expertRχiv – Connecting Research Experts through Ideas

In the second of our series about new community projects at PeerJ we are excited to announce expertRχiv – connecting research experts through ideas.

expertRχiv is a new and free community tool to connect research experts

Find your next collaborator, fill a vacant role in your lab or get help with a specialized task

Ask a research question and get an answer from an expert in the relevant field – an extension of our paragraph-level article annotation platform

Address the growing spread of scientific misinformation by being a verifiable source of information

We are excited to announce expertRχiv – a new and free community tool to connect research experts through ideas.

Make connections with expertRχiv

Sometimes it’s not easy to find the expertise you need. Whether you are looking for collaborators for your next project, specialized help with a research task, have an open role in your lab or have a question that only an expert can answer, you can use expertRχiv to connect with researchers with the relevant expertise.

expertRχiv is completely free to use (with an option to pay for one of our limited Featured listings). There are three types of listings – jobs, collaborations and tasks – which are all indexed by subject area and qualification or expertise needed. Additionally, we’ve extended our article annotation Q&A platform, so that you can post any research question, not just those attached to a PeerJ publication, and it will be directed to an appropriate expert.

expertRχiv targets the experts you need

It’s expertRχiv’s subject indexing which means high-volume and accurate visibility for your posts. Posts on expertRχiv appear on articles which match the subjects you add when posting to expertRχiv, resulting in, essentially, community targeted adverts. With over one million site views a month we hope to connect you with the experts you need and the opportunities you seek.

To increase the opportunity to connect, PeerJ users can set up alerts in their PeerJ profile to receive expertRχiv posts relevant to their expertise (see how to set these up below). If you are looking for your next opportunity, want to lend your expertise, or collaborate beyond your regular circle, sign up for alerts now! Set up a PeerJ profile, add your skills and expertise, your qualifications and your research field, and you’ll get updates on matching posts.

Experts are important, today more than ever

We also hope the tool will be useful in helping to tackle some of the problems the modern world presents. For example, we hope expertRχiv will be a resource for people working in science communication to connect with experts and specialists – whether that be for a guest spot on a podcast, a YouTube interview or for an expert opinion on the latest story. Given the rise in misinformation it’s increasingly important to provide access to a wide base of expertise. We encourage media outlets to post requests for expertise as a task or a collaboration.

It’s also important to be certain that the expert view you are receiving is from an expert. That’s why you can review the public profile of a PeerJ user, and during the next several months we will be enhancing our contribution points system for expertRχiv. Visitors and posters will be able to review the subjects and topics in which experts have contributed and been voted up the most (and by whom) at PeerJ. Experts in turn receive contribution points and public recognition for providing answers to posts in expertRχiv.

expertRχiv posts

Collaborations

Looking for a collaborator? We’ve heard from various communities that they’d like to cast a wider net when looking for collaborators, especially when it comes to cross-disciplinary research. Find the expert collaborator you need with a Collaboration post on expertRχiv.

Tasks

We know that sometimes you need an expert or specialized skills for a short, defined task – maybe it’s for code review, statistical analysis, graphic design or translation. Post your task on expertRχiv and it’ll be seen by people with the skills and subject knowledge required. We expect tasks to be rewarded commensurate with the work required and that contributions are correctly acknowledged.

Jobs

Is your lab or department searching for its next RA, post-doc, or professor? Post a role on expertRχiv and it’ll be seen my potential candidates that match your needs.

Q&A

Our in-article Q&A system has always been popular, but now you can ask general questions not associated with a research article and get an expert answer.

Feedback welcome

This is v1.0 of expertRχiv and we encourage users to provide feedback so we can continue to develop the tool in line with community requirements.