Calculating the h‐index and other bibliometric and scientometric indicators from Google Scholar with the Publish or Perish software

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to is to discuss the results of recent experiments in calculating the h‐index and other bibliometric and scientometric indicators from Google Scholar with the Publish or Perish software.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discusses the Publish or Perish (PoP) software and finds that is a swift and elegant tool to provide the essential output features that Google Scholar does not offer.FindingsIt is found that PoP allows the user to edit the result lists presented in a compact, efficient grid‐format. It facilitates the identification and removal of duplicate entries by offering dynamic sorting of the set by eight metadata elements, un‐checking items and instant recalculation of the indicators.Originality/valueSome changes are recommended to enhance this useful utility by allowing users to clean and edit the erroneous entries in the result set, and then back‐load it to PoP for the recalculation of the indicators. It is also suggested that the option to upload into PoP the result lists produced in CSV format from Web of Science and Scopus (which have much more reliable and reproducible data than Google Scholar) should also be offered.