Ijad Madisch built a €20.6m business connecting scientists.

ResearchGate began with a problem Ijad Madisch knew from his own research: finding someone outside his laboratory who could help. He wanted a place where scientists could ask questions, share their work and find colleagues with relevant expertise.

From medicine to a company

Madisch was born in Wolfsburg to Syrian parents. He studied medicine in Hannover and worked in research in Boston. The DAAD’s 2013 profile describes the question behind his business: what happens when the person who can help with your research is somewhere else in the world, but you cannot find them?

He launched ResearchGate in 2008 with physician Sören Hofmayer and computer scientist Horst Fickenscher. The team chose Berlin for its headquarters and opened an office there in 2010, according to ResearchGate’s company timeline.

A business serving science

Researchers can join the network for free. The company sells marketing and recruitment services as well as services for scientific publishers. Its German operating company, ResearchGate GmbH, recorded €20.632 million in revenue in 2024, according to the financial table indexed by FirmenData from the German Company Register. That same table records a €3.282 million net loss. These figures describe the German GmbH, rather than consolidated revenue for its US parent and all subsidiaries.

The publishing service provides a place for journals and their articles within researchers’ working network. In 2024, Taylor & Francis doubled its Journal Home partnership from 200 to 400 journals. The arrangement connects journal content with researcher and author profiles.