Disclaimer: I have no relationship whatsoever with Google at all!

I have a small list of potential topics in stock, as preparation to write these columns. Since many years, Google Scholar was on this list. However, I always felt a certain reluctance to write about my appreciation for this service of this big company. But now the time has come to be candid. I actually love Google Scholar.

It really makes life easier for me as a scientist. Having a Google Scholar profile, all your publications are automatically logged and your citations counted and linked to the original papers that cite your papers. Based on your profile, Google provides you with suggested readings. I must say they are very useful. When we have to hand-in our scholarly output by the end of the calendar year, Google provides an export to several output styles.

Be careful, it is not 100% correct all the time. Even Google is not perfect. Nevertheless, life is easier. I usually cross-reference with other search engines. The exported file can be transformed to a word-processing program in any style you wish. I have a reference manager with a database of literature, including the pdf’s of the papers. However, when I need a certain reference Google Scholar is faster in finding what I need. Uploading your findings into a reference manager is easy. When I am within university walls, I can simply click through and get the publication itself with a few seconds. A big part of my task is to give feedback to scholarly products of others. If I need to refer to certain papers, I use Google Scholar to find the reference, then use the citation function and copy/paste the full reference usually in APA style to my feedback. Easy peasy. Since I had to clean up my office this week, I found my own master thesis from 40 years ago. A hundred-page research document made with a (cheap) typewriter and with all references printed by hand. Now unimaginable. We have come a long way. Thanks Google Scholar!

Cees van der Vleuten