Fast to set up – The setup procedure is simple and fast. After filling the basic information on your profile, Google will search publications authored by you and group them under your name. Then you can quickly select the group of articles and add them into your profile with a few clicks. Be aware that Google Scholar profile is not transferable once set up. Make sure you use the right Gmail account in registration.
Easy to maintain – You can select auto update of publications for your Google Scholar profile. If you find any publications missing from your profile, you can manually add them at any time.
Increase the accessibility of your work – After you have made your profile visible to the public and verified your institutional email (refer to Step 2 at How to register and populate your Google Scholar Profile), scholars around the world can easily discover your profile and your works when searching your name in Google Scholar.
A gateway to measure research impact – Google citation metrics are calculated automatically when you set up your profile. New citations received by your works will also be auto-updated.
Wrong article added to your profile – The auto-update function in Google Scholar profile may add a wrong article to your page, especially when you have a common name. You have to check the publication list regularly to ensure accuracy.
Gaming of citations/ fake citations – The quality of Google Scholar citation metrics has always been questioned because it collects data from non-scholarly and non-peer-reviewed publications as well. The citation numbers can also be manipulated in some way. The articles below show how people manipulate citation counts using gaming techniques.
► Step 1. Go to Google Scholar. Sign in with your Google account, or create one if you do not have a Google account. Then click on "My Citations".
► Step 2. Complete the steps to set up your profile.
► Step 3. Your name will be added to a Google Scholar search and you will see articles possibly authored by you placed in groups by Google.
► Step 4. Select the whole group to add the group of articles to your profile at once. Alternatively, select "Add articles" (in the left-hand menu) to add publications individually.
► Step 5. Then, select how you wish your profile to be updated - either automatically or send email to review before the update.
We recommend that you select the 2nd option especially if your family Name and initials are common (i.e.: Chinese names). This will avoid the situation where papers from authors with similar family name and initials are added to your Google Scholar profile.
► Step 6. Once your profile is complete, remember to make it public so that it is searchable via Google Scholar.
► Step 7 (optional). Click the blue "Follow" button at the right of your profile to get alerts via email when you receive new citations on your publications or when you get new articles being added to your profile.
When you have built your profile with publications, citation metrics such as h-index and i10-index are computed. New citations received by your works will also be updated automatically. Do review your publication list regularly to ensure the accuracy of your works and citation metrics.
Google Scholar allows you to export publication data and import it into other platforms such as ORCID. The export function is only available for the publication information but not citation counts.
Read Import and export works with BibTeX to learn the steps to export publications from Google Scholar to ORCID. However, if you have already had publications in ORCID that are imported from other sources, such as Scopus or ResearcherID, avoid exporting all your works in Google Scholar as this may lead to duplication of records. This is because records in Google Scholar usually do not have DOIs and ORCID mainly uses DOI to de-duplicate publication records every time publication information is added. Try to selectively import publications from Google Scholar only for those are not covered by other sources.