System, computer program product and computer-implemented method for sharing academic user profiles and ranking academic users

Abstract

A system for sharing academic articles and credential information for a plurality of academic users is described herein. Embodiments of the system, computer program product and computer-implemented method perform a process for gathering data related to the academic user and a process for determining a reputation ranking for the academic user by executing the steps of: creating a user profile for the academic user from attribute information gathered from a user profile prompt, enabling the user profile from the academic user to be viewed by academic and non-academic users to provide a rank selection for the user profile for the academic user according to at least one of research quality, credentials, research articles, and user activity, and determining a reputation ranking for the user profile from the rank selection of the other academic users.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving content from a plurality of users and storing the content in a database in association with a plurality of respective user profiles;   receiving feedback from at least some of the users on the content associated with the user profiles of other users and storing the feedback in the database in association with the respective user profiles; and   using a processor, computing reputation rankings for the user profiles based at least in part on the feedback, weighted based on at least one of the reputation ranking, credentials, publication volume, or user activity of the respective user from whom the feedback was received.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the users are academic users and the user profiles are academic user profiles. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content received from at least one of the users comprises at least one of a CV of the user, a publication authored by the user, education or research information about the user, information about an institution or organization with which the user is affiliated, or a recommendation for the user. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising prompting the user to upload at least one of a CV of the user, a publication authored by the user, or a recommendation for the user, at least some of the content being received in response to the prompting. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the feedback comprises at least one of a comment, a like, an up vote, a link to the content, a copy from the content, a citation to the content, or a follow. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the feedback comprises rank selections for the other users' user profiles. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing the user profiles and associated content for viewing by other users. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising providing links, in a graphical user interface displaying the user profiles and associated content, to comment on, like, up vote, link to, copy from, cite to, or follow the content. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising providing at least some of the feedback for viewing along with the user profiles and associated content for which the feedback was received. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising publishing the computed reputation rankings on the respective user profiles. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the feedback is weighted at least by the reputation rankings of the users from whom the feedback was received. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the feedback is weighted further based on whether the respective users from whom the feedback was received are students. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising computing teaching-quality ratings for at least some of the user profiles based on at least some of the feedback from users that are students. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein computing reputation rankings for the user profiles comprises combining an interactive score and a traffic score. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the reputation rankings are computed based in part on a number of views or downloads. 
     
     
         16 . A system comprising:
 a processor implementing a plurality of program modules comprising:
 a profile module to gather content from a plurality of users and, based thereon, create respective user profiles for viewing by other users, 
 a user comment module to receive user feedback on at least some of the user profiles, and 
 a profile rank module to compute reputation rankings for the user profiles based at least in part on the feedback, weighted based on at least one of the reputation ranking, credentials, publication volume, or user activity of the respective user from whom the feedback was received. 
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a database storing the gathered content and the feedback received thereon in association with the respective user profiles.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the content received from at least one of the users comprises at least one of a CV of the user, a publication authored by the user, education or research information about the user, information about an institution or organization with which the user is affiliated, or a recommendation for the user. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the feedback comprises at least one of a comment, a like, an up vote, a link to the content, a copy from the content, a citation to the content, a follow, or a rank selection for the other user's user profile. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the feedback is weighted at least by the reputation rankings of the users from whom the feedback was received.