The DOI matches its Crossref record; 10 of the 10 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Comparison of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses
Abstract
The evolution of the electronic age has led to the development of numerous medical databases on the World Wide Web, offering search facilities on a particular subject and the ability to perform citation analysis. We compared the content coverage and practical utility of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The official Web pages of the databases were used to extract information on the range of journals covered, search facilities and restrictions, and update frequency. We used the example of a keyword search to evaluate the usefulness of these databases in biomedical information retrieval and a specific published article to evaluate their utility in performing citation analysis. All databases were practical in use and offered numerous search facilities. PubMed and Google Scholar are accessed for free. The keyword search with PubMed offers optimal update frequency and includes online early articles; other databases can rate articles by number of citations, as an index of importance. For citation analysis, Scopus offers about 20% more coverage than Web of Science, whereas Google Scholar offers results of inconsistent accuracy. PubMed remains an optimal tool in biomedical electronic research. Scopus covers a wider journal range, of help both in keyword searching and citation analysis, but it is currently limited to recent articles (published after 1995) compared with Web of Science. Google Scholar, as for the Web in general, can help in the retrieval of even the most obscure information but its use is marred by inadequate, less often updated, citation information.—Falagas, M. E., Pitsouni, E I., Malietzis, G. A., and Pappas, G. Comparison of Pub Med, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses. FASEB J. 22, 338–342 (2008)
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In the citing paper
“Previous studies examining the suitability of search systems for evidence synthesis have focused on a limited number of search systems and/or based their analysis on a review of the search interface, yet without any in‐depth examination of core functionalities that allow reliable query‐based searching.19, 30, 31, 32”
In the citing paper
“Furthermore, Google Scholar was not taken into account in the literature search due to the poor accuracy of results, as reported by Falagas et al. [19].”
From Recent Trends on Liquid Air Energy Storage: A Bibliometric Analysis (2020) · cites this paper as [19]
Citations
Cites
Three options for citation tracking: Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science
Bakkalbasi, N., Bauer, K., Glover, J., & Wang, L. (2006) · Biomedical Digital Libraries · doi:10.1186/1742-5581-3-7 · Cited by 752
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Google Scholar: A source for clinicians?
Henderson, J. (2005) · Canadian Medical Association Journal · doi:10.1503/cmaj.050404 · Cited by 76
Extracting knowledge from the World Wide Web
Henzinger, M. R., & Lawrence, S. (2004) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0307528100 · Cited by 62
Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders (WISER)
Skhal, K. J. (2006) · Europe PMC (PubMed Central) · Cited by 42
Surfing The Web: World Wide Web Resources on Antimicrobial Resistance
Falagas, M. E., & Karveli, E. A. (2006) · Clinical Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1086/506443 · Cited by 38
Self-citationThe excitement of Google Scholar, the worry of Google Print
Banks, M. A. (2005) · Biomedical Digital Libraries · doi:10.1186/1742-5581-2-2 · Cited by 13
World Wide Web hepatitis B virus resources
Παππάς, Γ., Papadimitriou, P., & Falagas, M. E. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Virology · doi:10.1016/j.jcv.2006.11.006 · Cited by 10
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Vine R., 2006, Google Scholar, J. Med. Libr. Assoc., 94, 97
- http://www.charlestonco.com/review.cfm?id=225
Cited by
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Perspectives on the Global Disparity in Ecological Science
Livingston, G., Waring, B., Pacheco, L. F., Buchori, D., Jiang, Y., Gilbert, L., & Jha, S. (2016) · BioScience · doi:10.1093/biosci/biv175 · Cited by 29
Bui, H. T., & Filimonau, V. (2021) · International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · doi:10.1108/ijchm-03-2021-0330 · Cited by 28
Trapp, J. (2016) · Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine · doi:10.1007/s13246-016-0478-2 · Cited by 24
Poor visibility of retracted articles: a problem that should no longer be ignored
Boudry, C., Howard, K., & Mouriaux, F. (2023) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-072929 · Cited by 22
Dorsch, I., Askeridis, J., & Stock, W. (2018) · Publications · doi:10.3390/publications6010007 · Cited by 17
Ten years of implementation outcome research: a scoping review protocol
Lengnick-Hall, R., Proctor, E. K., Bunger, A. C., & Gerke, D. R. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049339 · Cited by 14
A Scopus-Based Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research Contributions on Milk Fluoridation
Kanmodi, K. K., Nwafor, J. N., Salami, A. A., Egbedina, E. A., Nnyanzi, L. A., Ojo, T. O., Duckworth, R. M., & Zohoori, F. V. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19148233 · Cited by 13
Knudsen, M. S., Kaivo-oja, J., & Lauraeus, T. (2019) · Communications in Computer and Information Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21451-7_1 · Cited by 12
Romli, R., Abd Rahman, R., Chew, K. T., Mohd Hashim, S., Mohamad, E. M. W., & Mohammed Nawi, A. (2022) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0273375 · Cited by 12
Techniques to determine knee joint contact forces during squatting: A systematic review
Kothurkar, R., & Lekurwale, R. (2022) · Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine · doi:10.1177/09544119221091609 · Cited by 9
Global trends in sustainable healthcare research: A bibliometric analysis
Nunes, A. R., & Dale, J. (2025) · Future Healthcare Journal · doi:10.1016/j.fhj.2025.100251 · Cited by 11
Burghardt, K. J., Howlett, B. H., Khoury, A. S., Fern, S. M., & Burghardt, P. R. (2020) · Publications · doi:10.3390/publications8020018 · Cited by 9
Nieto González, D. M. (2022) · doi:10.11144/javeriana.10554.58492 · Cited by 6
Chemical Bibliographic Databases: The Influence of Term Indexing Policies on Topic Searches
Niel, G., Boyrie, F., & Virieux, D. (2015) · New Journal of Chemistry · doi:10.1039/c5nj01077b · Cited by 5
Bin Qamar, R. A., Pereira, H., & Alckmin-Carvalho, F. (2026) · Advances in respiratory medicine · doi:10.3390/arm94030032 · Cited by 1
“…health-sciences literature relevant to TB and to mental health: PubMed offers comprehensive coverage of MEDLINE-indexed clinical and public-health journals, while Scopus expands coverage to include nursing, social sciences, and a substantial proportion of titles indexed in Web of Science [23,24].”
Antimicrobial research productivity in Lebanon: A PubMed-Based bibliometric analysis
Hajj, A., Sacre, H., Ounsi, M., Nasser, M., Mohsen Meame, S., Hazime, H., Al-Hajje, A., Rahme, D., Lahoud, N., Safwan, J., et al. (2025) · New Microbes and New Infections · doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2025.101642 · Cited by 1
Reframing AI Literacy in Higher Education: Designing Curricula for Ethically Competent Managers
Confetto, M. G., Covucci, C., Manta, O., & Califri, C. (2026) · Journal of Management Education · doi:10.1177/10525629261468213
Metadata
- Authors
- Falagas, M. E., Pitsouni, E. I., Malietzis, G. A., & Pappas, G.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences (GR)
- Institute of Continuing Medical Education of Ioannina Ioannina Greece
- Venue
- The FASEB Journal
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-09-20
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 338-342
- ISSN
- 0892-6638 (ISSN-L)
- 1530-6860
- OpenAlex
- W2120109270
- Cited by
- 5,039
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 605 · 2025: 725 · 2024: 643 · 2023: 587 · 2022: 506 · 2021: 404 · 2020: 286 · 2019: 234 · 2018: 216 · 2017: 153 · 2016: 127 · 2015: 162 · 2014: 101 · 2013: 98 · 2012: 60
- FWCI
- 29.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The FASEB Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Library Science and Information
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Keywords
- PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, bibliographic database comparison, biomedical information retrieval, citation analysis, journal coverage, keyword search, online journal articles
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Science, Databases, Factual, Computational Biology, Internet, PubMed
About these checks
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