1.3.1 Google Scholar

Introduced by Google in 2004, Google Scholar has become a very popular alternative data source, not least through the fact that access is free and citation analysis programs such as Publish or Perish make bibliometric analysis easy.

Some academics are skeptical about its wider coverage. However, studies (e.g. Vaughan & Shaw, 2008) have found most of the citations to be scholarly. After a relatively slow start Google Scholar coverage is increasing, although Google still does not provide a list of its sources. Google Scholar is updated several times a week. For a more detailed analysis about Google Scholar as a source for citation analysis see Harzing & van der Wal (2008).

Google Scholar coverage is broader than that of both ISI and Scopus. It covers citations IN all academic journals. This includes academic journals that are ISI or Scopus listed, but also those academic journals that are not listed in these databases, but are available on the Internet. Google Scholar also includes citations in books, conference proceedings, white papers, and government reports.

Google Scholar also covers citations TO all publications, including academic journals that are and are not ISI or Scopus listed, books, conference proceedings, white papers, and government reports. Google Scholar also has a substantially higher coverage of foreign-language publications than either ISI or Scopus.