what is google scholar research

Educational resources and simple solutions for your research journey

What is Google Scholar and How to Use it for Research?

Finding scholarly and peer-reviewed articles for academic research on search engines can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Enter Google Scholar, a beacon for researchers, academics, and scholars. Unlike traditional Google searches that return a mix of results from various sources, Google Scholar specializes in providing access to scholarly literature. If you’re using Google Scholar for research, this article offers some great tips that will help you optimize your usage of Google Scholar for research and get access to relevant and better results. 

Table of Contents

What is Google Scholar?  

Google Scholar is a freely available academic search engine developed by Google. It indexes scholarly articles, books, and academic and conference papers by searching repositories of scholarly websites, universities, and publishers across various academic disciplines. For students and researchers, and those in academia, Google Scholar offers quick and easy access to a vast repository of academic content from multiple disciplines that can be useful when writing scholarly manuscripts and citations.  

How is Google Scholar different from a regular Google search?  

Regular Google search engines are ideal for finding information on general topics, news, and non-academic information as they scan the entire web for information. On the other hand, searches conducted using Google Scholar are more focused on specific subsets of academic and scientific data. However, when searching Google Scholar, students, and researchers need to verify available links and resources, as search results may not always be as reliable and authoritative as those presented by  Scopus  or  Web of Science .  

10 Tips to Use Google Scholar for Research 

Students and researchers often use Google Scholar for research to access high-quality, credible sources for their work, facilitating a deeper understanding of their research topic. To harness the full potential of Google Scholar, consider these tips: 

• Keywords are essential:  While using Google Scholar for research, refrain from typing the entire topic of your research; instead, build and utilize a list of keywords. This will make your search more valuable and efficient.
• Use of quotation marks: It is essential to specify the keywords in quotation marks for Google Scholar to provide you with the most relevant results. Quotation marks help establish the fact that you need results that are an exact match to your keywords. On the other hand, if quotation marks are not used, Google Scholar will deal with each keyword separately. This will lead to losing a considerable amount of time in searching for the most suitable articles.
• Search by author’s name: If you want to search for articles and information written by a particular author related to your specific area of study, it is best to search by author name or click on the specific author’s name as it appears in any article produced through the search results.
• Mention details if available: If you know the correct title of the article you are searching for, mention it in quotes in the search bar. This will throw up results with an exact match. Additionally, stating the year of publication of the articles or books you are searching for will get you better results.  
• Researcher profiles: Google Scholar offers academics the option of creating their researcher profile, which can help them highlight their work, publications, and citations. This profile can be used as a digital CV and can help in networking and collaboration. 
• Integration with universities:  Some universities and libraries integrate Google Scholar into their search systems, providing seamless access to academic content through institutional accounts.  
• Viewing full-text papers: Undertaking searches on Google Scholar will allow you to view the full text of a document by clicking on the link found on the right of the article title. These are usually presented in either PDF or HTML format. You can also view the full text by using Google Scholar through your institution’s web page in cases where it is accessible by the institution. 
• Advanced Search Options:  Use the advanced search feature to narrow down results by author, publication, and date. This precision can help you quickly find specific documents. 
• Accessing Full-Text Papers:  Look for links to PDFs or HTML formats on the right side of the search results page. If your institution has access, you might also find links to full text through your library’s subscriptions. 
• Easy Citation:  Google Scholar simplifies the citation process by providing citations in various formats (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago) for each article, which can be easily copied and pasted into your work. The citation feature can be used to reference the article you want to use. However, it is always helpful to cross-check the references to see if all the information is included in it. 
• Use of My Library:   In order to save the information and articles you choose from the search results and structure and organize them, it is always helpful to make use of the “my library” feature in Google Scholar. You can create a library where you will be able to save the needed documents. 

How does R Discovery optimize your research reading process?  

Keeping up with the latest research in your field and related areas is challenging. Every year, millions of papers are published, making it difficult to stay informed. Imagine how much simpler it would be if you could receive recommendations for research tailored to your interests. While Google Scholar is a powerful tool, R Discovery uses its tech capabilities around AI, ML, and NLP to solve the problem of recurring searches for research for researchers.  

For example, if you search for COVID-19 on Google Scholar and log out, you’ll have to ask Google Scholar (in every session) to show you content about COVID-19. This process becomes repetitive and consumes most of your time. Moreover, Google Scholar finds content that has been properly optimized for search. This means if a paper was not very famous or was not correctly tagged on the internet, you may never discover it. 

R Discovery’s targeted research reading with Literature Recommendations makes this process easier. R Discovery sifts through over 100 million scholarly articles across more than 9.5 million topics, quickly curates a list of research papers that match your interests, and offers personalized reading recommendations, saving you time. R Discovery saves your search queries and topics against your profile and will find relevant papers for you without any search every time you come to the app. 

With R Discovery, get access to the most extensive collection of open-access journals, including over 39 million open-access papers and more than 2 million preprints, all in one convenient location. If you’re new to R Discovery, now’s the perfect opportunity to get relevant research recommendations and simplify your research discovery. Click to install the free R Discovery app now!

R Discovery is a literature search and research reading platform that accelerates your research discovery journey by keeping you updated on the latest, most relevant scholarly content. With 250M+ research articles sourced from trusted aggregators like CrossRef, Unpaywall, PubMed, PubMed Central, Open Alex and top publishing houses like Springer Nature, JAMA, IOP, Taylor & Francis, NEJM, BMJ, Karger, SAGE, Emerald Publishing and more, R Discovery puts a world of research at your fingertips.  

Try R Discovery Prime FREE for 1 week or upgrade at just US$72 a year to access premium features that let you listen to research on the go, read in your language, collaborate with peers, auto sync with reference managers, and much more. Choose a simpler, smarter way to find and read research – Download the app and start your free 7-day trial today !  

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How Does R Discovery’s Interplatform Capability Enhance Research Accessibility 

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What is Google Scholar and how do I use it?

• Google Scholar

A Quick Look at Google Scholar

What is google scholar.

Google Scholar is a Web search engine that specifically searches scholarly literature and academic resources.

But my teacher said not to use Google! How is "Google Scholar" different from "Google"?

Google searches public Web content. Your teacher says "Don't use Google," meaning that you should not use the public Web content.

Google Scholar is different. It searches the same kinds of scholarly books, articles, and documents that you search in the Library's catalog and databases. The scholarly, authoritative focus of Google Scholar distinguishes it from ordinary Google.

So how is Google Scholar related to (and different from) the Library's databases?

There is overlap between the content in Google Scholar and the Library's individual databases. Also, many citations in Google Scholar will link to full text in the Library's databases or in publicly available databases. But Google Scholar will not contain everything that is in the Library's databases.

Google Scholar can be a convenient starting place, but it is not a comprehensive "one-stop shop." For more precise searching, more search features, and more content, use the Library's individual databases .

How do I search and view items in Google Scholar?

Searching is as easy as searching in regular Google. Start from the Library's Homepage to search SHSU's Google Scholar. Click on the Articles & More tab and locate the Google Scholar search box at the very bottom. Enter a search term or phrase, such as "bird flu."

Like regular Google, Google Scholar returns the most relevant results first, based on an item's full text, author, source, and the number of times it has been cited in other sources. Some actions are a little different from regular Google: clicking on a title may only take you to a citation or description, rather than to the full document itself. Google Scholar will not necessarily get you to the full text of every search result.

How do I find the full-text documents in my search results?

To find the full document, look for (1) a PDF or HTML link to the right of the article title, or (2) an Online Resources @ SHSU link. These links will help you find the full text of the document, either in a publicly available place or in one of the online databases offered by SHSU.

If you don't see these links or they don't take you to the full text, you can contact the Library Service Desk for help in finding the article. Some documents will be unavailable online, but they may be available in the library building or through Interlibrary Loan .

A final word of wisdom...

Keep in mind that Google Scholar is not perfect . For more precise searching, more search features, and more content, check out the Library's individual databases and online catalog .

Google Scholar: How to use the database of academic literature for research, citations, alerts, and more

• Google Scholar is a searchable database of academic literature.
• It connects users with studies and journal articles on nearly any topic of scholarly interest.
• Google Scholar is free to search, but some of the results may require payment or membership to read.

Google Scholar is a search engine Google created to parse though a massive database of scholarly literature, looking for the best matches for your search terms.

Google Scholar was released in beta form in late 2004, and soon used far and wide by students, researchers, authors, and others. The search engine not only grants users to access vast troves of information, but it also makes it easy to cross reference things against other sources and keep up with the latest research as it is published.

And what you won't get on Google Scholar are search results from non-academic sources like personal blogs, social media posts, YouTube videos, or other less substantive and reliable sources. 

If you want fun and games, go with Google Games ; if you want scholarly research, stick with Google Scholar.

Using Google Scholar, found at scholar.google.com , you can access these kinds of sources (and more):

• Conference papers
• Academic books
• Theses and dissertations
• Technical reports

Here's everything you need to know about the powerful research tool:

Related stories

How to use Google Scholar

Anyone can access the search database. And while it's built with college and grad students, researchers, and other academics in mind, anyone can reap its benefits.

Here are just a few examples of what you can do through Google Scholar: 

• Create alerts. Google Scholar is for creating a body of research around a topic of interest, such as global warming, let's say. Much like with the standard Google Alerts , you can create alerts for the topic so you're always up-to-date on the latest info.
• Explore related works.  You can gain deeper knowledge of any topic in which you're interested by exploring related citations, authors, and publications, as identified by Google Scholar.
• Check out the References section.  Accessing an article's References section can help you branch out your research to see what sources an author used for their paper. 
• Save articles to your library.  Saving your searches to your Google Scholar library helps you organize and keep track of your favorite results. 
• Cite articles in your preferred format.  On the search results page, click the Cite button; the pop-up window will offer citations ready in whichever style you need, like MLA, APA, and Chicago.

Accessing information 

Google Scholar is free to use as a search tool. However, since it pulls information from many sources, it's possible that some of the results you pull up will require a login or even a payment to access the full information.

Whether an article is free depends on a variety of factors, like the publication and its funding agency mandates. Go to the  Public   Access  section of the Google Scholar profile to view its mandates — if a free version is available, you'll see an HTML or PDF link on the right side. 

Still, descriptions or abstracts are typically free and provide an overview of the article's content so you can make an informed decision about whether to spend money. 

Remember that not all scholarly research is created equal — different journals have different standards for publication. Not every article listed on Google Scholar will be peer-reviewed (a peer review is when the author's fellow researchers and scholars in the same field review the article's content for research quality). 

To find out whether a research article on Google Scholar is peer-reviewed, the best strategy is to visit the website of the journal the article is published in. Most peer-reviewed journals will explicitly state they are peer-reviewed.

Search tips and best practices 

• Sort your searches by date  (or specify a starting date) to find the newest, most relevant data. At the top left corner of the search results page, you can choose to search for articles published "Any time," since a given year, or in a custom range of year — say between 2015 and 2020, were you to want to research a topic without the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic coloring it. 
• Look out for the keywords  "all versions," "related articles," and "cited by" to include free versions of articles in your search results; you should look for PDFs and postings by libraries.
• Look through an article's references  to gain a deeper understanding of a topic.
• Check out metrics like the h-index to see the output and impact of a researcher or publication.

Overall, Google Scholar provides an excellent avenue into scholarly research, and while it does have its drawbacks, it's a tool that can be used to help clarify, explore and inform users about a wide variety of topics. 

Just as Google Earth can help guide you around the planet and Google Translate can demystify other languages, Google Scholar can unlock the world of academia for all.

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Reference management. Clean and simple.

Google Scholar: the ultimate guide

What is Google Scholar?

Why is google scholar better than google for finding research papers, the google scholar search results page, the first two lines: core bibliographic information, quick full text-access options, "cited by" count and other useful links, tips for searching google scholar, 1. google scholar searches are not case sensitive, 2. use keywords instead of full sentences, 3. use quotes to search for an exact match, 3. add the year to the search phrase to get articles published in a particular year, 4. use the side bar controls to adjust your search result, 5. use boolean operator to better control your searches, google scholar advanced search interface, customizing search preferences and options, using the "my library" feature in google scholar, the scope and limitations of google scholar, alternatives to google scholar, country-specific google scholar sites, frequently asked questions about google scholar, related articles.

Google Scholar (GS) is a free academic search engine that can be thought of as the academic version of Google. Rather than searching all of the indexed information on the web, it searches repositories of:

• universities
• scholarly websites

This is generally a smaller subset of the pool that Google searches. It's all done automatically, but most of the search results tend to be reliable scholarly sources.

However, Google is typically less careful about what it includes in search results than more curated, subscription-based academic databases like Scopus and Web of Science . As a result, it is important to take some time to assess the credibility of the resources linked through Google Scholar.

➡️ Take a look at our guide on the best academic databases .

One advantage of using Google Scholar is that the interface is comforting and familiar to anyone who uses Google. This lowers the learning curve of finding scholarly information .

There are a number of useful differences from a regular Google search. Google Scholar allows you to:

• copy a formatted citation in different styles including MLA and APA
• export bibliographic data (BibTeX, RIS) to use with reference management software
• explore other works have cited the listed work
• easily find full text versions of the article

Although it is free to search in Google Scholar, most of the content is not freely available. Google does its best to find copies of restricted articles in public repositories. If you are at an academic or research institution, you can also set up a library connection that allows you to see items that are available through your institution.

The Google Scholar results page differs from the Google results page in a few key ways. The search result page is, however, different and it is worth being familiar with the different pieces of information that are shown. Let's have a look at the results for the search term "machine learning.”

• The first line of each result provides the title of the document (e.g. of an article, book, chapter, or report).
• The second line provides the bibliographic information about the document, in order: the author(s), the journal or book it appears in, the year of publication, and the publisher.

Clicking on the title link will bring you to the publisher’s page where you may be able to access more information about the document. This includes the abstract and options to download the PDF.

To the far right of the entry are more direct options for obtaining the full text of the document. In this example, Google has also located a publicly available PDF of the document hosted at umich.edu . Note, that it's not guaranteed that it is the version of the article that was finally published in the journal.

Below the text snippet/abstract you can find a number of useful links.

• Cited by : the cited by link will show other articles that have cited this resource. That is a super useful feature that can help you in many ways. First, it is a good way to track the more recent research that has referenced this article, and second the fact that other researches cited this document lends greater credibility to it. But be aware that there is a lag in publication type. Therefore, an article published in 2017 will not have an extensive number of cited by results. It takes a minimum of 6 months for most articles to get published, so even if an article was using the source, the more recent article has not been published yet.
• Versions : this link will display other versions of the article or other databases where the article may be found, some of which may offer free access to the article.
• Quotation mark icon : this will display a popup with commonly used citation formats such as MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and Vancouver that may be copied and pasted. Note, however, that the Google Scholar citation data is sometimes incomplete and so it is often a good idea to check this data at the source. The "cite" popup also includes links for exporting the citation data as BibTeX or RIS files that any major reference manager can import.

Pro tip: Use a reference manager like Paperpile to keep track of all your sources. Paperpile integrates with Google Scholar and many popular academic research engines and databases, so you can save references and PDFs directly to your library using the Paperpile buttons and later cite them in thousands of citation styles:

Although Google Scholar limits each search to a maximum of 1,000 results , it's still too much to explore, and you need an effective way of locating the relevant articles. Here’s a list of pro tips that will help you save time and search more effectively.

You don’t need to worry about case sensitivity when you’re using Google scholar. In other words, a search for "Machine Learning" will produce the same results as a search for "machine learning.”

Let's say your research topic is about self driving cars. For a regular Google search we might enter something like " what is the current state of the technology used for self driving cars ". In Google Scholar, you will see less than ideal results for this query .

The trick is to build a list of keywords and perform searches for them like self-driving cars, autonomous vehicles, or driverless cars. Google Scholar will assist you on that: if you start typing in the search field you will see related queries suggested by Scholar!

If you put your search phrase into quotes you can search for exact matches of that phrase in the title and the body text of the document. Without quotes, Google Scholar will treat each word separately.

This means that if you search national parks , the words will not necessarily appear together. Grouped words and exact phrases should be enclosed in quotation marks.

A search using “self-driving cars 2015,” for example, will return articles or books published in 2015.

Using the options in the left hand panel you can further restrict the search results by limiting the years covered by the search, the inclusion or exclude of patents, and you can sort the results by relevance or by date.

Searches are not case sensitive, however, there are a number of Boolean operators you can use to control the search and these must be capitalized.

• AND requires both of the words or phrases on either side to be somewhere in the record.
• NOT can be placed in front of a word or phrases to exclude results which include them.
• OR will give equal weight to results which match just one of the words or phrases on either side.

➡️ Read more about how to efficiently search online databases for academic research .

In case you got overwhelmed by the above options, here’s some illustrative examples:

Tip: Use the advanced search features in Google Scholar to narrow down your search results.

You can gain even more fine-grained control over your search by using the advanced search feature. This feature is available by clicking on the hamburger menu in the upper left and selecting the "Advanced search" menu item.

Adjusting the Google Scholar settings is not necessary for getting good results, but offers some additional customization, including the ability to enable the above-mentioned library integrations.

The settings menu is found in the hamburger menu located in the top left of the Google Scholar page. The settings are divided into five sections:

• Collections to search: by default Google scholar searches articles and includes patents, but this default can be changed if you are not interested in patents or if you wish to search case law instead.
• Bibliographic manager: you can export relevant citation data via the “Bibliography manager” subsection.
• Languages: if you wish for results to return only articles written in a specific subset of languages, you can define that here.
• Library links: as noted, Google Scholar allows you to get the Full Text of articles through your institution’s subscriptions, where available. Search for, and add, your institution here to have the relevant link included in your search results.
• Button: the Scholar Button is a Chrome extension which adds a dropdown search box to your toolbar. This allows you to search Google Scholar from any website. Moreover, if you have any text selected on the page and then click the button it will display results from a search on those words when clicked.

When signed in, Google Scholar adds some simple tools for keeping track of and organizing the articles you find. These can be useful if you are not using a full academic reference manager.

All the search results include a “save” button at the end of the bottom row of links, clicking this will add it to your "My Library".

To help you provide some structure, you can create and apply labels to the items in your library. Appended labels will appear at the end of the article titles. For example, the following article has been assigned a “RNA” label:

Within your Google Scholar library, you can also edit the metadata associated with titles. This will often be necessary as Google Scholar citation data is often faulty.

There is no official statement about how big the Scholar search index is, but unofficial estimates are in the range of about 160 million , and it is supposed to continue to grow by several million each year.

Yet, Google Scholar does not return all resources that you may get in search at you local library catalog. For example, a library database could return podcasts, videos, articles, statistics, or special collections. For now, Google Scholar has only the following publication types:

• Journal articles : articles published in journals. It's a mixture of articles from peer reviewed journals, predatory journals and pre-print archives.
• Books : links to the Google limited version of the text, when possible.
• Book chapters : chapters within a book, sometimes they are also electronically available.
• Book reviews : reviews of books, but it is not always apparent that it is a review from the search result.
• Conference proceedings : papers written as part of a conference, typically used as part of presentation at the conference.
• Court opinions .
• Patents : Google Scholar only searches patents if the option is selected in the search settings described above.

The information in Google Scholar is not cataloged by professionals. The quality of the metadata will depend heavily on the source that Google Scholar is pulling the information from. This is a much different process to how information is collected and indexed in scholarly databases such as Scopus or Web of Science .

➡️ Visit our list of the best academic databases .

Google Scholar is by far the most frequently used academic search engine , but it is not the only one. Other academic search engines include:

• Science.gov
• Semantic Scholar
• scholar.google.fr : Sur les épaules d'un géant
• scholar.google.es (Google Académico): A hombros de gigantes
• scholar.google.pt (Google Académico): Sobre os ombros de gigantes
• scholar.google.de : Auf den Schultern von Riesen

➡️ Once you’ve found some research, it’s time to read it. Take a look at our guide on how to read a scientific paper .

No. Google Scholar is a bibliographic search engine rather than a bibliographic database. In order to qualify as a database Google Scholar would need to have stable identifiers for its records.

No. Google Scholar is an academic search engine, but the records found in Google Scholar are scholarly sources.

No. Google Scholar collects research papers from all over the web, including grey literature and non-peer reviewed papers and reports.

Google Scholar does not provide any full text content itself, but links to the full text article on the publisher page, which can either be open access or paywalled content. Google Scholar tries to provide links to free versions, when possible.

The easiest way to access Google scholar is by using The Google Scholar Button. This is a browser extension that allows you easily access Google Scholar from any web page. You can install it from the Chrome Webstore .

18 Google Scholar tips all students should know

Dec 13, 2022

[[read-time]] min read

Think of this guide as your personal research assistant.

“It’s hard to pick your favorite kid,” Anurag Acharya says when I ask him to talk about a favorite Google Scholar feature he’s worked on. “I work on product, engineering, operations, partnerships,” he says. He’s been doing it for 18 years, which as of this month, happens to be how long Google Scholar has been around.

Google Scholar is also one of Google’s longest-running services. The comprehensive database of research papers, legal cases and other scholarly publications was the fourth Search service Google launched, Anurag says. In honor of this very important tool’s 18th anniversary, I asked Anurag to share 18 things you can do in Google Scholar that you might have missed.

1. Copy article citations in the style of your choice.

With a simple click of the cite button (which sits below an article entry), Google Scholar will give you a ready-to-use citation for the article in five styles, including APA, MLA and Chicago. You can select and copy the one you prefer.

2. Dig deeper with related searches.

Google Scholar’s related searches can help you pinpoint your research; you’ll see them show up on a page in between article results. Anurag describes it like this: You start with a big topic — like “cancer” — and follow up with a related search like “lung cancer” or “colon cancer” to explore specific kinds of cancer.

Related searches can help you find what you’re looking for.

3. And don’t miss the related articles.

This is another great way to find more papers similar to one you found helpful — you can find this link right below an entry.

4. Read the papers you find.

Scholarly articles have long been available only by subscription. To keep you from having to log in every time you see a paper you’re interested in, Scholar works with libraries and publishers worldwide to integrate their subscriptions directly into its search results. Look for a link marked [PDF] or [HTML]. This also includes preprints and other free-to-read versions of papers.

5. Access Google Scholar tools from anywhere on the web with the Scholar Button browser extension.

The Scholar Button browser extension is sort of like a mini version of Scholar that can move around the web with you. If you’re searching for something, hitting the extension icon will show you studies about that topic, and if you’re reading a study, you can hit that same button to find a version you read, create a citation or to save it to your Scholar library.

Install the Scholar Button Chrome browser extension to access Google Scholar from anywhere on the web.

6. Learn more about authors through Scholar profiles.

There are many times when you’ll want to know more about the researchers behind the ideas you’re looking into. You can do this by clicking on an author’s name when it’s hyperlinked in a search result. You’ll find all of their work as well as co-authors, articles they’re cited in and so on. You can also follow authors from their Scholar profile to get email updates about their work, or about when and where their work is cited.

7. Easily find topic experts.

One last thing about author profiles: If there are topics listed below an author’s name on their profile, you can click on these areas of expertise and you’ll see a page of more authors who are researching and publishing on these topics, too.

8. Search for court opinions with the “Case law” button.

Scholar is the largest free database of U.S. court opinions. When you search for something using Google Scholar, you can select the “Case law” button below the search box to see legal cases your keywords are referenced in. You can read the opinions and a summary of what they established.

9. See how those court opinions have been cited.

If you want to better understand the impact of a particular piece of case law, you can select “How Cited,” which is below an entry, to see how and where the document has been cited. For example, here is the How Cited page for Marbury v. Madison , a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established that courts can strike down unconstitutional laws or statutes.

10. Understand how a legal opinion depends on another.

When you’re looking at how case laws are cited within Google Scholar, click on “Cited by” and check out the horizontal bars next to the different results. They indicate how relevant the cited opinion is in the court decision it’s cited within. You will see zero, one, two or three bars before each result. Those bars indicate the extent to which the new opinion depends on and refers to the cited case.

In the Cited by page for New York Times Company v. Sullivan, court cases with three bars next to their name heavily reference the original case. One bar indicates less reliance.

11. Sign up for Google Scholar alerts.

Want to stay up to date on a specific topic? Create an alert for a Google Scholar search for your topics and you’ll get email updates similar to Google Search alerts. Another way to keep up with research in your area is to follow new articles by leading researchers. Go to their profiles and click “Follow.” If you’re a junior grad student, you may consider following articles related to your advisor’s research topics, for instance.

12. Save interesting articles to your library.

It’s easy to go down fascinating rabbit hole after rabbit hole in Google Scholar. Don’t lose track of your research and use the save option that pops up under search results so articles will be in your library for later reading.

13. Keep your library organized with labels.

Labels aren’t only for Gmail! You can create labels within your Google Scholar library so you can keep your research organized. Click on “My library,” and then the “Manage labels…” option to create a new label.

14. If you’re a researcher, share your research with all your colleagues.

Many research funding agencies around the world now mandate that funded articles should become publicly free to read within a year of publication — or sooner. Scholar profiles list such articles to help researchers keep track of them and open up access to ones that are still locked down. That means you can immediately see what is currently available from researchers you’re interested in and how many of their papers will soon be publicly free to read.

15. Look through Scholar’s annual top publications and papers.

Every year, Google Scholar releases the top publications based on the most-cited papers. That list (available in 11 languages) will also take you to each publication’s top papers — this takes into account the “h index,” which measures how much impact an article has had. It’s an excellent place to start a research journey as well as get an idea about the ideas and discoveries researchers are currently focused on.

16. Get even more specific with Advanced Search.

Click on the hamburger icon on the upper left-hand corner and select Advanced Search to fine-tune your queries. For example, articles with exact words or a particular phrase in the title or articles from a particular journal and so on.

17. Find extra help on Google Scholar’s help page.

It might sound obvious, but there’s a wealth of useful information to be found here — like how often the database is updated, tips on formatting searches and how you can use your library subscriptions when you’re off-campus (looking at you, college students!). Oh, and you’ll even learn the origin of that quote on Google Scholar’s home page.

18. Keep up with Google Scholar news.

Don’t forget to check out the Google Scholar blog for updates on new features and tips for using this tool even better.

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What Google Scholar Can Do for You!: How Google Scholar Works

• Tips & Tricks
• How Google Scholar Works

How to incorporate Google Scholar into your research

Google Scholar searches specifically for scholarly materials such as journal articles, research reports, dissertations and theses, preprints, technical reports, patents, manuscripts in preparation, working papers and many other document types.

When you do a search in Google Scholar, you get a list of citations. You'll get links to the full text in the following cases:

• if   the Warner Library subscribes to the journal title
• if it's from an open access journal
• if the researcher posted the article on her/his website.

We don't really know how Google Scholar indexes items, but this is how Google Scholar defines the weighting system:

"Google Scholar aims to rank documents the way researchers do, weighing the full text of each document, where it was published, who it was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited in other scholarly literature." The most relevant results will always appear on the first page. ( http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/about.html ).

Remember, Google's goal is to make the world of information accessible and useful. It is still up to researchers to critically evaluate research materials.

Google does not search the deep web (aka Deepnet, invisible web or hidden web). These terms refer to World Wide Web content that is not part of the surface Web indexed by search engines. It is estimated that the deep Web is several orders of magnitude larger than the surface Web ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_web ). This means that Google Scholar cannot find everything that might be of use to you.

Is Google Scholar right for my research?

When using Google Scholar, it is helpful to keep these questions in mind:

• What features does it have to help me get relevant results?
• What does this tool do well?
• What does it do poorly?

As a research tool, Google Scholar is good for many tasks, and not as good for others. When deciding whether to use Google Scholar or one of the  Library's subscription databases , please keep the following in mind:

Google Scholar is good for...

• Helping a beginning researcher identify journal titles and authors connected with subjects of interest.
• Finding " gray literature " like conference proceedings. It includes many articles that wouldn't get included in other indexing services.
• Locating obscure references that are proving difficult to find in conventional databases.
• Accessing books  and  articles in a single search.
• Locating more information on partial citations.

Google Scholar cannot...

• Sort/search by disciplinary field
• Browse by title
• Limit search results
• Search the deep web

Keep in Mind:

• You may get a long list of results, but you will only have access to the text of articles that Warner Library has paid subscriptions for, or that are freely available. You may interlibrary loan articles that you see on Google Scholar via Rapid ILL Interlibrary loan tool available to you. 
• Not everything in Google Scholar is scholarly. Google Scholar searches academic websites (.edu) as well as journals and publisher websites. Search results can include powerpoints, news annoucements or unpublished materials as well as articles and books. 
• It is difficult to determine with 100% accuracy all that Google Scholar searches. Therefore, we do not know the breadth of what Google Scholar is indexing and consequently cannot judge the comprehensiveness or completeness of the results of a literature search.
• We cannot tell how frequently items in Google Scholar are updated.
• Searching in Google Scholar is imprecise when compared with  discipline-specific databases available to you from Warner Library.
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• Last Updated: Jun 24, 2024 10:43 AM
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Steps in the Research Process: Google Scholar

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• Website Evaluation
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What is Google Scholar

  Google Scholar is a search engine that allows users to search for scholarly materials on a topic.  Instead of searching the entire web (like Google), Google Scholar searchs the SCHOLARLY LITERATURE provided by numerous academic publishers, professional societies, universities and scholarly organizations .

Search results include citations from peer-reviewed journals, theses, papers, books and technical reports.

For the most part, Google Scholar provides citation-only results.  The full-text of an article or book CAN BE ACCESSED BY USING THE FIND IT@ WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE LINK.

If you are using Google Scholar off campus, you will need to set your "Scholar Preferences" to Westchester Community College.

Linking Google Scholar to WCC - Scroll all the way down

DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN CONFIGURE GOOGLE SCHOLAR TO OFFER LINKS BACK TO ARTICLES THAT YOU CAN GET THROUGH THE WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE LIBRARY?

Changing a few simple settings is all that is needed.

Go to Google Scholar - http://scholar.google.com .  Click on "SETTINGS at the top of the page.    

On the page that follows, find the section labeled LIBRARY LINKS, and enter Westchester Community College.  Click "Find Library"

You will then see two options for connecting to WCC's Full-Text databases.  Check both boxes.

Conduct a search in Google Scholar.   Look to the right to see if access if available at the WCC Library 

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A Scholar's Guide to Google

• Google Scholar
• Google Books

Using Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a special version of Google specially designed for searching scholarly literature. It covers peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research.

A Harvard ID and PIN are required for Google Scholar in order to access the full text of books, journal articles, etc. provided by licensed resources to which Harvard subscribes. Indviduals outside of Harvard may access Google Scholar directly at http://scholar.google.com/ , but they will not have access to the full text of articles provided by Harvard Library E-Resources .

Browsing Search Results

The following screenshots illustrate some of the features that accompany individual records in Google Scholar's results lists.

Find It@Harvard – Locates an electronic version of the work (when available) through Harvard's subscription library resources. If no electronic full text is available, a link to the appropriate HOLLIS Catalog record is provided for alternative formats.

Group of – Finds other articles included in this group of scholarly works, possibly preliminary, which you may be able to access. Examples include preprints, abstracts, conference papers or other adaptations.

Cited By – Identifies other papers that have cited articles in the group.

Related Articles - The list of related articles is ranked primarily by how similar these articles are to the original result, but also takes into account the relevance of each paper. Finding sets of related papers and books is often a great way for novices to get acquainted with a topic.

Cached - The "Cached" link is the snapshot that Google took of the page when they crawled the web. The page may have changed since that time and the cached page may reference images which are no longer available.

Web Search – Searches for information on the Web about this work using the Google search engine.

BL Direct – Purchase the full text of the article through the British Library. Once transferred into BL Direct, users can also link to the full collection of The British Library document supply content. Prices for the service are expressed in British pounds. Abstracts for some documents are provided.

The Advanced Search feature in Google Scholar allows researchers to limit their query to particular authors, publications, dates, and subject areas.  

Page Last Reviewed: February 25, 2008

• << Previous: Google Books
• Last Updated: Jun 8, 2017 1:21 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/googleguide

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Google Scholar Search Strategies

• About Google Scholar
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Using Google Scholar for Research

Google Scholar is a powerful tool for researchers and students alike to access peer-reviewed papers. With Scholar, you are able to not only search for an article, author or journal of interest, you can also save and organize these articles, create email alerts, export citations and more. Below you will find some basic search tips that will prove useful.

This page also includes information on Google Scholar Library - a resource that allows you to save, organize and manage citations - as well as information on citing a paper on Google Scholar.

Search Tips

• Locate Full Text
• Sort by Date
• Related Articles
• Court Opinions
• Email Alerts
• Advanced Search

Abstracts are freely available for most of the articles and UMass Lowell holds many subscriptions to journals and online resources. The first step is make sure you are affiliated with the UML Library on and off campus by Managing your Settings, under Library Links. 

When searching in Google Scholar here are a few things to try to get full text:

• click a library link, e.g., "Full-text @ UML Library", to the right of the search result;
• click a link labeled [PDF] to the right of the search result;
• click "All versions" under the search result and check out the alternative sources;
• click "More" under the search result to see if there's an option for full-text;
• click "Related articles" or "Cited by" under the search result to explore similar articles.

Your search results are normally sorted by relevance, not by date. To find newer articles, try the following options in the left sidebar:

• click "Sort by date" to show just the new additions, sorted by date;  If you use this feature a lot, you may also find it useful to setup email alerts to have new results automatically sent to you.
• click the envelope icon to have new results periodically delivered by email.

Note: On smaller screens that don't show the sidebar, these options are available in the dropdown menu labeled "Any time" right below the search button .

The Related Articles option under the search result can be a useful tool when performing research on a specific topic. 

After clicking you will see articles from the same authors and with the same keywords.

You can select the jurisdiction from either the search results page or the home page as well; simply click "select courts". You can also refine your search by state courts or federal courts. 

To quickly search a frequently used selection of courts, bookmark a search results page with the desired selection. 

 How do I sign up for email alerts?

Do a search for the topic of interest, e.g., "M Theory"; click the envelope icon in the sidebar of the search  results page; enter your email address, and click " Create alert ". Google will periodically email you newly published papers that match your search criteria. You can use any email address for this; it does not need to be a Google Account. 

If you want to get alerts from new articles published in a specific journal; type in the name of this journal in the search bar and create an alert like you would a keyword. 

How do I get notified of new papers published by my colleagues, advisors or professors?

First, do a search for your their name, and see if they have a Citations profile. If they do, click on it, and click the "Follow new articles" link in the right sidebar under the search box.

If they don't have a profile, do a search by author, e.g., [author:s-hawking], and click on the mighty envelope in the left sidebar of the search results page. If you find that several different people share the same name, you may need to add co-author names or topical keywords to limit results to the author you wish to follow.

How do I change my alerts?

If you created alerts using a Google account, you can manage them all on the "Alerts" page . 

From here you can create, edit or delete alerts. Select cancel under the actions column to unsubscribe from an alert. 

This will pop-open the advanced search menu

Here you can search specific words/phrases as well as for author, title and journal. You can also limit your search results by date.

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• Next: Google Scholar Library >>
• Last Updated: Feb 14, 2024 2:55 PM
• URL: https://libguides.uml.edu/googlescholar

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Google Scholar

• Advantages/Limitations of Google Scholar
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• Using Google Scholar from Home
• Finding Articles on Google Scholar
• Saving and Exporting Citations
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Advantages of Google Scholar

Advantages of using Google Scholar:

• Google Scholar is familiar and relatively simple to use, much like Google.
• Google Scholar allows users to search for a find a wide variety of materials including articles, books, "grey literature" like conference proceedings on a vast number of topics.
• Google Scholar allows for you to see articles related to the one that might interest you, how many times an article has been cited and by whom, and provides citations for articles in a number of styles.
• Google Scholar can display links to articles and books held through ECU Libraries. For more information, see Using Google Scholar from Home tab.
• Google Scholar allows you to save both citations and articles to read later.
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• Last Updated: Apr 3, 2024 4:14 PM
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How to Use Google Scholar

What is google scholar, save time with advanced search, get google scholar alerts.

• More Google Scholar Search Tips

Your Top Google Scholar Questions

• Get the Full Text
• Cite from Google Scholar

Google Guides

Google Scholar searches across many scholarly disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, and universities with non scholarly results filtered out. Some of these scholarly results include free full text and many more are available for free to COM students, faculty and staff.

• Google Scholar for COM (Will include results from COM databases--requires COM account).
• Google Scholar for Anyone

To access the options, click on the arrow (pull down menu) of the search box. 

You'll get options to restrict results to specific authors, publications, dates and more. 

You can create a search alert with Google Scholar to get automatic updates on your research topic. Here's how:

• Go to Google Scholar .
• Search for your topic.
• Click the envelope icon in the sidebar of the search results page.
• Enter your email address, and click "Create alert".
• Google will periodically email you newly published papers that match your search criteria.

Want to ask your own Question? Ask face 2 face, email, chat or got to asklibrary.com.edu .

• Next: Get the Full Text >>
• Last Updated: May 8, 2023 3:34 PM
• URL: https://libguides.com.edu/googlescholar

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Using Google for Research

• Google Search
• Google Scholar
• Google Books

What is Google Scholar?

Google Scholar searches for scholarly literature in a simple, familiar way. You can search across many disciplines and sources at once to find articles, books, theses, court opinions, and content from academic publishers, professional societies, some academic web sites, and more. See the Google Scholar inclusion guidelines for more about what’s in Google Scholar.

Advanced Search Tips

For more precise searching, use Google's  Advanced Scholar Search Page

• To pull up the Advanced Scholar Search menu, go to the regular Google Scholar search page.
• In the upper left corner of the page, press the button made of three horizontal lines to open a new menu. 
• Advanced Search should be the second to last option in the newly-opened menu.

Or, try these tips:

Find content by an author:.

• Add the author's name to the search, or
• Use the "author:" operator (eg. aphasia author:jones finds articles about aphasia written by people named Jones)

Search for a phrase:

• Use "quotation marks" to find phrases (eg. "allegory of the cave" plato republic finds articles about Plato's cave allegory in The Republic )

Search by words in the title:

• Use the "intitle:" operator (eg. intitle:fellini finds articles with Fellini in the title]

Setting "Library Links" Preferences in Google Scholar

1. go to scholar.google.com , and click on the menu button (3 horizontal bars) in the upper left-hand corner of the screen..

2. In the menu that appears, click "Settings"

3. Click "Library links" in the left-hand menu. 

4. Search for NYU, and select only  "New York University Libraries - View via NYU Libraries" then click "Save".

5. Conduct a new search in Google Scholar. Click the "Check via NYU Libraries" link under each search result to get NYU Libraries-subscribed access to the article. If you are off campus, you will be prompted to log in with your NetID and password before being granted access to the full-text.

6. If you encounter a search result without a "Check via NYU Libraries" link underneath it, click on the "double arrow" button below the result, and the link should appear.

• << Previous: Google Search
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• Last Updated: Jun 15, 2024 6:57 AM
• URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/google

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The Library Research Process, Step-by-Step

• Reading Scholarly Articles
• Finding & Exploring a Topic
• Finding Books
• Finding Articles
• Evaluating Sources
• Understanding & Using a Citation Style

Reading Scholarly Articles: Step-by-Step

1. Read the Abstract Section

The first step in reading a scholarly article is to read the abstract or summary of the article. Abstracts are always found at the beginning of an article and provide a basic summary or roadmap to the article. The abstract also introduces the purpose of the article.

Take a few minutes to carefully read the abstract of the practice article. Note that the abstract is not formally labeled "abstract" but is called "background and aims." Any summary at the start of an article is considered the abstract.

The abstract should always be read first to make sure the article is relevant to your topic. However, reading the abstract should never replace reading the entire article as the abstract is too brief to be used to fully understand the article.

2. Read the Conclusion Section Reading the conclusion will help you understand the main points of the article and what the authors are attempting to prove. 

3. Read the Introduction Section Now that you have an overview of the article from the abstract and understand the main points the authors are trying to prove from the conclusion, you will want to read the introduction.

4. Read the Results Section

Read the results section. Here are a couple of suggestions for deciphering results:

• If you are a visual learner, the charts may make sense to you.
• If charts are difficult to understand, look over the narrative and then return to the charts.
• Using the charts can help enhance your understanding of the narrative
• Look for works like "important" or "significant" and make special note of these phrases as these usually are signals from the author of an important result.

5. Read the Methods Section Reading the methods section will help you understand how the study or experiment was conducted. It is necessary for other researchers to understand the methods used so that they can replicate the study.

The methods section can also be difficult to read due to technical language used and density of the section. Try circling words, acronyms, and surveys you are unfamiliar with and look them up as those may be important to fully understand the article and may be necessary for future research. 

6. Read the Discussion & Limitations Section

The discussion section is where you will find the researcher's interpretation of the results. The author should answer the article's research question. Remember, you should evaluate the data to form your own conclusions. Don't just accept the author's conclusions without looking at the data for yourself.

Often authors will include a section detailing the limits to their research and their conclusions. The limitation section will usually explain conclusions that could not be drawn from the research as well as areas that future research is needed.

7. Read Through One More Time  After you have jumped around and read the different sections of the article, go back to the beginning and read the article in order. The article should be easier to read and make more sense as you will already be familiar with the main points in each section.

Watch: How to Read a Scholarly Article

Why Watch This Video? You'll learn essential strategies for reading scientific or scholarly journal articles, including:

• Identifying distinct sections (abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion) and the purpose of those sections 
• How to effectively skim content using the ADIRM process (Abstract, Discussion, Introduction, Results, Methods), which will help you assess scholarly articles' relevance and validity
• Distinguishing between main points and less relevant sub points within scholarly research articles. 
• Learning about and applying these techniques will save you time and effort when working through your course assignments.

How Reliable is Google Scholar for Research?

Google Scholar is a reliable source of research data and information for R&D teams. With its advanced search capabilities, comprehensive indexing of scholarly literature, and a vast range of resources available to researchers, Google Scholar can be an invaluable tool in the pursuit of innovation. But how reliable is Google Scholar?

This blog post will explore what makes Google Scholar so reliable by examining how it works, exploring its advantages and disadvantages as well as looking at alternative sources that may provide comparable results. Whether you’re an experienced researcher or just getting started with your project, understanding the reliability offered by Google Scholar is essential to ensure successful outcomes from your work. So let’s answer: how reliable is Google Scholar?

Table of Contents

What Is Google Scholar?

How to use google scholar effectively, advantages of using google scholar, disadvantages of using google scholar, alternatives to google scholar, conclusion: how reliable is google scholar.

how reliable is Google Scholar? Google Scholar is a free search engine developed by Google that enables users to find scholarly literature from journals, books, and other sources.

Google Scholar offers a vast selection of scholarly works, including journal articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, and preprints. Google Scholar is widely used by researchers due to its sophisticated algorithms and comprehensive selection of scholarly material from various sources.

Google Scholar’s accessibility and availability provide a major benefit to researchers. With its powerful algorithms and comprehensive coverage of academic literature across all disciplines, it offers open access to millions of documents from different sources including open-access repositories like PubMed Central or arXiv – something that traditional library databases can’t offer.

With its user-friendly interface, Google Scholar enables researchers to quickly refine their searches based on various criteria such as author name or publication year, thus optimizing the research process. 

Verifying the accuracy and reliability of sources can be a challenge when using Google Scholar, due to its lack of editorial oversight on many documents indexed. In addition, it only provides access to a limited number of sources compared with more comprehensive search engines like Scopus or Web Of Science. Although these may require payment for full-text access.

Google Scholar is a powerful tool for research and innovation teams to quickly access relevant information. By understanding how to use Google Scholar effectively, you can maximize its potential in your research process.

Key Takeaway:  Google Scholar is a powerful search tool that offers unrestricted access to vast amounts of data from diverse origins, thus rendering it an invaluable asset for researchers. However, the accuracy and reliability of some indexed materials may be questionable due to their lack of editorial oversight and limited source accessibility.

How reliable is Google Scholar? We can make it reliable by learning how to use it effectively. Using Google Scholar effectively can be a game-changer for R&D and innovation teams.

Getting set up with an account is the initial step for utilizing Google Scholar efficiently, taking only a few moments of your time. Once you have set up your account, Google Scholar’s extensive resources will be available to you.

To begin searching for relevant information, use keywords that are related to your research topic or question. You can also refine your results by using advanced search options such as language, author name, and year of publication if needed. Keeping track of all the sources you find during this process is essential to avoid duplicating work and ensure accuracy in citations when writing reports or articles later on.

Google Scholar’s convenience and breadth of resources, providing access to thousands of scholarly articles from various disciplines worldwide with just a single click, make it an ideal tool for researchers at all levels. Furthermore, its user-friendly interface makes navigation easy even for those who may not have had much experience with online databases or search engines – making it ideal for researchers at all levels.

In addition, its comprehensive coverage includes both peer-reviewed journals as well as books and conference proceedings. This ensures that no source goes undiscovered during your research process.

Unfortunately, there are some limitations associated with using Google Scholar. This is primarily because many universities do not provide full-text access so finding complete versions can be difficult sometimes (unless they are open access).

Additionally, since most content indexed by Google scholar comes from external websites there’s always a risk involved regarding verifying accuracy and reliability, especially when citing sources in publications or reports. Lastly, a limited number of sources available could lead researchers towards missing out on important references while conducting their research projects thus hampering progress significantly over time.

Alternatives exist if you need more specific material than what’s offered through Google Scholar alone. This includes academic search engines like Scopus and Web of Science as well as library databases such as JSTOR and ProQuest. There are also open-access journals like PLOS ONE and BMC.

Each platform offers unique advantages depending on what kind of data/information one needs exactly, so make sure to explore them thoroughly before deciding which option best suits individual requirements.

Using Google Scholar effectively can save time and effort when researching topics. With its comprehensive coverage of academic literature, it is a valuable tool for R&D teams to have in their arsenal. By taking advantage of the advantages discussed above, research teams will be able to quickly access relevant information and refine their results with ease.

Key Takeaway:  Google Scholar is a great asset for R&D and innovation teams, providing easy access to thousands of scholarly articles from all over the world. Although it has its limitations such as not having full-text access or difficulty verifying accuracy and reliability, there are plenty of other search engines available which can be explored depending on individual requirements. All in all, Google Scholar is an invaluable tool that shouldn’t be overlooked when conducting research.

Google Scholar is a powerful tool for research and innovation teams, offering comprehensive coverage of academic literature from various sources. Google Scholar enables research and development teams to remain abreast of the most recent advances in their field, providing access to a broad range of scholarly literature. Users can quickly locate pertinent data that satisfies their requirements through the user-friendly interface.

One of the main advantages of using Google Scholar is its availability and accessibility of resources. Google Scholar offers an extensive selection of resources, such as books, journals, articles, and conference proceedings which makes it a valuable research tool.

Furthermore, these resources are easily accessible as they are available online with just a few clicks away; this saves time and effort when searching for information. Google Scholar has been designed with simplicity in mind, making it easy for even those unfamiliar with search engines to use.

Another advantage offered by Google Scholar is its comprehensive coverage of academic literature across different disciplines such as science and technology, engineering and medicine, and others, thus providing valuable insights into current topics within each field or area of study.

This helps researchers stay updated with the most recent advancements in their fields while also giving them access to other related topics that could help broaden their understanding further on certain subjects or domains. Additionally, through advanced search options like filtering by author name or publication year, users can refine results according to specific criteria which makes finding relevant information easier and more efficient.

How reliable is google scholar? Overall, Google Scholar provides a convenient and accessible platform for researchers to access an abundance of academic literature. Despite its benefits, Google Scholar also has some potential drawbacks that should be considered before use; these will be explored further in the following section.

Key Takeaway:  Google Scholar is a go-to platform for research and innovation teams, offering easy access to an extensive range of academic literature. It provides users with the latest information in their field through its user-friendly interface, while also allowing them to refine results by author name or publication year making it easier to find relevant data quickly and efficiently.

Though its usefulness is undeniable, one must be aware of certain drawbacks when using Google Scholar for research.

One of the main disadvantages of using Google Scholar is the limited number of sources available. While it does have an extensive collection, it only includes certain types of content such as journal articles, books, conference papers, and patents.

This platform may not provide access to other types of materials such as periodicals or magazines. Additionally, many databases are not included in Google Scholar’s search engine which can make finding relevant information more difficult than if you were searching on another platform such as Academic Search Engines or Library Databases.

Another disadvantage of using Google Scholar is verifying the accuracy and reliability of sources found within its database. Since anyone can upload their work for Google Scholar indexing, there’s no assurance that all results are valid or dependable since they have not been verified by specialists in the field before being posted online.

Therefore, users must take extra caution when evaluating results from this platform before relying on them for research purposes or making any decisions based on these findings.

How reliable is Google Scholar? Overall, it is clear that Google Scholar has some disadvantages when used as a research tool. Therefore, researchers should consider other alternatives to find reliable sources of information for their projects.

Key Takeaway:  Google Scholar provides a wealth of academic literature, but is limited in its scope and reliability. Users should be aware that not all sources indexed by the platform have been vetted or verified for accuracy. Thus extra caution must be exercised when evaluating results from Google Scholar to ensure reliable research findings.

There are other search engines and databases that can provide more comprehensive coverage of academic literature than Google Scholar. Scopus and Web of Science offer researchers a wealth of peer-reviewed journals, conference papers, book chapters, and other scholarly material. Library databases like JSTOR and ProQuest also provide access to scholarly resources from leading publishers in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and business disciplines.

Open Access Journals such as  PLOS ONE or BMC are freely available online publications with content that is published under an open license allowing readers to use the material without any restrictions. These alternatives offer researchers greater control over their searches by allowing them to refine their results according to specific criteria (e.g., publication date range).

Open Access Journals like PLOS ONE or BMC offer users the opportunity to store their searches, permitting them to monitor their progress on a given topic or research project throughout its duration. By taking advantage of these tools researchers can get better insights into the topics they’re researching while ensuring accuracy and reliability in their sources at the same time.

Research smarter, not harder. Take advantage of reliable alternatives to Google Scholar like Scopus, Web of Science & Open Access Journals for comprehensive coverage and better insights. Click to Tweet

How reliable is Google Scholar? While it has some disadvantages such as its inability to provide full texts of articles or the need for manual sorting through results.

Overall, Google Scholar provides an invaluable resource that can be used in combination with other tools to maximize the efficiency of any team’s research process.  With careful consideration and the use of alternatives when necessary, Google Scholar can help your team make informed decisions quickly and reliably. 

How reliable is Google Scholar? Discover the reliability of Google Scholar with Cypris , a research platform designed to provide rapid time-to-insights for R&D and innovation teams. Uncover valuable insights quickly and efficiently by centralizing data sources into one comprehensive platform.

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Commonwealth Honors College: Getting Started With Library Research

• Discovery Search

Why Databases?

Peer reviewed/refereed/scholarly articles, best databases for starting education research, find databases by subject and format: databases a-z list, find databases by subject or topic: research guides, what if the article i want isn't available full-text, google scholar, know the journal name of the article you want try publication finder.

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Databases are collections of information. We purchase access to several databases that contain journals and magazines where you can find articles for your research.

There are two types of databases for articles:

Subject-specific: These databases gather articles from journals about specific disciplines or topics, such as Education or Art or Psychology.

• Good for: Finding scholarly articles on very specific topics

Multidisciplinary: These databases gather articles from across multiple disciplines. It could be a database that covers a wide variety of social sciences or it could be a database that covers a wide variety across the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences. Using a subject-specific database often means you can search for very specific topics and find materials.

• Good for: Finding scholarly articles on your topic from a variety of perspectives from different disciplines

Articles that are peer-reviewed can also be referred to as  peer-reviewed, refereed or scholarly articles.

Scholarly articles are written by researchers or experts in a field to share the results of their original research or analysis with other researchers, experts and students. These articles go through a process known as "peer review" where the article is reviewed by a group of experts in the field and revised based on peer feedback before being accepted and published by a journal.

This short video further explains what peer review is and why it's important.

• Video: Peer Review

These databases are examples of good subject-specific databases for researching the disciplines of Art, Education, and Psychology:

Education journal articles (EJ references) and ERIC documents (ED references), 1967-present. EDs before 1997 are requestable using the Microforms Request page and usable in the Microforms Vewing Room in the LC.

A free version of ERIC is available for all to use at this link: https://eric.ed.gov/ .

Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

These are examples of multidisciplinary databases that also have a broader focus. Social Science Premium Collection  covers multiple disciplines in the social sciences and Scopus has coverage in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences. With Scopus, you can sort by citation to see highly cited articles.

• Scopus This link opens in a new window Scopus is an indexing and abstracting database of peer-reviewed scholarly content covering the sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities, comparable to the Web of Science. Scopus allows for the discovery, tracking, and analysis of scholarship that includes: journal articles, conference proceedings, trade magazines, book series, books and book chapters, and patents. Use Scopus to: • Search for documents by topic, title, author, or institutional affiliation • Perform citation searches and establish citation alerts • Export citations to reference management systems • View impact metrics for authors and journals • Integrate Scopus content with ORCID profiles more... less... Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

We have more than 600 databases on a wide variety of topics. The spectrum ranges from databases that have a very specific topic to databases that are multidisciplinary.

The easiest way to find databases with articles on your research topic is to use the Databases A-Z List. Use the link below to go the list.

You can use the following filters to find databases based on subject and format:

• Click on the Subjects filter to narrow down to a specific subject. If you select Multidisciplinary , you will get databases that cover a wide variety of publications.
• Click on the Types filter and select the Articles  filter. This narrows down the list to databases with articles (abstract only and full-text).
• Finally, click Search .

• You can select multiple subjects. Once you've picked one subject, you can go back and select another to add.
• If you use the filters, make sure to click on Clear Filters  before switching to another subject and/or format.
• Try exploring different subjects to find databases that have other discipline perspective on your topic. For instance, you might want to explore psychology databases if you're researching the effects of a specific learning theory.
• If there's a database you want to bookmark, make sure to bookmark the link from the Databases A-Z list.
• Databases A-Z List of databases by subject and type.

Library staff at the UMass Libraries have developed research guides by subjects, topics and collections. You can look at various guides and see what resources librarians recommend for those subjects, which includes databases where you can find articles.

• UMass Amherst Libraries Research Guides

If the article that you want doesn't have full-text available, look for this icon in the result for the article and click on it:

This will search our other databases to see if it's available full-text. You'll go to a page that may list several of the options if they are available:

Google Scholar searches scholarly literature across many topics. However, we don't know what it searches - you can't tell if it's a comprehensive search of the literature. The benefit of using library databases is that you can see where the information in the database is from, such as a list of publications.

Use Our Google Scholar Link!

You want to use the Google Scholar link from the Databases A-Z list or use the link below (and use that link if you want a bookmark!)

This will allow you to search Google Scholar and if the article is in one our databases, you'll either see a link to the article on the right and/or you will see UMass Check for Full Text . The check for full text will do the same as the UMass icon described above.

Google Scholar Search Tips

• You can then limit the search by exact phrases, exclude specific words, or select where the words searched occur (anywhere or just the title). You can also search by the author, journal and/or specific date ranges.
• Most of the article search tips below will work for Google Scholar!
• Google Scholar This link opens in a new window Use to access many UMass online journal subscriptions. more... less... Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password. You can access Google Scholar with UMLinks buttons from outside the UMass Amherst IP range ("off campus") by two methods: 1. Access Google Scholar through the Library web site by using this link. 2. Go to generic Google Scholar. a. Click on "Settings." b. Click on Library links. c. Type in "University of Massachusetts" or "UMass Amherst" (or a few other variations). d. Check "University of Massachusetts Amherst - UMass Check for Full Text" and Save. e. You will be asked to authenticate somewhere along the way to full text.

If you know the name of the journal of the article that you want, you can use Publication Finder to see if we have electronic access to the journal. You can search for the name of the publication and limit by publication type.

How To Search

• If you are getting too many results, you may want to change Contains to Exact Match or Begins With to narrow the results down.
• You can also switch from Title to ISSN and search by the ISSN for the journal if you have it. You can often find the ISSN on the publisher's page for the journal. This is helpful for journals with frequently used words in the title, such as Journal or Education .
• If you see Full Text Delay , this means that there are only abstracts available for the specified number of years.

• Once you've determined that the date is available, click on the name of the database. This will bring you to the details for the publication.
• Usually there is some way to browse by the year (often on the right or in a drop-down field in a bar under the publication's name).
• There is often a link to click to search within that publication or sometimes a search bar to immediately search within the publication.
• Publication Finder Search PubFinder to see if we have electronic access to a publication by name or ISSN.
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• Last Updated: Aug 27, 2024 7:31 PM
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© 2022 University of Massachusetts Amherst • Site Policies • Accessibility

Frequently asked questions

Questions about our outreach? Here are some answers.

• Award for inclusion research program
• Computer science education research awards
• CS research mentorship program
• General university FAQs
• PhD fellowships
• Research scholar program
• Trust & Safety research awards
• Visiting Researcher Program

I am employed full-time at a university, but I am not a professor. Can I apply?

The program is open to active professors at degree-granting institutions who are advising students and conducting research.

What is the proper format for an Award for Inclusion Research proposal?

Below is an example of what a proposal may look like (though the relative length of each section may differ by proposal). The full proposal should be a maximum of 5 pages:

• [Maximum 3 Pages] The proposal overview, proposal body, and data policy.
• [Maximum 2 Pages] The CV of the primary Principal Investigator, which is required for all applications.
• We would prefer proposals to respect a minimum 10pt font size and 1-inch (2.5-cm) margins. Our reviewers value readability.
• Proposal Title
• Principal Investigator full name, contact information (postal address, email address, phone), affiliation (university, school, college and/or department)
• Research goals and problem statement
• Description of the work you'd like to do, and expected outcomes and results.
• How will your research impact an underrepresented group?
• How does your research relate to prior work in the area (including your own, if relevant)? What makes you qualified to do this research work?
• References, where applicable.
• Our goal is to support work where the output will be made available to the broader research community. To that end, we ask that you provide us with a few sentences sharing what you intend to do with the output of your project (e.g. open sourcing code, making data sets public, etc.). Please note that the awards are structured as unrestricted gifts, so there are no legal requirements once a project is selected for funding. This is simply a statement of your current intentions.
• We require a CV for at least the primary Principal Investigator on the proposal. We will accept CVs from each of the Principal Investigators listed on the proposal (up to two are allowed). Each CV must be limited to two pages. Any submitted CV that is longer than 2 pages may be cut off at 2 pages before the proposal review process begins.

Please do not add a budget section on your proposal since it will not be considered.

Can I speak to someone from the team to understand if my research is eligible?

Yes. Please review former recipient proposals to see examples of eligible research previously funded by the program. Contact [email protected] if you have unanswered questions.

Can I submit a proposal outside of the featured research areas on the main webpage?

Yes, we have a miscellaneous area in the application. Feel free to submit a proposal in any research area, in computing and technology, that addresses the needs of historically marginalized groups globally.

Does the co-PI need to meet the same eligibility criteria as the primary PI?

Yes, the co-PI must meet the same eligibility criteria as the primary PI. We are providing an exception if the co-PI is a postdoctoral researcher.

Can I submit a proposal around pre college research efforts?

No, proposals should only be focused on higher education.

Can I submit a proposal around funding a larger program?

This is not applicable for the AIR program unless the proposal studies the efficacy and applies research to the larger program.

Open advice to Google Research Awards proposal writers

As a part of the group of engineers that review proposals for this program, we read a lot of proposals. We'd like to read more good proposals. Here's some advice on how you can improve the content of your short proposal and make reviewing it easier.

A good research grant proposal:

• Clearly specifies a problem. Good research is driven by a great problem or question, and a good proposal starts with a clearly specified one.
• Describes a specific, credible, relevant outcome. Try to identify a specific and appropriately sized outcome, to give us a clear notion of what the research award would be enabling. What will likely come to be that might otherwise not happen? While this outcome should be a decisive step towards achieving your vision, it generally won't be adequate to completely achieve it. It often helps to describe both the minimum that is likely to be accomplished and a potential best-case. Since picking the right datasets and test cases is often important, tell us which ones you plan to use.
• Crisply differentiates the proposed contribution from prior work. Please apply normal practices (citations, etc.) for documenting how your work will materially advance the state of the art. Make it clear how your work will be changing the state of the art, and not simply trying to match it.
• Tells us how the research challenge(s) will be addressed. Successful research projects combine a great problem with ideas for solutions, too. We recognize that all the answers won't be known yet, but we'd like to feel that the direction has been established, and a plausible path has been identified. (Try to avoid proposals of the form "We want to look at problem X".) It's hard to have a big impact without taking risks, but please identify what the difficulties are likely to be and how you plan to mitigate them. It may help to explain how you succeeded in addressing analogous problems in other projects.
• Puts the proposed work in context. Most projects we fund also have support from other sources. To help us understand the expected impact of Google support, please explain what funding you already have for this area of research and how the proposed work relates to your existing plans. Do you plan to build a capability for other research, provide a tool, reproduce a prior result, collaborate with others to try something out, follow up on a promising idea, or explore a new one? All are potentially of interest; we just want to know.
• Makes the case to a non-expert. While we try to have your proposal reviewed by a Google expert in your field, it will also be read by non-experts, so please make at least the motivation and outcomes broadly accessible.
• Tells us how this research impacts an underserved community and why you are qualified to do this research. It can be through social, cultural, or regional expertise, specifically related to the research to conduct successful work.
• The proposal should show promise that it will benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes.

What research areas do the CS-ER Awards support?

Priority research areas include, but are not limited to:

• Developmental readiness: What are effective instructional strategies for identifying whether a student is developmentally ready to learn particular CS concepts?
• Engagement: How does early CS experience impact future interest in CS?
• Equity: What interventions, supports, approaches or materials are most effective for increasing engagement and success for students from historically marginalized groups?
• Implementation: How can districts and states verify the effectiveness of their CS education implementations?
• Preservice education: What exemplary and scalable models exist for incorporating CS learning into teacher preparation programs?
• Professional development: What are the best practices for CS PD in terms of positively impacting student learning?
• Teaching CS: What models of CS content delivery provide the largest impact on students learning (after school, in school discrete courses, in school integrated into other disciplines)? How do we measure effective CS teaching?

Are students attending institutions outside the United States and Canada eligible?

No, students attending institutions outside the United States and Canada are not eligible for CSRMP at this time. We hope to expand to other regions/countries in future academic years.

What is considered an adjacent field for computer science?

CSRMP supports students from historically marginalized groups in their pursuit of computing research pathways. In order for students to have a beneficial experience in the program, students should be enrolled in a degree-granting program in Computer Science, an adjacent field (e.g., Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Information Science, Information Systems, Information Technology), or a field that includes a programming/computer science foundation.

Will feedback be provided on the proposal that we submit?

No, applicants will not receive feedback on the proposal submitted.

Is it possible to receive an extension?

No, all applications must be submitted by 11:59:59pm on the day of the application deadline. Late submissions are not reviewed, and extensions are not granted.

What is considered a “historically marginalized group"?

The definition of who is historically marginalized is responsive to a specific region, context, and its nuances; the proposal should define the students from groups historically marginalized in computing research that the initiative aims to impact, and how the initiative will address their needs.

What opportunities do you have for university students?

You can find information on our programs for students on the Student Page of Google’s job site.

How can I find more information about recruiting, on-campus events, or other non-research topics?

You can visit our student site at google.com/students .

How can I submit an idea to Google.org?

For information on philanthropic initiatives at Google, visit the Google.org site.

Does Google have a program to supply professors with Android phones or Chrome OS devices for research or teaching purposes?

If a professor needs phones, tablets, or Chromebooks for research purposes, he or she can submit an application to our Faculty Research Awards program requesting the budget needed to purchase the devices. Google does not currently have a program to provide Android phones or other hardware to be used for teaching or classroom purposes.

I have a question I need additional help with. Who can I contact?

Please look through the entire FAQ above before writing in; we will not be able to respond to questions whose answers are contained in this document. For questions about students, recruiting, on-campus events, or other non-research topics regarding universities in North America, please email [email protected] . If you have questions specific to your region, you may send questions to [email protected] for universities in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East, or to [email protected] for universities in China. Please note that due to the high volume of emails we receive, we may not be able to respond to questions or requests that don't fall into one of the categories listed above.

What does the Google PhD Fellowship include?

Students receive named Fellowships which include a monetary award. The funds are given directly to the university to be distributed to cover the student’s expenses and stipend as appropriate. In addition, the student will be matched with a Google Research Mentor. There is no employee relationship between the student and Google as a result of receiving the fellowship. The award does not preclude future eligibility for internships or employment opportunities at Google, nor does it increase the chances of obtaining them. If students wish to apply for a job at Google, they are welcome to apply for jobs and go through the same hiring process as any other person.

• Up to 3 year Fellowship
• US $12K to cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel
• Google Research Mentor

Australia and New Zealand

• 1 year Fellowship
• AUD $15K to cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel

Canada and the United States

• Up to 2 year Fellowship (effective from 2024 for new recipients)
• Full tuition and fees (enrollment fees, health insurance, books) plus a stipend to be used for living expenses, travel and personal equipment
• US $10K to cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel
• Yearly bursary towards stipend / salary, health care, social benefits, tuition and fees, conference travel and personal computing equipment. The bursary varies by country.

Early-stage PhD students

• Up to 4 year Fellowship
• US $50K to cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel

Late-stage PhD students

• US $10K to recognise research contributions, cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel

Latin America

• US $15K per year to cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel

Southeast Asia

• US $10K per year for up to 3 years (or up to graduation, whichever is earlier) to cover stipend and other research related activities, travel expenses including overseas travel

Is my university eligible for the PhD Fellowship Program?

Africa, Australia/New Zealand , Canada, East Asia, Europe and the United States : universities must be an accredited research institution that awards research degrees to PhD students in computer science (or an adjacent field).

India, Latin America and Southeast Asia : applications are open to universities/institutes in India, Latin America (excluding Cuba), and in eligible Southeast Asian countries/regions (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam).

Restrictions : All award payments and recipients will be reviewed for compliance with relevant US and international laws, regulations and policies. Google reserves the right to withhold funding that may violate laws, regulations or our policies.

What are the eligibility requirements for students?

All regions

• Students must remain enrolled full-time in the PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship or forfeit the award.
• Google employees, and their spouses, children, and members of their household are not eligible.
• Students that are already supported by a comparable industry award are not eligible. Government or non-profit organization funding is exempt.
• Past awardees from the PhD Fellowship program are not eligible to apply again.
• Grant of the Fellowship does not mean admission to a PhD program. The awardee must separately apply and be accepted to a PhD program in computer science (or an adjacent field) at an eligible institution.
• Grant of the Fellowship will be subject to the rules and guidelines applicable in the institution where the awardee registers for the PhD program.

Nominated students in Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Canada and the United States, East Asia and Europe.

Universities should only nominate students that meet the following requirements:

• Africa: Incoming PhD students are eligible to apply, but the Fellowship award shall be contingent on the awardee registering for a full-time PhD program in computer science (or an adjacent field) within the academic award year of the Fellowship award, or the award shall be forfeited.
• Australia and New Zealand : early-stage students enrolled in the first or second year of their PhD (no requirement for completion of graduate coursework by the academic award year).
• Canada and the United States : students who have completed graduate coursework in their PhD by the academic award year when the Fellowship begins.
• East Asia: students who have completed most of graduate coursework in their PhD by the academic award year when the Fellowship begins. Students should have sufficient time for research projects after receiving a fellowship.
• Europe: Students enrolled at any stage of their PhD are eligible to apply.

Direct applicant students in India, Latin America and Southeast Asia

• Latin America : incoming or early stage-students enrolled in the first or second year of their PhD (no requirement for completion of graduate coursework by the academic award year).

What should be included in an application? What language should the application be in?

All application materials should be submitted in English.

For each student nomination, the university will be asked to submit the following material in a single, flat (not portfolio) PDF file:

• Student CV with links to website and publications (if available)
• Short (1-page) resume/CV of the student's primary PhD program advisor
• Available transcripts (mark sheets) starting from first year/semester of Bachelor's degree to date
• Research proposal (maximum 3 pages, excluding references)
• 2-3 letters of recommendation from those familiar with the nominee''s work (at least one from the thesis advisor for current PhD students)
• Student essay response (350-word limit) to: What impact would receiving this Fellowship have on your education? Describe any circumstances affecting your need for a Fellowship and what educational goals this Fellowship will enable you to accomplish.
• Transcripts of current and previous academic records
• 1-2 letters of recommendation from those familiar with the nominee's work (at least one from the thesis advisor)

Canada, East Asia, the United States

• Cover sheet signed by the Department Chair confirming the student passes eligibility requirements. (See FAQ "What are the eligibility requirements for students?")
• Short (1-page) CV of the student's primary advisor
• 2-3 letters of recommendation from those familiar with the nominee's work (at least one from the thesis advisor)
• Research / dissertation proposal (maximum 3 pages, excluding references)
• Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe the desired impact your research will make on the field and society, and why this is important to you. Include any personal, educational and/or professional experiences that have motivated your research interests.
• Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. (A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities? Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?)

India and Southeast Asia

Students will need the following documents in a single, flat (not portfolio) PDF file in order to complete an application (in English only):

• Student applicant’s resume with links to website and publications (if available)
• Short (one-page) resume/CV of the student applicant's primary PhD program advisor
• 2-3 letters of recommendation from those familiar with the applicant's work (at least one from the thesis advisor for current PhD students)
• Applicant's essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe the desired impact your research will make on the field and society, and why this is important to you. Include any personal, educational and/or professional experiences that have motivated your research interests.
• Applicant's essay response (350-word limit) to: What are your long-term goals for your pathway in computing research, and how would receiving the Google PhD Fellowship help you progress toward those goals in the short-term?

How do I apply for the PhD Fellowship Program? Who should submit the applications? Can students apply directly for a Fellowship?

Check the FAQ for details on eligibility and application requirements in your region before applying. Submission forms are available on the main Google PhD Fellowship Program page when the application period begins.

India, Latin America and Southeast Asia: students may apply directly during the application period.

Africa, Australia, Canada, East Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and the United States : students cannot apply directly to the program; they must be nominated by an eligible university during the application period.

How many students may each university nominate?

India, Latin America and Southeast Asia : applications are open directly to students with no limit to the number of students that can apply from a university.

Australia and New Zealand : universities may nominate up to two eligible students.

Canada and the United States : Universities may nominate up to four eligible students. We encourage nominating students with diverse backgrounds especially those from historically marginalized groups in the field of computing. If more than two students are nominated then we strongly encourage additional nominees who self-identify as a woman, Black / African descent, Hispanic / Latino / Latinx, Indigenous, and/or a person with a disability.

Africa, East Asia and Europe : Universities may nominate up to three eligible students. We encourage nominating students with diverse backgrounds especially those from historically marginalized groups in the field of computing. If more than two students are nominated then we strongly encourage the additional nominee who self-identifies as a woman.

*Applications are evaluated on merit. Please see FAQ for details on how applications are evaluated.

How are applications evaluated?

Applications are evaluated on the strength of the research proposal, research impact, student academic achievements, and leadership potential. Research proposals are evaluated for innovative concepts that are relevant to Google’s research areas, as well as aspects of robustness and potential impact to the field. Proposals should include the direction and any plans of where your work is going in addition to a comprehensive description of the research you are pursuing.

In Canada and the United State, East Asia and Latin America, essay responses are evaluated in addition to application materials to determine an overall recommendation.

A nominee's status as a member of a historically marginalized group is not considered in the selection of award recipients.

Research should align with Google AI Principles .

Incomplete proposals will not be considered.

How are Google PhD Fellowships given?

Any monetary awards will be paid directly to the Fellow's university for distribution. No overhead should be assessed against them.

What are the intellectual property implications of a Google PhD Fellowship?

Fellowship recipients are not subject to intellectual property restrictions unless they complete an internship at Google. If that is the case, they are subject to the same intellectual property restrictions as any other Google intern.

Will the Fellowship recipients become employees of Google?

No, Fellowship recipients do not become employees of Google due to receiving the award. The award does not preclude future eligibility for internships or employment opportunities at Google, nor does it increase the chances of obtaining them. If they are interested in working at Google, they are welcome to apply for jobs and go through the same hiring process as any other person.

Can Fellowship recipients also be considered for other Google scholarships?

Yes, Fellowship recipients are eligible for these scholarships .

After award notification, when do the Google PhD Fellowships begin?

After Google PhD Fellowship recipients are notified, the Fellowship is effective starting the following school year.

What is the program application time period?

Applications for the 2024 program will open in March 2024 and close in May 2024 for all regions. Refer to the main Google PhD Fellowship Program page for each region’s application details.

A global awards announcement will be made in September on the Google Research Blog publicly announcing all award recipients.

How can I ask additional questions?

Due to the volume of emails we receive, we may not be able to respond to questions where the answer is available on the website. If your question has not been answered by a FAQ, email:

Africa: [email protected]

Australia and New Zealand: [email protected]

Canada and the United States: [email protected]

East Asia: [email protected]

Europe: [email protected]

India: [email protected]

Latin America: [email protected]

Southeast Asia: [email protected]

What is the evaluation criteria when assessing proposals?

To ensure fairness, we use a scoring rubric for consistency across reviews. We look at the criteria below to assess proposals. Proposals must comply with the required format and other Research Scholar Program guidelines.

• Faculty Merit : Faculty is accomplished in research, community engagement, and open source contributions, with potential to contribute to responsible innovation.
• Research Merit : Faculty's proposed research is aligned with Google Research interests, innovative, and likely to have a significant impact on the field.
• Proposal Quality : The research proposal is clear, focused, and well-organized, and it demonstrates the team's ability to successfully execute the research and achieve a significant impact.
• Broadening Participation : Faculty is committed to broadening participation in computing through their work on a variety of initiatives, including, for example, designing and deploying programs, and training and mentoring students from historically marginalized groups.
• AI Ethics Principles : The research proposal strongly aligns with Google's AI Principles .

What are the steps for the selection process?

• November: Applications open
• December/January: Proposal reviews and scoring
• February: Committee reviews proposals, scoring and make selections
• March: Approval process for selected proposals
• April: Applicants are notified of decision

We completely understand the desire to receive feedback and do our best to meet this request. However, due to the high volume of applications received, you may not receive feedback on your proposal. To ensure fairness, we use a scoring rubric for consistency across reviews.

How many times can I apply for the Research Scholar program?

Faculty may apply up to a maximum of 3 times within the 7 years they received their PhD.

Can I receive this award more than once?

Faculty can receive a Research Scholar award only once. Previous Faculty Research Award recipients are still eligible to receive a Research Scholar award.

Who is eligible to apply for the Research Scholar Program?

Institutions:

• We accept applications from full-time faculty at universities around the world. Funding is focused on supporting the faculty’s research. We do not allow applications from non-degree-granting research institutions.
• Since our funding is structured as unrestricted gifts to degree-granting Universities, we cannot process awards to other institutions (e.g. not-for-profits institutions, hospitals, non-degree-granting research institutes, etc) even if they are affiliated with a University. A Principal Investigator must apply in his or her capacity as a university professor and must be able to accept an award through that University.

Principal Investigator Requirements:

• Global faculty who have received their PhD less than 7 years from submission from degree-granting institutions who are doing research within fields relevant to Google.
• An applicant may only serve as Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator on one proposal per round, they cannot be listed on two separate proposals.
• We understand that titles may differ globally. In order for someone without the title of professor to apply, he or she must be a full-time faculty member at an eligible institution and serve as a formal advisor to masters or PhD students. We may, at our discretion, provide funding for Principal Investigators who advise undergraduate students at colleges that do not award advanced degrees.

Past Applicants:

• If an applicant’s proposal was not selected for funding the previous round, they are welcome to apply with a new proposal (or substantively revised proposal) the following round. A Principal Investigator can apply a maximum of 3 times within the 7 years post-PhD.

How do I apply for the Research Scholar Program?

The application process includes filling out an online form requesting basic information and uploading a PDF proposal via the form. As part of the online form, you will be asked to select a topic area. Please select carefully, as this will help us in ensuring your proposal is read by the appropriate reviewers. Do not send any confidential or proprietary information in your proposal. Any information you send us as part of your application will be considered not confidential regardless of any markings or designations on it.

I have a social science background, can I still apply?

Yes. We focus on funding social science research that looks at technology's implications and impacts on individuals and society. We typically review submissions from fields like human-computer interaction, psychology, and science and technology studies, as well as research in computer science fields with a strong emphasis on the human experience.

What is the proper format for a Research Scholar proposal?

• The proposal should be a maximum of 5 pages if you are a sole Principal Investigator.
• If you choose not to include the co-Principal Investigator’s CV then your proposal should only be 5 pages.
• The extra 2 pages will only accommodate for an additional CV, not for additional proposal content.
• The maximum page limit includes the 2-page CV of the primary Principal Investigator, which is required for all applications (again a 2-page CV for a co-Principal Investigator is optional).
• To be fair to you and others, we do not consider proposals longer than the maximum page limit.
• We request a Google Scholar profile link as part of the online application form. Our reviewers find it helpful to be able to easily reference a Principal Investigator's publication history to see how the current proposal relates to past work the Principal Investigator has done in relevant fields. The Google Scholar profile complements, but does not replace, the Principal Investigator's 2-page CV.
• We do not require a budget breakdown since we have flat funding amounts we will grant based on region.
• Below is an example of what a proposal may look like (though the relative length of each section may differ by proposal).

Proposal Format

• Research goals, including a problem statement.
• Description of the work you'd like to do, as well as the expected outcomes and results.
• How this relates to prior work in the area (including your own, if relevant)
• The maximum length of a Principal Investigator CV is two pages. Any submitted CV that is longer than 2 pages may be cut off at two pages before the proposal review process begins.
• We require a CV for at least the primary Principal Investigator on the proposal. We will accept CVs from each of the Principal Investigators listed on the proposal (up to two are allowed). Each CV must be limited to two pages.

Should I add a budget breakdown in my proposal?

Please do not include budget details in your proposal. We will be providing flat funding amounts based on the cost of student tuition on a regional basis.

How much funds will I get if I am awarded?

We provide support up to $60,000 USD depending on the cost of student tuition on a regional basis.

I am not eligible for this program, how can I apply to other programs?

Our website is consistently updated with new programs we offer. We encourage you to connect with our Google researchers at conferences to build more opportunities for applying to research grants.

Are Research Scholar Awards eligible for extensions?

The program is designed to support one year of work. If you are selected as a recipient of a Research Scholar award, we will partner you with a Google sponsor who can navigate the potential of an extension.

Can I speak to someone from the Research Scholar team to ask additional questions?

We will be providing limited email support via [email protected] . Due to the volume of emails we receive, we may not be able to respond to questions where the answer is available on the website.

What is the timeline?

• September 20, 2023: Applications close
• October 2023: Notification of proposal decisions

The program is open to active faculty members at degree-granting institutions who are advising students and conducting research and Principal Investigators employed at universities and academic research institutions.

What is the disclosure policy for the proposals?

Our goal is to support work where the output will be made available to the broader research community. To that end, we ask that you provide us with a few sentences sharing what you intend to do with the output of your project (e.g., publications, open sourcing code, making data sets public, etc.).

Can I submit a proposal outside of the areas of interest outlined above?

Yes, proposals directly applicable to Trust & Safety in technology research will be accepted.

Reviewers will do their best to provide limited feedback on submitted proposals.

Applications are evaluated on the strength of the research proposal, research impact, feasibility, and responsible research. Research proposals are evaluated for innovative concepts that are relevant to Google’s research areas, as well as aspects of robustness and potential impact to the field. Proposals should include the direction and any plans of where your work is going in addition to a comprehensive description of the research you are pursuing.

Do countries in the United Kingdom/Great Britain meet the grant preference for “projects that work within an EU context”?

While preference will be given to proposals addressing trust & safety issues in European Union (EU) member states, we are accepting and will consider proposals from all countries listed on the list of eligible countries in the application form.

No, all applications must be submitted by 11:59 pm PST, Wednesday, September 20. Late submissions will not be reviewed.

We will be providing limited email support via [email protected] . Due to the volume of emails we receive, we may not be able to respond to questions quickly.

Open advice to proposal writers

Here's some guidance on how you strengthen your short proposal. A good research grant proposal:

How many times can I express interest in the Visiting Researcher Program?

Faculty and PhD graduates can express interest multiple times, but will only be contacted if a role becomes available. We expect there to be a high amount of interest for these positions.

I have a social science background, can I still express interest?

Yes. Google is actively focused on social science research that looks at technology's implications and impacts on individuals and society. We engage faculty and PhD graduates from fields like human-computer interaction, psychology, and science and technology studies, as well as research in computer science fields with a strong emphasis on the human experience.

We will be providing limited email support via [email protected] . Due to the volume of emails we receive, we may not be able to respond to questions where the answer is available on the website.

We believe open collaboration is essential for progress

We're proud to work with academic and research institutions to push the boundaries of AI and computer science. Learn more about our student and faculty programs, as well as our global outreach initiatives.