University of Illinois at Chicago
Browse
GS article.pdf (790.65 kB)

Google Scholar versions: do more versions of an article mean greater impact?

Download (790.65 kB)
Version 2 2020-01-02, 05:26
Version 1 2015-03-03, 00:00
journal contribution
posted on 2020-01-02, 05:26 authored by Scott P. Pitol, Sandra L De GrooteSandra L De Groote
Purpose The growing dominance of Google Scholar (GS) as a first-stop resource for scholars and researchers demands investigation of its influence on citation patterns, freedom of information, and scholarly communication. The purpose of this paper is to break new ground in understanding the various versions GS indexes, correlations between the number of GS versions and citation counts, and the value of institutional repositories for increasing scholarly impact. Design/methodology/approach GS listings for 982 articles in several academic subjects from three universities were analyzed for GS version types, including any institutional repository versions, citation rates, and availability of free full-text. Findings First, open access articles were cited more than articles that were not available in free full-text. While journal publisher web sites were indexed most often, only a small number of those articles were available as free full-text. Second, there is no correlation between the number of versions of an article and the number of times an article has been cited. Third, viewing the “versions” of an article may be useful when publisher access is restricted, as over 70 percent of articles had at least one free full-text version available through an indexed GS version. Originality/value This paper investigates GS versions as an alternative source for a scholarly article. While other articles have looked at GS through various lenses, the authors believe this specific aspect of the topic has not been previously explored.

History

Publisher Statement

This is the final peer reviewed manuscript. The final publisher version may differ. The original article was published in Library Hi Tech. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/LHT-05-2014-0039

Publisher

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Language

  • en_US

issn

0737-8831

Issue date

2014-01-01

Usage metrics

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC