Google Scholar is probably the most useful tool on the web today for academics. However, there’s no API for it, and seems to add little to no features with time. I don’t think Google is going to give it the Axe any time soon, but … I can’t imagine ads getting clicked on scholar pages. And Google is a for-profit, so one never knows. In any case, it would not hurt to show Google that we care, and there’s one simple thing to do. If you want to support the creation of the API, you could drop by the google API forums and express your interest.
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AMA citation:
Quesada J. Google Scholar API. Academic Productivity. 2009. Available at: http://www.academicproductivity.com/2009/google-scholar-api/. Accessed September 3, 2010.
APA citation:
Quesada, Jose. (2009). Google Scholar API. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from Academic Productivity Web site: http://www.academicproductivity.com/2009/google-scholar-api/
Chicago citation:
Quesada, Jose. 2009. Google Scholar API. Academic Productivity. http://www.academicproductivity.com/2009/google-scholar-api/ (accessed September 3, 2010).
Harvard citation:
Quesada, J 2009, Google Scholar API, Academic Productivity. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from <http://www.academicproductivity.com/2009/google-scholar-api/>
MLA citation:
Quesada, Jose. "Google Scholar API." 16 Oct. 2009. Academic Productivity. Accessed 3 Sep. 2010. <http://www.academicproductivity.com/2009/google-scholar-api/>
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on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Hacks, Social Media, Software.
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October 19th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
If you’re interested in an API, then check out Rod Page’s work for a hack, (particularly if you don’t mind using PHP!): http://code.google.com/p/bioguid/source/browse/trunk/www/scholar_ris.php?spec=svn112&r=112
October 20th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Without wishing to be negative I don’t really find Google Scholar is that useful at all. In terms of navigating the literature I pretty much exclusively use the journal’s own websites that link citations (forwards and backwards). It works really well these days.
GS is sometimes useful when you’re searching for research that you’re not even sure exists. So if an api could help in that direction that would be nice.