authors. Always confirm your rights before storing content privately.
How to Make a Public Full-Text File Private
If you previously uploaded a full-text for public access and now wish to make it private, you can store a copy that remains accessible only to you and your co-authors.
Go to the Manage file visibility page on your profile. This page lists all your research items with full-texts you have added.
Find the research item you want to update.
Next to the relevant full-text file, click Change who can see this.
Select Store file privately and click Confirm.
Make all files private at once:
To change the visibility of all your full-texts at once, click Make all your files private in the top-right corner of the Manage file visibility page, and then confirm.
What happens next?
The full-text will no longer be publicly displayed, but a private copy will still be available for you and the co-authors. The publication page with the abstract and other details will remain on your profile.
How to Remove a Publication Page
You can only delete publication pages that were created by your account. If a page was created by another member, you cannot delete it, but you can remove it from your profile. See steps below on how to delete a publication page.
Go to the Research tab on your profile.
Locate the item by filtering by publication type on the right-hand side or by typing the title into the 'Search by title or keyword' box.
Once you find it, click the downward-facing arrow below the item's details and select Remove.
Check the box that reads Delete the publication page from ResearchGate.
Click the Delete publication page button.
If you are already on the publication page, click on More and then Remove to get to the removal options.
How to Remove a Full-Text File
If you are the original uploader of the full-text, you can remove it from the publication page.
Go to the Research tab on your profile.
Locate the item by filtering by publication type on the right-hand side or by typing the title into the 'Search by title or keyword' box.
Click the downward-facing arrow below the item's details and select Remove.
Check the box that reads Remove my public full-text.
Click Remove full-text.
If you are already on the publication page, click on More and then Remove to get to the removal options.
What happens next?
The full-text file is removed, but the title and abstract of the publication will still remain on your profile. If you wish to upload a new full-text, go to the publication page and click the Add full-text button.
Why Can’t I Remove a Publication or Full-Text?
If you don't see the option to remove content entirely, here are the most common reasons:
You didn't create the publication page: If the page was created by another member, you can only remove it from your profile.
A co-author uploaded the full-text: You cannot remove a full-text uploaded by a co-author. Please contact them directly to discuss your concerns.
Creative Commons license: We may make a full-text available if the publication has a Creative Commons license. If you believe this is incorrect, please contact us at www.researchgate.net/contact.
What if I deleted a page by mistake?
Please note that when a publication page is permanently deleted, it is removed from the system and cannot be restored, including associated statistics (reads, citations, etc.).
If you mistakenly deleted a page, you can easily create a new one:
Click the Add new button at the top right-hand corner of any ResearchGate page.
For published work, select Published research and then the publication type.
For unpublished work, select the most applicable type of research.
Follow the steps for the type of research you choose.
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