Cited by 383Information Retrieval and Search BehaviorLibrary Science and InformationWeb visibility and informetrics

Google Scholar: the pros and the cons

Jacsó, Péter·2005·Online Information Review

Abstract

Purpose: To identify the pros and the cons of Google Scholar. Design/methodology/approach: Chronicles the recent history of the Google Scholar search engine from its inception in November 2004 and critiques it with regard to its merits and demerits. Findings: Feels that there are massive content omissions presently but that, with future changes in its structure, Google Scholar will become an excellent free tool for scholarly information discovery and retrieval. Originality/value: Presents a useful analysis for potential users of the Google Scholar site.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1108/14684520510598066

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

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Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • 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.

    “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”
  • Scopus has the widest coverage in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and publications among bibliographic databases.

    “the relevant academic publishing was collected from Scopus which has been supported as having the widest coverage in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and publications among bibliographic databases [21,22,23].”

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Authors
Jacsó, P.
Affiliations
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
Corresponding author
Jacsó, Péter
Venue
Online Information Review
Publisher
Emerald
Published
2005-04-01
Volume
29
Issue
2
Pages
208-214
ISSN
1468-4527 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1993451046
Cited by
383
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 19
FWCI
66.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Online Information Review (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Information Retrieval and Search Behavior
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Library Science and Information
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Web visibility and informetrics
Keywords
Google Scholar, search engines, scientific information retrieval, information discovery

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

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