New Chinese-Western Professional Network

[Greg Tananbaum <gtananbaum@gmail.com>]

San Francisco, CA, October 13, 2009 -- With a goal of reducing 
the barriers separating Chinese researchers from their 
counterparts in the United States and Europe, Anianet, Inc., 
today officially announces the launch of the Anianet professional 
network (http://www.anianet.com). Tens of thousands of Chinese 
scientists, professors, and other scholarly professionals are 
currently conducting vital, groundbreaking work. Anianet 
integrates these Chinese intellectuals into the international 
community by providing a platform to create free English-language 
profiles detailing their professional accomplishments in a format 
that is optimized for a western audience, as well as by providing 
vital information detailing western grants, research 
partnerships, jobs, fellowships, meetings, publications, and 
other opportunities.  In short, Anianet provides Chinese 
researchers with a 'western base of operations' for the first 
time.

One of the most substantial problems within the research 
community today is the divide separating Chinese and western 
scholars. While the number of Chinese scholars is exploding both 
in absolute terms and as a percentage of authors in high-impact 
scientific journals, Chinese researchers find it difficult to 
make their interests and expertise known to western colleagues. 
More than 80% are not very satisfied with the visibility of their 
research and writing among their European and American 
colleagues. An equal number would like to be more knowledgeable 
about western research trends and opportunities.  Anianet 
provides a bridge to this burgeoning market.

Anianet launched in preview mode late this summer, and already 
thousands of Chinese scholars -- in fields ranging from 
architectural design to zoology -- have created Anianet profiles. 
'Anianet is a valuable resource that helps me connect to the 
international research community in a new and important way,' 
says Dr. Lianwen Jin, Dean of the Department of Information 
Engineering at South China University of Technology. 'I 
appreciate being able to present my interests and achievements to 
a western audience.  I also find the Anianet news feed does a 
great job in keeping me up to date on what is happening in my 
field.'

Here is how Anianet works. First, a member takes a few minutes to 
create a Member Profile. Membership is absolutely free, no 
special technical skills are required, and is open to Chinese 
scholars and scholars of Chinese descent working anywhere in the 
world. The Member Profile describes a researcher's interests, 
institutional affiliation, publishing history, teaching 
experience, awards, collaboration histories, and other details of 
his professional accomplishments. A member can enhance his 
profile by including pictures, a CV, links to published articles 
and presentations, and so forth. Profiles can be easily updated 
by members at any time.  Westerners can browse the Anianet 
network or search within a specific subject area to identify 
possible collaborators, authors, and invited speakers, or simply 
to get a fuller sense of who is doing what within the Chinese 
research community.   As a means to increase the visibility of 
this free resource among western researchers,  a number of 
prominent western electronic publishing and scholarly 
communication  organizations, including the Public Library of 
Science (PLoS), the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), and 
the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers 
(ALPSP)  are making their own substantial user bases aware of 
Anianet.

In addition to highlighting professional interests and 
achievements in an encapsulated format designed to appeal to 
western editors, reviewers, and funding agencies, members use 
Anianet as a means to better connect with the goings-on in their 
field. What conferences are upcoming? What breakthroughs have 
just been published in a journal or reported in the mainstream 
media? What visiting fellowships and grant opportunities have 
recently been announced? Anianet collects this information from a 
variety of sources and makes it available to members 
automatically on their profile pages. Members are notified only 
of that information that is relevant to them -- microbiologists 
get microbiology information, political theorists get political 
theory information, and so forth. These information feeds help 
Chinese researchers understand and keep track of global 
developments and opportunities in their field.

'We are already seeing how a vibrant English-language 
professional network can help Chinese scholars connect with 
western collaborators, get published in top journals, and become 
more tightly entwined with their international research 
communities,' says Anianet founder and CEO Greg Tananbaum. 'On 
the western side, Anianet is emerging as a go-to resource to 
better understand who is who in the Chinese scientific space.  We 
look forward to continuing to shrink the world.'

About Anianet, Inc.:
Anianet, Inc., is a privately held company led by professionals 
with more than 50 years' combined experience at the intersection 
of technology, content, and academia.  Its headquarters are 
located in the San Francisco bay area.  Anianet is ably supported 
in its advertising sales efforts by The Charlesworth Group, which 
has a successful record of forging Chinese relationships and 
creating business opportunities for western organizations in 
China. (For ad sales inquiries, please contact 
anianet-ads@charlesworth.com.cn.)

Contact:
Greg Tananbaum
Anianet, Inc.