AAAS Launches Social Networking Sites for Scientists
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publisher of Science, has launched a pair of online social networking sites to accompany the journal:
- CTSciNet is a community for people pursuing careers in clinical and translational research.
- MySciNet supports aspiring scientists from diverse backgrounds.
From the news release:
Both sites are expected to help scientists and students network, find other scientists with similar or complementary interests, form partnerships and collaborations, and discuss career-related and scientific issues. The new social networks offer free, secure virtual communities for scientists at all career stages. After registering, users can post and respond to questions on career-related, academic, scientific, or social subjects; join virtual groups on specific topics or for specific organizations; read articles on navigating a career path; and pass along articles and hyperlinks from outside resources.
Both sites were developed by AAAS along with contributions from several scientific societies and with corporate and foundation funding. CTSciNet was funded by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund while MySciNet was sponsored by Genentech and Pfizer.
The networks contain features similar to those offered by Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networks. But since it is monitored by Science Careers staff and populated exclusively by scientists, science trainees and science career experts, science professionals are projected to find CTSciNet and MySciNet considerably more focused.