Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Benchmarking Google Scholar with the New Zealand PBRF research assessment exercise

  • Special-Session Papers Presented at the 9th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators
  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Google Scholar was used to generate citation counts to the web-based research output of New Zealand Universities. Total citations and hits from Google Scholar correlated with the research output as measured by the official New Zealand Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) exercise. The article discusses the use of Google Scholar as a cybermetric tool and methodology issues in obtaining citation counts for institutions. Google Scholar is compared with other tools that provide web citation data: Web of Science, SCOPUS, and the Wolverhampton Cybermetric Crawler.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bar-Ilan, J. (2005), Expectations versus reality — Search engine features needed for Web research at mid 2005. Cybermetrics, 9(1). http://www.cindoc.csic.es/cybermetrics/articles/v9i1p2.html

  • Bar-Ilan, J., Lin, A. (2006), Which h-index? — A comparison of WoS, Scopus and Google Scholar. Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, 7–9 September 2006 Leuven, Belgium; see also Scientometrics, 74 (2) (2008) 257–271.

  • Bauer, K., Bakkalbasi, N. (2005), An examination of citation counts in a new scholarly communication environment. D-Lib Magazine, 11(9). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september05/bauer/09bauer.html

  • Jacsó, P. (2005). Google Scholar: the pros and the cons. Online Information Review, 29(2): 208–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kousha, K., Thelwall, M. (2006), Sources of Google Scholar citations outside the Science Citation Index: a comparison between four science disciplines. Paper presented at the 9th International Conference On Science And Technology Indicators, 7–9 September 2006 Leuven, Belgium; see also Scientometrics, 74 (2) (2008) 273–294.

  • MORRIS MATTHEWS, K., HALL, C. (2006), Impact of the performance-based research fund on teaching and the research-teaching balance: survey of a New Zealand University. Paper presented at the Symposium on the evaluation of the PBRF, 16–17 February 2006, Wellington.

  • Noruzi, A. (2005), Google Scholar: The new generation of citation indexes. LIBRI, 55(4): 170–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. G., Thelwall, M. (2002), Web Impact Factors for Australasian universities. Scientometrics, 54(3): 363–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. G., Thelwall, M. (2005), Web links as an indicator of research output: a comparison of NZ tertiary institution links with the performance based research funding assessment. In: ISSI 2005, 24–27 July, Stockholm.

  • Tertiary Education Commission (2004), Overview and Key Findings: Performance-Based Research Fund: Evaluating Research Excellence: The 2003 Assessment. http://www.tec.govt.nz/downloads/a2z_publications/pbrf_report_overview.html

  • Thelwall, M. (2002), Methodologies for crawler based Web surveys. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, 12(2): 124–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thelwall, M. (2003a), A free database of university web links: Data collection issues. Cybermetrics, 6/7(1). http://www.cindoc.csic.es/cybermetrics/articles/v6i1p2.html

  • Thelwall, M. (2003b), What is this link doing here? Beginning a fine-grained process of identifying reasons for academic hyperlink creation. Information Research, 8 (3 paper no. 151). http://informationr.net/ir/8-3/paper151.html

  • Thelwall, M., Harries, G. (2003), The connection between the research of a university and counts of links to its web pages: An investigation based upon a classification of the relationships of pages to the research of the host university. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(7): 594–602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, L., Shaw, D. (2006), Comparison of citations from ISI, Google, and Google Scholar: seeking web indicators of impact. Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, 7–9 September 2006 Leuven, Belgium; see also Scientometrics, 74 (2) (2008) 317–330.

  • White, B. (2006), Examining the claims of Google Scholar as a serious information source. New Zealand Library & Information Management Journal, 50(1): 11–24. http://www.lianza.org.nz/publications/journal/files/TNZLIMJOctober2006v50i01.pdf

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

    Alastair G. Smith

Authors
  1. Alastair G. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alastair G. Smith.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Smith, A.G. Benchmarking Google Scholar with the New Zealand PBRF research assessment exercise. Scientometrics 74, 309–316 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-0219-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-0219-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation