Google Scholar FAQ


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Google Scholar: Frequently Asked Questions

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Questions



	How do I search Google Scholar? How do I access the full-text of articles cited in Google Scholar? How do I access the full-text of an article when the UC-eLinks link does not appear after the article citation? How do I limit my search to certain authors, publications, dates, or subjects? How comprehensive is Google Scholar? Can I use Google Scholar instead of MEDLINE (PubMed)? Can I display search results by date? What does "Cited by" mean? What does "Web search" mean? What does "Library Search" mean? Can I download references from Google Scholar to EndNote?

Answers



	How do I search Google Scholar?

	Search Google Scholar just as you would search Google. Scholar ranks and lists results according to how relevant they are to the search query. The most relevant references should theoretically appear at the top of the page. Go to Google Scholar. [back to top]



	How do I access the full-text of articles cited in Google Scholar?

	You can often access the full-text of articles and other documents via Google Scholar. Most access is made available through subscriptions purchased by the UC Libraries. Google Scholar provides links to these licensed copies. If you are connected to the campus network a UC-eLinks link will appear after these items. [back to top]



	How do I access the full-text of an article when the UC-eLinks link does not appear after the article citation?

	Try accessing the article by clicking on one of the other blue-colored links listed beneath the citation. The search engine may have found several sources for the same citation and one of these might provide free access to the document. [back to top]



	How do I limit my search to certain authors, publications, dates, or subjects?

	Use Advanced Scholar Search to limit your search by author, publication and date range searching (see also the �Search Tips� on the Advanced Scholar Search Page). The Advanced Scholar Search now allows you to limit your search by subject, e.g., Medicine, Pharmacology, Life Sciences, Chemistry. [back to top]



	How comprehensive is Google Scholar?

	Google Scholar searches materials from many publishers, including some of the resources to which the UC Libraries subscribe. Its coverage appears to be strongest in science and technology and weakest in the humanities. Google Scholar searches only a fraction of the published scholarly literature and does not provide a complete list of publishers, professional societies, or other organizations whose content it indexes. This means that you can not be sure how much information is available on Google Scholar or how comprehensive your searches are. The UCSF Library licenses many online databases and resources that provide more relevant, focused, up-to-date and comprehensive information, such as PubMed@UCSF, CINAHL, PsycINFO and BIOSIS Previews. [back to top]



	Can I use Google Scholar instead of MEDLINE (PubMed)?

	Google Scholar includes articles from many of the same journals that can be found in MEDLINE. However, it contains only a fraction of the articles indexed by MEDLINE and there are large gaps in its coverage of important medical journals, especially for recent articles. [back to top]



	Can I display search results by date?

	No. Google Scholar search results are displayed according to relevance and not by date. Results cannot be re-sorted by date. [back to top]



	What does "Cited by" mean?

	Clicking the "Cited by" link displays a list of articles and documents that have cited the document originally retrieved in the search. This makes it possible to find other documents related by subject to the original document. However, Google Scholar only includes articles that are indexed within its database, and this is a much smaller subset of scholarly articles than found in some other UC databases such as Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index. [back to top]



	What does "Web Search" mean?

	If you have a citation, you can click "Web Search" to see if you can find the full text through a Google search. Clicking "Web Search" for a book will take you to sites to purchase the book online. [back to top]



	What does "Library Search" mean?

	"Library Search" will try to locate the book in a local library using the OCLC WorldCat database. When you click on the link, you will see a record for the book. If you want to buy the book, click on "Web Search" to find where you can purchase it online. [back to top]



	Can I download references from Google Scholar to EndNote?

	Yes. However, unlike other sources, such as PubMed@UCSF and PsycINFO, you cannot control what gets downloaded to EndNote: abstracts, addresses, URLs, and authors' emails are not exported. In addition, information is sometimes missing from other fields. - In Google Scholar, click on Scholar Preferences (next to the Search box) - When the Preferences window opens, scroll down to Bibliography Manager and check the option Show links to import citations into - Use the drop-down menu to select EndNote - Click on the Save Preferences button - Now when you do a search, you will see a link Import into EndNote after each reference - To save a reference to EndNote, click on the Import into EndNote link. When the File Download dialog box opens, click on Open - You will be asked to select an EndNote library. Select the library, and the reference will be imported (a filter is not required). [back to top]

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