Google Scholar: Missing subject areas
Publish or Perish tutorial
In the early days, Google Scholar provided the opportunity to filter by subject area (see Publish or Perish screenshot).
Subject area classification was not flawless
This feature wasn’t flawless; some journals (and thus an author’s publications in those journals) were classified in clearly inappropriate disciplines. Some articles appeared not to be classified at all, and were only shown if all subject categories were ticked. However, this feature was VERY useful when searching for authors with a very common name as it allowed you to distinguish Peter Smith the physicist from Peter Smith the archaeologist, and Peter Smith the computer scientist.
Google Scholar removed subject areas in May 2012
Unfortunately, in May 2012 Google Scholar redesigned its interface and integrated the advanced search page in its general search page. In doing so, it removed the option to select specific subject areas. As a result subject area filtering is now no longer possible, neither in Google Scholar, nor in Publish or Perish.
For more information see:
http://googlescholar.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/our-new-modern-look.html
If you would like to see subject areas reinstated, let Google Scholar know. Obviously, there is no guarantee they will listen, but we can always try…
http://support.google.com/scholar/bin/request.py?contact_type=general
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Copyright © 2022 Anne-Wil Harzing. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Thu 2 Jun 2022 11:07
Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.
