Academia.edu, ResearchGate, and SSRN are for-profit platforms that allow users to share their scholarly works and connect with other researchers.
You can use these platforms to:
Both the ARC and NHMRC clearly state that scholarly communication networks such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate are not acceptable repositories for the purpose of open access policy compliance as they lack the necessary commitment to long-term preservation, data reuse, publisher copyright requirements, rights retention and end-user privacy.
Researchers are encouraged to deposit their author accepted manuscripts to the institutional repository, Minerva Access. Content in Minerva Access is indexed by Google, Google Scholar, and PDFs are made available on your Find an Expert profile. Most importantly, staff check all publisher permissions to ensure your work is shared in line with your publishing agreement and can accommodate rights retention requirements of funding bodies such as the NHMRC.
Publishers are becoming more restrictive in what researchers can share on scholarly communication networks. Authors are often restricted to sharing their preprint/submitted manuscript. You should always check publishers' sharing policies before sharing your work on scholarly communication networks. You can find these policies on publishers' websites, in your signed publishing agreement, or using services like Sherpa Romeo or How Can I Share It.
Make sure you only publish information on your research profiles that you are happy and legally allowed to disclose to others. See the University of Melbourne Social Media Guidelines for more information.