Google Scholar is one of the biggest aggregators of international scientific information. This platform grows larger even further due to its accessibility and rich functionality. However, there are still skeptics, who do not see any benefits of the platform. As such, we will review all aspects of Google Scholar and all of its peculiarities. The article will be useful both for everyone who does not has an account on this platform and for those who already have an account. Do you use everything that Google Scholar has to offer?
1. Creation of an author’s CV
With Google, Scholar scientists can create a fully-fledged author's CV, which will be useful in cooperation with commercial projects and higher education and scientific institutions.
Not every scientometric platform is capable of that. For example, it is possible to upload the Scopus and Web of Science-indexed material into the author's profile. Only such services as ORCID has such a function as Google Scholar, although the former lacks some of the functionality. This will be disclosed in further detail in this article.
2. Free access to many sources
The largest benefit of the Google Academy is that its free of charge. This opens up access to scientific materials and is mostly the only alternative to paid commercial scientometric databases.
However, in this context, it is necessary to point out, that some scientific material lacks quality, expected from scientometric databases. As a such, researcher, who chose to use Google Scholar, has to develop analytical skills.
3. Searching material for own works
Google Scholar platform includes a wide array of tools for planning scientific research. This, among others, allows one to find materials for own scientific article, monograph, dissertation, and analysis of other scientist's experiences on one or another topic.
Moreover, by using extended search functionality, it is possible to create narrower search queries and sort by publication year, type of research, keywords, etc.
4. Co-author search and international cooperation
Google Academy functionality allows one to search by author's profile. Due to the support of many regional languages, scientists can find colleagues with shared scientific interests even on the opposite side of the planet, track his/her scientific interests, analyze his/her scientometric values, and offer cooperation.
5. Bibliography and references
While using the scientific material, found on the platform, the researcher can automatically generate a proper reference that will meet the most popular citation styles.
This saves a significant amount of time that otherwise would be spent on the bibliography and reference list.
6. Tracking down scientometric values
The author's profile already has all of the scientific works and metrics of the researcher's activities (citation index and h-index) are already integrated. They allow one to evaluate personal activity and place in the scientific community, compare oneself with colleagues, and determine further development strategies.
Aside from that, a researcher can quickly track changes in their metrics. Respective e-mail notifications are required for this to work.
7. Improving scientific authority
Google Scholar is a global scientometric platform used by hundreds of thousands of scientists from all over the world. Registration in it is already a way to declare yourself as a member of the international scientific community. To gain greater regional and international importance, it is worth tracking the level of your scientometric values.
Earlier we discussed why every scientist should work on improving their performance. This will help to achieve many scientific goals: obtaining funding, increasing opportunities for international cooperation, career advancement, etc.
8. Choosing a magazine for a publication
To fully use Google Academy while choosing the appropriate magazine for publication, it is necessary to go to the "Metrics" tab, to the "Top publications" section, and select the category and discipline. After that, the system will display the most popular and high-quality journals for publication with two metrics: the h5 index - the worst publication index for 5 years and the median h5 - the average number of citations of the publication for 5 years.
Moreover, a list of scientific articles published by a magazine will be also displayed.
9. Tracking scientific tendencies and actual topics
The data, acquired from the Google Scholar platform, will help determine the most actual and highly cited topics, which may get the scientific breakthrough.
For example, it is possible to query the keywords, pick the required time range and read the works with the highest scientometric values. Then, it is possible to answer the following questions: how the work is done? How are the priorities set? What the author did not cover. Then, it is necessary to research the reference list and the context of citations, which caused the most interest of colleagues.
This will allow the creation of high-quality scientific material, cited by other researchers.
10. Searching for financing
To find a scientific institution, which may benefit from financing the scientist’s work, it is necessary to go to the “Metrics” tab and then to “Funder”. The list of institutions, which finance the materials, will be shown with the links to them. All in all, it is possible to analyze the cooperation conditions and find a financing source.
This list is somewhat limited. However, if the search is done properly and the scientific material is of high quality, the probability of sponsorship is quite high.
11. Improving the scientific metrics of the institution
In addition to their contact information, authors also specify their affiliation and reference to the research institution or university where they work. In Google Academy, in addition to author profiles, it is possible to create profiles of research institutions or their structural elements.
Therefore, the excellent scientific achievements of an individual author can have a positive impact on the credibility of his/her place of work and significance in the national and international context.
Google Scholar is an important scientometric platform on an international scale, which grants many opportunities for scientists. If You need to improve Your scientometric values to achieve new horizons, pick the “Google Scholar citations” service from the “Scientific Publications” company. Fill out a request on the site and we will contact You as soon as possible!