Q. How do I reference articles and papers located on Research Gate?

Research Gate (RG) is an online academic networking platform, on which researchers and academics upload their research papers, articles, chapters and other types of publications. The version of the paper may be the published version, for example if it is open access. However, if it is not open access the RG version may not be the final published version. When this is the case often the RG version will be missing essential information you need for your reference. Because of this, it is important to check for the most up to date version and consult this version to ensure it includes the same information you are using in your work. If available, you will also have the required information to cite and reference it accurately. When trying to locate a more up to date/published version, first try using Library Search, entering the title of the paper into the search box. For papers on RG that are chapters you may need to search for the book title, rather than the chapter title. If you are unable to locate it on Library Search, try searching Google. This search will also retrieve the RG version so you will need to check the results to see if the paper is located on another website. Once located, you should have more detail of the type of source it is and be able to identify the reference type to follow in the MMU Harvard referencing guide.

If you are unable to locate the paper anywhere else and there are minimal details on a paper on Research Gate, for example, only Author, Year and Title, with no other details to identify the publication type (e.g. book, journal, conference or publisher details) the only option would be to reference it following the format for a Webpage. However, please note, without any publication details, it is difficult to assess the academic quality and rigor of the paper, and therefore whether you can rely on it as substantial evidence in your assessed work.