Help/FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Science Marketplace about?
2. How can SM help me?
3. How does SM work for scientific collaborations? What's the difference between the "Expertise", "Services" and "Project Offers - Collaborations" categories?
4. Who created SM? Who maintains the website?
5. Is SM really free? And will it remain that way?
6. Do I need an account to post? Do you allow anonymous posts?
7. Do all posts have to be relevant to scientists?
8. Can nonscientists post in the "Expertise" category?
9. Do you verify the quality or reputation of scientific service providers?
10. Do posts expire automatically? Can I put an expiry date on one of my posts?
11. Why was a given post deleted?
12. How many posts should a single scientist place? What if my expertise fits different sub-categories?
13. Are categories static?
14. Is Science Marketplace aimed at particular regions of the world?
15. How is Science Marketplace different from academic social networks like ResearchGate, Mendeley and Academia.edu?
16. How can I keep track of developments and updates in SM?
17. How can I get some help with SM? Can I contact SM?
18. Are you looking for further help to develop SM? Maybe volunteers or partnerships?

 

1. What is Science Marketplace about?

Science Marketplace (SM) is essentially an online marketplace for scientists and students of all fields, aimed to facilitate interactions between anyone working in scientific research. Please see our about page for more details.

2. How can SM help me?

If you are a researcher, SM can help you showcase your expertise and projects to allow others in the scientific community to find you for collaborations, consulting, paper/grant review, conference presentations, etc. SM also allows you to find scientific service providers, allowing you to access technologies that are not available at your institution or are cheaper or better elsewhere. You can also search SM for new collaborators, projects you may wish to participate in, conferences of interest, calls for papers, jobs and many other relevant opportunities.

If you're a student, SM allows you to search for studentships, jobs, internships, projects, conferences, etc.

If you are a scientific service provider, either in a company or in a research institution (such as a university or a national lab), SM allows you to showcase your technology and promote paid services to scientists and companies all over the world. Institutions can also advertise jobs and studentships in SM. We use the latest techniques in search engine optimization (SEO) to maximize the exposure of your posts.

If you're a laboratory supplier, you can showcase your products (including laboratory equipment) and company in SM.

And hopefully everyone can enjoy and contribute to our section on science humor.

3. How does SM work for scientific collaborations? What's the difference between the "Expertise", "Services" and "Project Offers - Collaborations" categories?

"Expertise" is a section for experts to showcase their skills and expertise. "Services" entails a monetary cost to a scientific service that is being provided by a university or company. "Project Offers - Collaborations" focuses on projects that are being developed and for which collaborators are sought. So if you're looking for a collaborator with a particular expertise then you should search the "Expertise" category; if you're looking for a paid service then please search the "Services" category; and if you're looking for projects to be involved in then you should search the "Project Offers - Collaborations" category.

4. Who created SM? Who maintains the website?

SM was conceived and developed by Dr. João Pedro de Magalhães, a Harvard-trained computational biologist with over 20 years of experience in web development presently based in Liverpool in England. A few other volunteers also help maintain and develop the website. Our motivation is to foster scientific interactions, to make science more efficient. We run mostly on coffee.

5. Is SM really free? And will it remain that way?

Yes, SM is free for everyone, including for posting and for browsing. An account is also not necessary to post (see 5. below) or to search and explore SM.

We are committed to making SM as accessible as possible to the scientific community. As SM continues to grow we may need to add paid features, like premium listings on selected categories, to offset server and bandwidth costs. But we aim for SM to always be free for scientists to exchange expertise and establish collaborations.

6. Do I need an account to post? Do you allow anonymous posts?

No, an account is not necessary, but if you are planning to place several posts then an account is recommended. Having an account also allows you to have a public profile with information about you that strengthen your credentials. In addition, registered users can improve their reputation by receiving favorable reviews from other users, just like in Internet-based retailers like Amazon and eBay. Lastly, registered and logged in users can post comments on listings. So while we allow posts from nonregistered users that may be interested in a one-off post, we encourage users to register for an account.

A valid e-mail address is necessary for posting to SM, and both creating an account and posting without an account requires e-mail verification. In accordance with our privacy policy, if you register an account, we will not send you unsolicited marketing e-mails, but we may send you occasional information about important updates to SM.

We suggest that users use real names as this will likely help in most scientific and business exchanges. That said, aliases are accepted so posts can be anonymous.

7. Do all posts have to be relevant to scientists?

Yes. SM is an online marketplace for scientists, after all. Some categories may be of only indirect relevance to scientists, however. Posts deemed irrelevant to scientists or too generic will be deleted. We also have a zero tolerance policy on spam and on spammers.

8. Can nonscientists post in the "Expertise" category?

Yes. We do not check the credentials of users, other than e-mail verification (see 4. above). But of course reputation is important in science, and for example we recommend including your ORCID in your public profile, or including a link to your institutional website (or alternatively to your page on Google Scholar, LinkedIn, ResearchGate or a similar website).

9. Do you verify the quality or reputation of scientific service providers?

No, we don't. Anyone can post a service (or for that matter a project, job, conference, internship, etc.) in SM. We encourage users to include a link to a website with additional information about what is being offered on the post and who is offering it. SM serves as a collection of services for scientists to search and browse but, as detailed in our terms and services, we offer no guarantee about the services or any of the postings on SM.

10. Do posts expire automatically? Can I put an expiry date on one of my posts?

Yes, all posts will automatically expire, although this varies between categories. The expiry time by category is as follows:

Services: 2 years
For Sale: 1 year
Jobs: 90 days
Studentships: 120 days
Conferences - Calls for Papers: 9 months
Expertise: 2.5 years
Project Offers - Collaborations: 9 months
Community: 1 year

Posts in the "Expertise" and "Services" categories take longer to expire since these topics are expected to take longer to become out-of-date, and one of the main goals of SM is to foster collaborations. Nonetheless, our objective is for content to be fresh and up-to-date, and we think the above expiration dates will ensure that. That said, expiration dates may be adjusted in the future.

Registered users can delete their own posts at any time. While a formal expiry date cannot be indicated on posts, if this is relevant (for example, a job application deadline) then it should be indicated on the post description. Likewise, please make sure that you are not posting too soon for your purposes; for instance, if a job application deadline is three months from now, wait one month until posting it to SM.

11. Why was a given post deleted?

As indicated above (10.), posts can automatically expire, and users can delete their own posts. Posts can also be removed by SM administrators or flagged by SM users if deemed inappropriate (irrelevant, misplaced, spam, etc.).

12. How many posts should a single scientist place? What if my expertise fits different sub-categories?

Our suggestion is to place as many posts as necessary to convey your expertise and knowledge while minimizing redundancy between posts. We also suggest you try to choose the category or categories to better fit your post topic. Given that we have different scientific categories, a user may well highlight his/her expertise across different disciplines, but please avoid placing the same (or very similar) post in different categories or sub-categories.

13. Are categories static?

No, we occasionally review categories and will delete those that are deemed not fit for purpose anymore. Likewise, we will likely introduce new categories in the future that are considered useful to the research community.

14. Is Science Marketplace aimed at particular regions of the world?

Not at all. Our goal is for SM to be useful to researchers over the world. At the moment the website is in English only, however, and only US dollars, Euros and GB pounds are allowed as currencies. But if you wish us to add other currencies, please let us know.

15. How is Science Marketplace different from academic social networks like ResearchGate, Mendeley and Academia.edu?

Although users in SM can have accounts visible to others, SM is not a social network. To repeat, SM is not a Facebook for scientists (we think Facebook is pretty good for scientists too!). SM is a craigslist for scientists or even a sort of eBay for scientists, a website for scientists to trade knowledge, services and jobs. This is unlike any other website and we believe will have a major impact on scientific research.

16. How can I keep track of developments and updates in SM?

Please follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for the latest news concerning SM. This is the best way to stay up-to-date with SM; only for major changes will we e-mail registered users.

17. How can I get some help with SM? Can I contact SM?

You are welcome to contact us using our contact form or for reporting bugs and making suggestions at feedback#science-marketplace.org (# = @). Please note that we cannot provide step-by-step guidance on how to use SM and post for free (and we think it's pretty simple already), so users must take responsibility for their posts. Suggestions, ideas, and bug reports are welcome, however. Ideas and suggestions can also be posted on the SM community section.

18. Are you looking for further help to develop SM? Maybe volunteers or partnerships?

We are very keen to work with others to grow and improve SM. If you have any suggestions and/or wish to be involved please contact us.
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