Equality of Google Scholar with Web of Science Citations: Case of Malaysian Engineering Highly Cited Papers

Abstract

This study uses citation analysis from two citation tracking databases, Google Scholar (GS) and ISI Web of Science, in order to test the correlation between them and examine the effect of the number of paper versions on citations. The data were retrieved from the Essential Science Indicators and Google Scholar for 101 highly cited papers from Malaysia in the field of engineering. An equation for estimating the citation in ISI based on Google scholar is offered. The results show a significant and positive relationship between both citation in Google Scholar and ISI Web of Science with the number of versions. This relationship is higher between versions and ISI citations (r = 0.395, p<0.01) than between versions and Google Scholar citations (r = 0.315, p<0.01). Free access to data provided by Google Scholar and the correlation to get ISI citation which is costly, allow more transparency in tenure reviews, funding agency and other science policy, to count citations and analyze scholars' performance more precisely.

Is Quality and Completeness of Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Published in High Impact Radiology Journals Associated with Citation Rates?

“…Cross-referencing Google Scholar citation counts with other known citation databases such as Scopus [ 164 ] or the Thomson Reuters Web of Science [ 165 ] may have been beneficial since absolute citation counts have been shown to vary between databases [ 166 ]. However we were comparing relative citation counts between articles, and several studies have shown a strong correlation between Google Scholar citations counts and the Thomson Reuters Web of Science citation counts [ 167 – 169 ]. Furthermore, Google Scholar is arguably more comprehensive than other citation databases in certain fields [ 170 , 171 ].…”

A bibliometric approach to tracking big data research trends

“…The citation index, as a type of bibliometric method, shows the number of times an article has been used by other papers [28]. Hence, citation analysis helps researchers to obtain a preliminary idea about the articles and research that has an impact in a particular field of interest and it deals with the examination of the documents cited by scholarly works [29,30]. In addition, there are various bibliometric studies has been evaluated based on different metrics and applications such as forecasting emerging technologies by using bibliometric and patent analysis [31], multiple regression analysis for Japanese patent case [32], medical innovation using medical subject headings [33], based on region or countries [34][35][36], number of authors [37,38] and a bibliometric analysis based on number publications and cited references [39].…”

Are the most highly cited articles the ones that are the most downloaded? A bibliometric study of IRRODL

“…Moreover, researchers suggest a significant and positive relationship between both citation in Google Scholar and Web of Science (Ebrahim et al 2014). We hope that Google Scholar will make efforts to be more transparent about the ways in which citations are counted, but feel that in this context, it represents the most accurate measure of an article's impact in both the research and practitioner communities.…”