Google Scholar: creating a Google Scholar account

Creating a Google Scholar account can showcase your papers and the citations that they’ve received. It can also make your work more discoverable as your profile will turn up in Google searche

An Introduction to Google Scholar

This handout discusses the pros and cons of using Google Scholar to find books and journal articles. It tells how to connect Google Scholar to our Jerry Falwell Library subscription databases. It also discusses Google Books

Does it Matter Which Citation Tool is Used to Compare the h-index of a Group of Highly Cited Researchers?

h-index retrieved by citation indexes (Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science) is used to measure the scientific performance and the research impact studies based on the number of publications and citations of a scientist. It also is easily available and may be used for performance measures of scientists, and for recruitment decisions. The aim of this study is to investigate the difference between the outputs and results from these three citation databases namely Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science based upon the h-index of a group of highly cited researchers (Nobel Prize winner scientist). The purposive sampling method was adopted to collect the required data. The results showed that there is a significant difference in the h-index between three citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science; the Google scholar h-index was more than the h-index in two other databases. It was also concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between h-indices based on Google scholar and Scopus. The citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science may be useful for evaluating h-index of scientists but they have some limitations as well

Does it Matter Which Citation Tool is Used to Compare the h-index of a Group of Highly Cited Researchers?

h-index retrieved by citation indexes (Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science) is used to measure the scientific performance and the research impact studies based on the number of publications and citations of a scientist. It also is easily available and may be used for performance measures of scientists, and for recruitment decisions. The aim of this study is to investigate the difference between the outputs and results from these three citation databases namely Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science based upon the h-index of a group of highly cited researchers (Nobel Prize winner scientist). The purposive sampling method was adopted to collect the required data. The results showed that there is a significant difference in the h-index between three citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science; the Google scholar h-index was more than the h-index in two other databases. It was also concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between h-indices based on Google scholar and Scopus. The citation indexes of Scopus, Google scholar, and Web of Science may be useful for evaluating h-index of scientists but they have some limitations as well.Cite as: Farhadi, H., Salehi, H., Yunus, M. M., Aghaei Chadegani, A., Farhadi, M., Fooladi, M., & Ale Ebrahim, N. (2013). Does it Matter Which Citation Tool is Used to Compare the h-index of a Group of Highly Cited Researchers? Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 7(4), 198-202. doi: arXiv:1306.072

SIGIR: scholar vs. scholars' interpretation

Google Scholar allows researchers to search through a free and extensive source of information on scientific publications. In this paper we show that within the limited context of SIGIR proceedings, the rankings created by Google Scholar are both significantly different and very negatively correlated with those of domain experts

Inmate Legal Information Requests Analysis: Empirical Data to Inform Library Purchases in Correctional Institutions

The introduction of legal content to Google Scholar made United States case law and law journal articles accessible to an unprecedented extent. With case law freely available and accurate bibliographic information for articles, could Google Scholar be accurate and complete enough for correctional institutions to forgo purchasing either print publications or fee-based services for these materials? This article empirically assesses whether Google Scholar can reliably answer the questions of inmates in a correctional facility, the Baltimore City Detention Center. As a comparison, the same questions are tested in Westlaw Correctional, a subscription database marketed to correctional institutions

Empirical Patterns in Google Scholar Citation Counts

Scholarly impact may be metricized using an author's total number of citations as a stand-in for real worth, but this measure varies in applicability between disciplines. The detail of the number of citations per publication is nowadays mapped in much more detail on the Web, exposing certain empirical patterns. This paper explores those patterns, using the citation data from Google Scholar for a number of authors.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Cyberpatterns 201

Exploring Students’ Perceptions of their Experiences in a Social Justice Living–Learning Community

Contemporary higher education leaders continue to deem the development of civic-minded graduates as among the primary goals of postsecondary education (Astin, 1996Astin, H. S. (1996). Leadership for social change. About Campus, 1(3), 4–10. doi:10.1002/abc.v1.3[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Cress, Burack, Giles, Elkins, & Stevens, 2010Cress, C., Burack, C., Giles, D. E., Elkins, J. E., & Stevens, M. C. (2010). A promising connection: Increasing college access and success through civic engagement. Boston, MA: Campus Compact. [Google Scholar]; Hurtado, Ruiz, & Whang, 2012Hurtado, S., Ruiz, A., & Whang, H. (2012). Assessing student social responsibility and civic learning. Paper presented at the 2012 Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, New Orleans, Louisiana. [Google Scholar]). Today’s undergraduates are poised to engage with their communities in numbers greater than their predecessors in previous generations, believing it is their responsibility to make society better (Kiesa et al., 2007Kiesa, A., Orlowski, A. P., Levine, P., Both, D., Kirby, E. H., Lopez, M. H., & Marcelo, K. B. (2007). Millennials talk politics: A study of college student political engagement. New York, NY: The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement. [Google Scholar]). In 2012, more than two-thirds of postsecondary students reported participation in community service over the past year, despite their overwhelming disillusionment with the United States government and social institutions (Levine & Dean, 2012Levine, A., & Dean, D. R. (2012). Generation on a tightrope: A portrait of today’s college student. San Francisco, CA: Wiley. [Google Scholar]) Civic engagement lacks a common definition in the literature (Jacoby, 2009Jacoby, B. (Ed.). (2009). Civic engagement in higher education: Concepts and practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. [Google Scholar]), however it typically includes involvement in the community with the purpose of “enhancing students’ understanding of civic life” (Cress et al., 2010Cress, C., Burack, C., Giles, D. E., Elkins, J. E., & Stevens, M. C. (2010). A promising connection: Increasing college access and success through civic engagement. Boston, MA: Campus Compact. [Google Scholar], p. 4). A growing body of research raised concerns with community service, service-learning, and other forms of civic engagement as reinforcing stereotypes (Dooley & Burant, 2015Dooley, J. C., & Burant, T. J. (2015). Lessons from pre-service teachers: Under the surface of service learning. In O. Delano-Oriaran, M. Penick-Parks, & S. Fondrie (Eds.), Service-learning and civic engagement: A sourcebook (pp. 325–332). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). These studies urged greater care when designing community involvement opportunities, including attention to students’ development and previous experience, meaningful curricular connections, and adequate contextualization and reflection (Dooley & Burant, 2015Dooley, J. C., & Burant, T. J. (2015). Lessons from pre-service teachers: Under the surface of service learning. In O. Delano-Oriaran, M. Penick-Parks, & S. Fondrie (Eds.), Service-learning and civic engagement: A sourcebook (pp. 325–332). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Some campuses have linked social justice to civic engagement to advance students’ knowledge about inequity, thus moving them away from a savior orientation (Dooley & Burant, 2015Dooley, J. C., & Burant, T. J. (2015). Lessons from pre-service teachers: Under the surface of service learning. In O. Delano-Oriaran, M. Penick-Parks, & S. Fondrie (Eds.), Service-learning and civic engagement: A sourcebook (pp. 325–332). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and deepening their understanding of the experience (Prentice, 2007Prentice, M. (2007). Service-learning and civic engagement. Academic Questions, 20(2), 135–145. doi:10.1007/s12129-007-9005-y[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Although conceptualized in varying ways, for this article social justice is defined as work toward ending the system of oppression giving certain social groups greater privilege and power over other groups (Broido, 2000Broido, E. M. (2000). The development of social justice allies during college: A phenomenological investigation. Journal of College Student Development, 41(1), 3–18.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). When coupled, the terms civic engagement and social justice often indicate the educators’ desire to situate students in their broader communities and increase their awareness of social inequity, which may inspire them to work for social change at the individual, cultural, and institutional levels (Boyle-Baise & Langford, 2004Boyle-Baise, M., & Langford, J. (2004). There are children here: Service learning for social justice. Equity & Excellence in Education, 37(1), 55–66. doi:10.1080/10665680490422115[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Living–learning communities (LLCs) are increasingly utilized to deepen and cohere students’ collegiate experiences (Matthews, Smith, & MacGregor, 2012Matthews, R. S., Smith, B. L., & MacGregor, J. (2012). The evolution of learning communities: A retrospective. In K. Buch & K. E. Barron (Eds.), New directions for teaching and learning: No. 132. Discipline centered learning communities (pp. 99–111). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Although variation exists in thematic and organizational type, these communities typically group students together in a residence hall, offer a shared academic experience, and provide co-curricular activities related to a theme (Inkelas & Soldner, 2011Inkelas, K. K., & Soldner, M. (2011). Undergraduate living–learning programs and student outcomes. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, 26, 1–55.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Social justice LLCs, which focus on increasing students’ awareness of social inequity and providing them with opportunities to work for social change, are often found on college campuses (Inkelas, 2007Associates; Inkelas, K. K. (2007). National study of living–learning programs: 2007 report of findings. College Park, MD: Authors. [Google Scholar]). Yet little formal research has been done that explores the impact of these communities on students. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore students’ experiences throughout their time in a social justice-focused LLC (hereafter referred by the pseudonym SJLLC) and one year after participation, focusing on how students described their participation in SJLLC and what aspects of the LLC had a lasting impression on them