Google Scholar as a tool for research assessment

Abstract

Google Scholar is a search engine specializes in scientific information and in the identification of the citations that academic papers received, for this is a strong competitor of other citations indexes. This is the reason why several studies have attempted to evaluate its capacity as a bibliometric tool. Due to this interest we present an introduction to its use and their advantages and disadvantages versus Scopus and Web of Science. First, it analyzes its way to collect information and features of its interface. The following section describes the different results that Google Scholar generates. Thirdly we analyze the coverage of information sources and the different documental typologies that we can find and is shown how this coverage universe offers different citations versus other products. Finally we specify the standardization problems of Google Scholar and we offer a number of precautions that we have to take into account if we use Google Scholar as an evaluation tool.