Hi Rina,

If you ask me, Academia.edu is ok, but I found that ResearchGate.net which for some reason doesn't seem to be very well-known was a lot more helpful for my research. Academia is good for finding journals and publications but it doesn't have the same high quality of discussions as ResearchGate for me, which I think is the main reason for joining one of these networks: to collaborate and interact with people who are doing similar work to yourself internationally. Researchgate has also got a literary database, a conference listing and job board for academics. But the topics in ResearchGate are great if you are having problems particularly in the lab... you can get answers immediately from peers or experts about concentration etc. Also if you are having problems with statistical analysis, you can search through the 1 million researchers on there to by their skills: so if someone wants to use the Monte Carlo Simulation for analysing their results or data they can search this and find all the researchers in their locality or institution who are specialists or working on this topic, and ask them for help/advice.

IT IS GREAT! Changed my research completely.

hope this helps Rina.