There are a ton of options available to folks who would like to connect with one another. Of course, we’re all familiar with Facebook and MySpace, but did you know that there are some interesting science-specific options out there, too? Overall, I think these applications will become more and more popular as we see a shift toward collaborative research. I guess it is just a matter of seeing which applications turn out to be the most robust with the most valuable features.

Here are a couple that I particularly like:

BioMedExperts (BME) is a free scientific profiling application. BME uses your PubMed-indexed articles to automatically construct a user profile.

Profiles in BioMedExperts (BME) are generated by extracting and assigning the biomedical concepts from an article to the authors and co-authors that are listed with the published article. We have done this on six million scientific publications from over 6,500 journals. BME currently contains profiles of about 1.4 million biomedical experts from more than 150 countries, representing approximately 12 million connections in the pre-established BME network. BME experts can access the system to revise and/or update their personal details, publications and/or preferences

Connections to other co-authors (collaborators) are easily visualized on a network (the network based on my publications is shown below) and it is also possible to see profiles on an institution basis, as well. BME makes it easy to find and connect with other scientists who share similar experimental interests or approaches with you.

Epernicus is another application which seems as though it has loads of possible benefits. Unlike BME, you need to actually feed information into epernicus. Don’t let that scare you away, though. Epernicus offers you a host of ways to put your best foot forward and give portential collaborators an idea of who you are from a research standpoint. Each profile can be edited on the basis of Background (positions, degrees, advisors, training, and other experiences), Research interests, Honors, Publications, Presentations, Assets (your scientific value to the network in terms of topics, materials, and methods). You can even upload a photo of yourself and your favorite figure (be sure to check any potential issues with copyright before you load the image, though). My basic profile is below so that you can get an idea of what it looks like.