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Research Impact and Visibility: Day 1: Google Scholar Profile & ORCID
A guide on tools to promote your research and increase citations
ORCID
There’s a lot
of potential for confusion and mistaken identities in scholarly
publishing. You might share a name with other, similarly named
researchers! Or you might have changed your name at some point during
your career. How are others supposed to know if they’ve found the right
you?
of potential for confusion and mistaken identities in scholarly
publishing. You might share a name with other, similarly named
researchers! Or you might have changed your name at some point during
your career. How are others supposed to know if they’ve found the right
you?
Luckily, some smart people have been working to make name disambiguation easy.
ORCID IDs are permanent identifiers for researchers. They protect your unique scholarly identity and help you keep your publication record up-to-date with very little effort.
ORCID was
founded in 2012 as a non-profit organization comprised of publishers,
funders, and institutions like Nature Publishing Group, Wellcome Trust,
and Cornell University. Over 1 million researchers have ORCID IDs so
far, and the number continues to grow.
founded in 2012 as a non-profit organization comprised of publishers,
funders, and institutions like Nature Publishing Group, Wellcome Trust,
and Cornell University. Over 1 million researchers have ORCID IDs so
far, and the number continues to grow.
Setting up your
ORCID profile will help you claim your correct, complete publication
record. In this challenge, you’re going to claim your ORCID ID so you
can automate the collection of your work and related metrics in a future
challenge.
ORCID profile will help you claim your correct, complete publication
record. In this challenge, you’re going to claim your ORCID ID so you
can automate the collection of your work and related metrics in a future
challenge.
Here’s how to get started with ORCID.
Step 1. Claim your ORCID in under 30 seconds
- First things first: logon to ORCID.org/register and sign up for an ORCID account.
- At this step in the process, you’ll
add very basic information like your name and email address, choose a
default level of privacy for your profile, accept ORCID’s terms of use,
and click “Register”. - If your name is already in the ORCID system, you’ll then be prompted to claim an existing profile or make a new one.
Congrats! You now have an ORCID identifier. And now you’re on your way to having an ORCID profile, too.
Step 2. Fill out your ORCID profile
Next, you’ll fill out your ORCID profile so that others can verify who you are, and also learn more about you.
First, add links to your Google Scholar, your personal website, and any other websites where you’ve got a scholarly profile.
- On the left-hand menu on your main profile page, click the pencil “Edit” icon next to “Websites.”
- In the fields that appear, add
links to your Google Scholar and other professional profiles you’ve
created. Also add a link to your website or faculty page. Describe each
link adequately enough so your profile’s viewers know if they’re going
to click a Google Scholar link vs. something else. - Click “Save changes” when you’re done.
Import your publications by connecting other scholarly identifiers
Any type of scholarly output you create, ORCID can handle.
Are you a
traditional scientist, who writes only papers and the occasional book
chapter? ORCID can track ‘em. Are you instead a cutting-edge
computational biologist who releases datasets and figures for your thesis,
as they are created? ORCID can track that, too. Not a scientist at all,
but an art professor? You can import your works using ORCID, as well,
using ISNI2ORCID… you get the idea.
traditional scientist, who writes only papers and the occasional book
chapter? ORCID can track ‘em. Are you instead a cutting-edge
computational biologist who releases datasets and figures for your thesis,
as they are created? ORCID can track that, too. Not a scientist at all,
but an art professor? You can import your works using ORCID, as well,
using ISNI2ORCID… you get the idea.
ORCID will even start importing information about your service to your discipline soon!
To connect to other identifiers and indices:
- From your main profile page, scroll
down to the “Works” section and click the “add some now” link. You’ll
then be prompted to connect to the services of your choice.
- Once you’ve connected your
profiles, your works will be imported automatically to ORCID. If you’ve
connected another scholarly identifier like your Scopus Author ID, a
link will appear in your left-hand menu bar.
Complete your personal information
Finally, add your education credentials and employment history that might not have imported when you connected other services.
Under each
section, click the “Add Manually” button, fill out as much descriptive
information as you’re comfortable sharing, choose the level of privacy
you’d prefer under the “Who can see this?” section in the upper right of
the pop-up box, and then click “Add to list” to commit it to your
profile.
section, click the “Add Manually” button, fill out as much descriptive
information as you’re comfortable sharing, choose the level of privacy
you’d prefer under the “Who can see this?” section in the upper right of
the pop-up box, and then click “Add to list” to commit it to your
profile.
Step 3. Complete your publication record
It’s possible that not all of your publications and other works will have imported. You can add them in three ways:
- Manually by clicking the “Add Work Manually” button under your Works section and adding the publications one-by-one.
- Importing works from your Mendeley profile (if you have one already by) using the Mendeley2ORCID service.
Just login with your ORCID ID in the top-right corner of the screen,
approve a sync with Mendeley, and your works will be imported to ORCID. - Batch import your works using the new BibTeX import button.
You can export your works from Google Scholar, EndNote, and many other
reference management services in BibTeX format, then click the “Link
BibTeX” button under the Works section of your profile, upload your
BibTeX file, and you’re done!
If any
duplicate records were imported with the Mendeley sync or BibTeX import,
you can delete them by clicking the trashcan icon next to the duplicate
work’s title.
duplicate records were imported with the Mendeley sync or BibTeX import,
you can delete them by clicking the trashcan icon next to the duplicate
work’s title.
Step 4. Connect ORCID to the rest of your online life
You can connect your ORCID account with websites including Web of Science, Figshare, and Impactstory, among many others.
Once they’re
connected, you can easily push information back and forth between
services–meaning that a complete ORCID record will allow you to
automatically import the same information to multiple places, rather
than having to enter the same information over and over again on
different websites.
connected, you can easily push information back and forth between
services–meaning that a complete ORCID record will allow you to
automatically import the same information to multiple places, rather
than having to enter the same information over and over again on
different websites.
And new services are connecting to ORCID every day, sharing information across an increasing number of platforms–repositories, funding agencies, and more!
Limitations
ORCID is still a
relatively basic service. You cannot edit incorrect entries,
automatically detect and remove duplicates, or export your profile
information in BibTeX, JSON-LD, or other researcher-friendly formats.
relatively basic service. You cannot edit incorrect entries,
automatically detect and remove duplicates, or export your profile
information in BibTeX, JSON-LD, or other researcher-friendly formats.
ORCID also has
gaps in its coverage. It doesn’t find all of your publications, all of
the time, and connectable third-party services like Scopus don’t always,
either. That means you might have to manually add some works and
information to your profile, same as you do for Google Scholar, and all
other scholarly profiles.
gaps in its coverage. It doesn’t find all of your publications, all of
the time, and connectable third-party services like Scopus don’t always,
either. That means you might have to manually add some works and
information to your profile, same as you do for Google Scholar, and all
other scholarly profiles.
Google Scholar Profile
Google Scholar
Let’s dig in with Google Scholar.
In addition to
providing a academic search platform, Google Scholar allows you to
showcase your papers and the citations they’ve received. Google Scholar
also calculates a platform-dependent h-index, which many researchers
love to track (for better or for worse).
providing a academic search platform, Google Scholar allows you to
showcase your papers and the citations they’ve received. Google Scholar
also calculates a platform-dependent h-index, which many researchers
love to track (for better or for worse).
In today’s
challenge, we’re going to get you to use Google Scholar, so you can up
your scholarly SEO (search engine optimization, aka “googleability”),
more easily share your publications with new readers, and discover new
citations to your work.
challenge, we’re going to get you to use Google Scholar, so you can up
your scholarly SEO (search engine optimization, aka “googleability”),
more easily share your publications with new readers, and discover new
citations to your work.
Step 1: Create your basic profile
- Log on to scholar.google.com and click the “My Citations” link at the top of the page to get your account setup started.
- On the first screen, add your
affiliation information and university email address so Google Scholar
can confirm your account. Add keywords that are relevant to your
research interests so others can find you when browsing a subject area.
Provide a link to your faculty page. - Click “Next Step,” and--that’s it! Your basic profile is done. Now, let’s add some publications to it.
Step 2: Add publications
Google has
likely already been indexing your work for some time now as part of
their mission as a scholarly search engine. However, keep in mind that Google Scholar does not index everything.
likely already been indexing your work for some time now as part of
their mission as a scholarly search engine. However, keep in mind that Google Scholar does not index everything.
Google Scholar
will provide you with a list of publications they think belong to you.
You’ll need to read through the list of publications that it suggests as
yours and select which ones you want to add to your profile.
will provide you with a list of publications they think belong to you.
You’ll need to read through the list of publications that it suggests as
yours and select which ones you want to add to your profile.
Beware--if you
have a common name, it’s likely there’s some publications in this list
that don’t belong to you. And there’s also possibly content that you
don’t want on your profile because it’s not a scholarly article, or is
not representative of your current research path, and so on.
have a common name, it’s likely there’s some publications in this list
that don’t belong to you. And there’s also possibly content that you
don’t want on your profile because it’s not a scholarly article, or is
not representative of your current research path, and so on.
Read through
the publications list and deselect any that you do not want to add to
your profile (like the below newsletter item that Google Scholar thinks
is a scholarly article).
Click the grey “Add” button at the top of your profile.
Confirm you
want Google to automatically add new publications to your profile in the
future. If you’ve got a very common name, note that this might add
publications you didn’t author to your profile. But if you’re a prolific
author, it can be worth it for the time it saves you approving new
articles every month.
Your profile is
now almost complete! Two more steps: add a photo by clicking the
“Change Photo” link on your profile homepage, and set your private
profile to “Public.”
now almost complete! Two more steps: add a photo by clicking the
“Change Photo” link on your profile homepage, and set your private
profile to “Public.”
Step 3: Make your profile public
Your profile is
private if you’ve just created it. Change your profile visibility by
clicking the link to "Make it public" under your name and title. You can
also make your profile public by clicking the Edit button and selecting
the box next to the words "Make my profile public."
private if you’ve just created it. Change your profile visibility by
clicking the link to "Make it public" under your name and title. You can
also make your profile public by clicking the Edit button and selecting
the box next to the words "Make my profile public."
Step 4: Add co-authors
Adding
co-authors is a good way to let others know you’re now on Google
Scholar. However, you can only add co-authors who have already created
their own Google Scholar profiles. Google Scholar tries to find authors
who have user profiles and list them for you. Thus, if you don’t see
co-authors, it’s likely they don’t have Google Scholar user profiles.
co-authors is a good way to let others know you’re now on Google
Scholar. However, you can only add co-authors who have already created
their own Google Scholar profiles. Google Scholar tries to find authors
who have user profiles and list them for you. Thus, if you don’t see
co-authors, it’s likely they don’t have Google Scholar user profiles.
To add a
suggested co-author, find the “Co-authors” section on the top right-hand
section of your profile, and then click the plus-sign next to each co-
author you want to add.
That’s it! Now
you’ve got a Google Scholar profile that helps you track when your work
has been cited both in the peer-reviewed literature and, and is yet
another scholarly landing page that’ll connect others with your
publications. The best part? Google Scholar is pretty good at
automatically adding new stuff to your profile, meaning you won’t have
to do a lot of work to maintain it.
you’ve got a Google Scholar profile that helps you track when your work
has been cited both in the peer-reviewed literature and, and is yet
another scholarly landing page that’ll connect others with your
publications. The best part? Google Scholar is pretty good at
automatically adding new stuff to your profile, meaning you won’t have
to do a lot of work to maintain it.
Step 5: Add missing articles
You might
have articles that Google Scholar didn’t automatically add to your
profile. If that’s the case, you’ll need to add it manually.
have articles that Google Scholar didn’t automatically add to your
profile. If that’s the case, you’ll need to add it manually.
Click the “Add” button in the grey toolbar within your profile.
On the next page, click the “Add article manually” link in the left-hand toolbar. Then you’ll see this screen:
Go ahead and
add a new paper to your profile. Include as much descriptive information
as possible--it makes it easier for Google Scholar to find citations to
your work.
Click “Save”
after you’ve finished adding your article metadata, and repeat as
necessary until all of your publications are on Google Scholar.
Step 6: Clean up your Google Scholar Profile data
Thanks to Google Scholar Profiles’ “auto add” functionality, your Profile might include some articles you didn’t author.
If that’s the case, you can remove them in one of two ways:
- Click on the title of each
offending article to get to the article’s page, and then clicking the
“Delete” button a the top of the page. - From the main Profile page, tick the boxes next to each incorrect article and click the “Delete” button in the top grey bar.
If you want to
prevent incorrect articles from appearing on your profile in the first
place, you can change your Profile settings to require Google Scholar to
email you for approval before adding anything. To make this change:
prevent incorrect articles from appearing on your profile in the first
place, you can change your Profile settings to require Google Scholar to
email you for approval before adding anything. To make this change:
From your main Profile page, click the “More” drop-down menu that appears in the top grey bar:
- Select “Profile updates.”
- On the next page, change the setting to “Don’t automatically update my profile.”
Prefer to roll
the dice? You can keep a close eye on what articles are automatically
added to your profile by signing up for alerts and manually removing any
incorrect additions that appear. Here’s how to sign up for alerts:
click the blue “Follow” button at the top of your profile, select
“Follow new articles,” enter your email address, and click “Create
alert.”
the dice? You can keep a close eye on what articles are automatically
added to your profile by signing up for alerts and manually removing any
incorrect additions that appear. Here’s how to sign up for alerts:
click the blue “Follow” button at the top of your profile, select
“Follow new articles,” enter your email address, and click “Create
alert.”
Step 7: Learn how to export your publications list in BibTeX format
There will
likely be a time when you’ll want to export your Google Scholar
publications to another service Mendeley. Here’s how to do that.
likely be a time when you’ll want to export your Google Scholar
publications to another service Mendeley. Here’s how to do that.
Tick the box next to each article whose details you want to export.
Click the "Export" button, and then choose BibTeX to export your file.
Click "Okay" to download your "citations.bib" file.
Limitations
Dirty data in the form of incorrect publications isn’t the only limitation of Google Scholar you should be aware of. The quality of Google Scholar citations has also been questioned,
because they’re different from what scholars have traditionally
considered to be a citation worth counting: a citation in the
peer-reviewed literature.
because they’re different from what scholars have traditionally
considered to be a citation worth counting: a citation in the
peer-reviewed literature.
Google Scholar
counts citations from pretty much anywhere they can find them. That
means their citation count often includes citations from online
undergraduate papers, slides, white papers and similar sources. Because
of this, Google scholar citation counts are much higher than those from competitors like Scopus and Web of Science.
That can be a good thing. But you can also argue it’s “inflating” citation counts unfairly. It also makes Google Scholar’s citation counts quite susceptible to gaming techniques like using fake publications to fraudulently raise the numbers.counts citations from pretty much anywhere they can find them. That
means their citation count often includes citations from online
undergraduate papers, slides, white papers and similar sources. Because
of this, Google scholar citation counts are much higher than those from competitors like Scopus and Web of Science.
Additionally, Google Scholar is somewhat of an information silo.
You cannot export your citation data, meaning that even if you were to
amass very impressive citation statistics on the platform, the only way
to get them onto your website, CV, or an annual report is to copy and paste them--way
too much tedium for most scientists to endure. Their siloed approach to
platform building definitely contributes to researchers’ profile fatigue.
You cannot export your citation data, meaning that even if you were to
amass very impressive citation statistics on the platform, the only way
to get them onto your website, CV, or an annual report is to copy and paste them--way
too much tedium for most scientists to endure. Their siloed approach to
platform building definitely contributes to researchers’ profile fatigue.
Its final major limitation? There’s no telling if Google Scholar will be around tomorrow. Remember Google Reader? Google has a history of killing belovedproducts when the bottom line is in question. It’s not exaggerating to say that Google Scholar Profiles could literally go away at any moment.
That said, the benefits of the platform outweigh the downsides for many.
Day 1: Google Scholar Profile
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