What is Academia.edu

This chapter examines the role of Academic Social Networks in the dissemination of the Social Representations literature. In particular, it takes into account 9414 entries filed in the specialised SoReCom “A.S. de Rosa” @-library. Each entry was assessed concerning the presence of the publication in the three academic social networks (Academia.edu, ResearchGate and Mendeley), which amounted to 2956 total entries. The publications on social representations found in academic social networks have undergone some of the comparative analyses based on “big data” and “meta-data” filed in the SoReCom “A.S. de Rosa”@-library repositories, concerning authors' countries and institutional affiliations, years of publication by year, type of publication, etc. This allowed presenting the geo-mapping of the wider scientific production in Social Representations and comparative results with different types of publications. Overall, the academic social networks constitute excellent allies in spreading knowledge in spite of their still relatively modest use.