Research Analytics: Google Scholar Profiles

Google Scholar is a web search engine for scholarly literature. It allows users to search over 100 million articles, theses, books, conference papers, and patents from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other websites. It is probably the most popular academic search engine and is used by huge numbers of scholars each day.

Google Scholar allows an academic to create a personal profile. This profile collates their outputs into one list, provides information about citations, research interests, affiliation and co-authors. 

Having a Google Scholar profile offers several benefits:

1. Increased Visibility: Your research becomes more discoverable to a global audience, enhancing your academic presence.
2. Citation Tracking: Easily monitor how often your work is cited, helping you understand its impact and reach.
3. Networking Opportunities: Connect with other researchers in your field, fostering collaborations and academic relationships.
4. Comprehensive Metrics: Access metrics, which provide insights into your research productivity and influence.
5. Organized Portfolio: Maintain a centralized, up-to-date list of your publications, making it easier to manage and share your work.

In 2024 we surveyed over 100 academics in the University of Bath about how they use other academics' Google Scholar Profiles. They reported using profiles to 

• inform recruitment decisions
• identify potential speakers at conferences
• identify reviewers
• identify co-authors
• keep informed of other academic's work

We strongly recommend that you create a Google Scholar Profile as they are used by other academics for career impactful decisions.

1. Go to Google Scholar and select ‘My profile’ in the top right corner. You will then be asked to sign in to your Google account. If you do not have one, you will need to set one up.
2. Fill in your details: name, affiliation, university email (for verification), and research areas.
3. Select and confirm your publications from the list provided by Google Scholar. Google Scholar can incorrectly assign publications so check the list carefully.
4. Adjust your profile settings: choose whether Google automatically adds articles or sends you an email for confirmation. We recommend that you request email confirmations as this will prevent papers from being misattributed to you. 
5. Set profile visibility: decide if your profile is public or private. You may wish to keep your profile private whilst you are working on it. 
6. Personalize your profile: add a photo and description, and use the plus icon to manually add publications that Google Scholar has missed.

7. Once your profile is ready you can make it public. 

This short video, Make A Google Scholar Profile In Under 3 Minutes!, is very helpful. 

The Library Research Analytics team can support you in the use of Google Scholar Profiles. We can help

• you set up a Google Scholar Profile
• set up citation alerts
• help you link your profile to PURE and ORCID
• provide advice on how to promote your profile

We are happy to provide training sessions to departments or groups or individual one to ones. 

Please contact us via research-analytics@bath.ac.uk.