The first research question examined how researchers participated in RIMSs. We categorized researchers’ participation in RIMSs into three levels: Readers, Record Managers, and Community Members. Graduate students had the greatest share of Readers, whereas assistant professors had the greatest share of Record Managers and postdocs had the greatest share of Community Members (see Table 2). Furthermore, assistant professors had significantly higher odds than did other seniority groups of being Record Managers rather than Readers. Postdocs and assistant professors had significantly higher odds than did the rest of the seniority groups of being Community Members rather than Readers. Likewise, postdocs had a higher probability than did the other seniority categories, except for students, of being Community Members rather than Record Managers (see Fig 8). Thus, overall, assistant professors and postdocs were more engaged in RIMSs as Record Managers and Community Members than were other seniority groups, and postdocs exhibited higher odds than did assistant professors of being Community Members rather than Record Managers. That is, although assistant professors were more focused only on maintaining their RIMS profiles, postdocs were more willing than assistant professors to answer questions or endorse others, in addition to maintaining their RIMS profiles. Finally, as expected, as the frequency of RIMS use and the number of publications increased, the odds of being more engaged in a RIMS as a Record Manager or a Community Member increased (see Fig 2). These findings can be explained by the fact that assistant professors undergo the most frequent formal evaluation as tenure-track faculty and hence have a greater incentive to maintain complete and accurate RIMS profiles. Postdocs, on the other hand, have not yet secured a tenure track position and may be more motivated to cultivate relationships with other members of RIMSs. They may also wish to enhance their visibility though various types of contributions that may not count in the formal models of evaluation applied to assistant professors.