Mendeley Snags $2 Million In Early-Stage Funding For Research Paper Management Tool

 

Mendeley Snags $2 Million In Early-Stage Funding For Research Paper Management Tool

 

by Robin Wauters on February 25, 2009

Mendeley, makers of a desktop and web application designed to make it easier for academics to manage and discover relevant research papers on any topic, has raised $2 million in early-stage funding from some high-profile investors, including Stefan Glänzer, early seed investor in and former Chairman of Last.fm, former Executive VP of Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group Alex Zubillaga and ASI, the investment vehicle of Skype’s former founding engineers.

The connection with the popular social music network Last.fm doesn’t stop there, since the company is pushing to become the “Last.fm for research”, which means the startup essentially aims to enable academics to manage and sharing their research paper inventory and at the same time discover like-minded people and papers thanks to a recommendation and matching algorithm.

I registered for the service and downloaded the Windows version of the desktop app (it’s available for Mac OSX and Linux too) to give it a whirl. First thing I noticed is that you can easily invite fellow academics from your network to join Mendeley based on existing accounts for LinkedIn, Gmail, Windows Live, etc. I also took note of the fact that your profile settings, which include information about your field of research, a CV, etc. automatically has you signed up for the company newsletter, which I think should be optional. My entirely fake public profile can be located here.

The desktop app is actually quite nice: after installation, you can import PDF files using the tool’s “Automatic Medata Extraction” or import your existing library from EndNote XML, BibTeX or RIS files. Mendeley also features a Word Plugin which lets you insert citations and create formatted bibliographies in documents using Microsoft Word 2003/2007. Academics can also upload their own research papers and syncing files and information with the web-based version with just one click of the mouse. Mendeley also boasts features that let members connect with their peers online, and - taking a page from Facebook - the tool also features a newsfeed that displays newly shared or uploaded documents etc.

Mendeley claims to have “scrobbled” data on almost 3 million research papers in just two months, so it’s likely to become one hell of a resource if growth continues and enough academics take notice.

Similar services include Labmeeting (which we likened to a “social network for scientists”), Academia.edu (which we likened to a “Geni for researchers”) and Questia.

If you know of any others, please share in comments.

Others: 

Another company that is related here is Biowizard. While it does not work within the context of a research paper for footnoting, there are a lot of Digg-like social features to help find the best and most relevant research. More importantly, it also includes proprietary data on research presented at conferences, which is usually 1-2 years ahead of when it gets formally published. As such, it is the only place to stay up to date on the most current happenings in biomedical research.

A non-software and download alternative is twidox. Focus is on documents rather than the social-networking and now has over 30.000 already.

scholarz.net which is also a German concept by the way.

For computer science, Eventseer (http://eventseer.net) provides an alternative take on social networking for researchers. We mine the web for existing relations between scientists and use the information to help users find upcoming conferences and events that are relevant for them, or even other researchers that they might be interested in following.

CiteULike is similar; it’s a website that allows the building of collaborative bibliographies.

Since we’re talking about Mendeley, it is also worth mentioning Papers, which attempts to be the iTunes of reference managers rather than the Last.fm. I’m using this at the moment, but it’s not without its problems, so I’m always looking for alternatives.

Other reference managers worthy of note are connotea (http://www.connotea.org/) and Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/).

A related type of program is a research collaboration system. Laboratree (http://www.laboratree.org) is a system facilitates collaboration within and between organizations.

wePapers and Zotero

ResearchGate.net, fast growing social network for scientists, strong especially life sciences.

Basecamp/ Backpack for scientists, then Lab Engine (http://www.labenginehq.com) might be of interest to you

research grant application to Grants.gov (for the federal dollars). Check out Cayuse and Subawards.com.

 

Mendeley Snags $2 Million In Early-Stage Funding For Research Paper Management Tool