The Google Scholar scientometric service is one of the most global in the global research community. Thousands of scientists use it for a variety of purposes: from searching for scientific materials to increasing their own significance and influence. Today we'll take a look at the features of Google Scholar and find answers to the most popular questions about ego functioning: what does an author profile consist of? How to use search algorithms? What functionality does the service provide? How to improve your own performance in Google Scholar?
What is Google Scholar?
Google Scholar is one of the most global scientometric services, which indexes a large number of research papers. All materials of the scientific direction that are in the Internet space will be displayed in Google Academy. The principles of operation of this service are almost identical to those of the web browser of the same name.
It is worth noting that not only scientific articles are indexed within Google Scholar, but also many other types of research materials: monographs, conference abstracts, books, and even blogs and notes. This is both a plus of using this service and a minus. After all, in this way there is a risk of indexing "unscientific" materials and piecewise increase in indicators in an unscrupulous way.
It is also worth considering that Google Scholar indexes a wide range of materials in national languages.
Google Scholar: Author Profile
The Google Academy account consists of data about the author, ego contact information, a list of works and the main scientometric characteristics. A typical author profile in Google Scholar looks like this:
- Photo of a researcher who owns a Google Scholar account.
- Contact information and the possibility of its editing.
- Setting up Google Scholar Alerts (email alerts).
- Options for adding scientific materials.
- Correction of data about works already posted in the Google Scholar profile.
- List of co-authors / editing the list.
Separately, it is worth paying attention to the scientist's scientometric indicators within the framework of Google Scholar, information about which is also available in the author's profile.
Scientometric indicators of Google Scholar: citations, h-index, i10-index
Citation in Google Scholar is the main indicator of authority in the scientific activity of the author. It is the central category in the calculation of other metrics. The main indicators of the Google Academy author profile are:
- Google Scholar citation - citation index within the platform. This is a total indicator of the number of citations by other scientists of the author's materials.
- H-index — Hirsch index, which takes into account the number of works of the author and their citations.
- i10-index is a derivative of the previous metric, which is designed to take into account the number of highly cited works that are leveled when calculating the h-index.
It should also be noted that the author's profile displays the value of these indicators for the entire time and separately for the last 5 years (+1 current year). There is also a chart of changes in the number of Google Scholar citations for each year. This makes it possible to evaluate the dynamics of changes in the scientific activity of the author and to analyze it more deeply.
Google Scholar: search and features of its algorithms
As mentioned earlier, Google Academy uses the same algorithms as Google Chrome. Therefore, the methodology for searching for scientific information is also very similar. After entering the platform, the user immediately enters the search window for scientific materials.
In order to use it, you must enter a topic of interest, a keyword or a search query. The system will automatically display the most relevant results as:
- Possibility of sorting by a certain criterion (date, relevance, etc.).
- The total number of results.
- Google Scholar search results, each of which = a separate material.
- Similar Google Scholar searches that other authors were interested in.
- Ability to jump directly to the full text of the file.
Each search query has a set of features to use. These include:
- Transition to the page where the source text is placed.
- Go to the Google Scholar profile of the author who wrote the paper.
- "Save" – saving to the library.
- "Cite" – formatting for a specific citation style for use in your own work.
- "Cited by" – a list of works where the material was cited.
- "Related articles" – related works.
- "All versions" – other versions of the material.
Features of Google Scholar Advanced Search
In addition to the basic search, the service includes Google Scholar Advanced Search - an advanced search for scientific materials. It is necessary for the formation of highly specialized search queries. With it, you can:
- Enter the keywords for the search query.
- Limit your Google Scholar search to a specific phrase.
- Define search parameters by matching at least one keyword from the list.
- Exclude certain words from the search results.
- Limit by match in title or text.
- Google Scholar search by author.
- Search by edition.
- Select a range by years.
How to use Google Scholar?
We recommend using Google Scholar primarily as a source of scientific information and author's research value. Of course, the ego cannot be considered a full-fledged scientometric database, but the following functions will be valuable:
- Formation of a full resume of the researcher.
- Find research colleagues to use in their work.
- International cooperation, search for co-authors.
- Automatic design of the bibliography.
- Tracking metrics with Google Scholar Alerts.
- Improving the image and credibility of the scientist.
- Selection of publications for publication.
- Increasing the authority of the university or research organization.
- Finding a source of funding.
- Tracking the most significant and popular topics for research, "scientific trends".
How to get citations from Google Scholar?
To increase the citation rate in Google Scholar, the Scientific Publications company encourages you to remember several important nuances and use them in promoting your own work:
- Choose a popular research topic.
- Familiarize yourself with high-frequency search queries from your topic, include them in the abstract, title, keywords.
- Cite only high quality sources.
- Exchange quotes with colleagues.
- Create a work in collaboration with researchers from other countries.
In addition, you can seek advice from our specialists. Scientific Publications provides the Google Scholar Citation service, which implies an organic increase in scientometric indicators to the required level, an audit of the author's profile, and the correction of all technical nuances.
We will be glad to cooperate with you!
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