Aw: [SIGMETRICS] GOOGLE SCHOLAR DIGEST. Research on Google Scholar: empirical evidences

Wed Apr 30 07:38:33 EDT 2014

My understanding is that the man who was the force behind MAS died in an auto accident several years ago so they may be drifting along with no real in-house champion.

David

David Wojick
Inside Public Access
http://insidepublicaccess.com/

On Apr 30, 2014, at 6:33 AM, Enrique Orduña <riorma at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe): http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
> Dear José Luis,
> 
> Thank you very much for your quick response and cooperation, we appreciate it very much. The idea behind this newsletter is to create a place to openly show ideas about Google Scholar and its derivatives, and to collect and compile information that provide empirical evidences about these tools .
> 
> As for what you comment about Microsoft Academic Search, we already know the serious problems of name disambiguation and duplicates (triplicates, etc.) that the  database have. However, what is surprising is that records start falling in 2011.
> 
> If this is a hibernation, it is a strange behavior  to hibernate. In addition, applications for admission of new journals are still happening with apparent normality, which is even more incomprehensible, in the case they have decided to change the strategy.
> 
> That the product needs a revamping is clear. Anyway, the question is the following: in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 we have been watching outdated listings, and this has been unnoticed. Moreover, in 2013 it was officially announced the entry of new journals and records , when the decrease of new records from previous years was already clamorous.
> 
> We also hope that the system could reborn from its ashes, because it provided great features in addition to proposing a completely different model to Google Scholar, as you know well, after the recent comparative analysis performed from the Cybermetrics Lab.
> 
> Finally, I admit to being anxious to read your new monograph devoted specifically to the academic search engines. We are proud that these international-level contributions come from Spain. We will be happy to include it in our Google Scholar Digest as we "digest it".
> 
> Best,
> 
> Enrique Orduna-Malea
> 
> 
> On Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 10:55 AM, Jose Luis Ortega <jose_ortega at gmx.net> wrote:
> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe): http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
> Dear Enrique and Emilio,
> 
> Congratulations! I think that a Google digest could be a good way to report new solutions and novelties of academic search engines. Just a short comment:
> 
> I do not consider that Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) is dead; perhaps I suggest that it is hibernating. This is because MAS have an author disambiguating problem. The percentage of duplicated profiles is roughly 10-20%, so it causes serious problem about reliability, use and modification requests. Then, I think that MAS is waiting to solve these problems before to update the service, although everybody knows that MAS only updates their databases once by year, a very poor frequency.
> 
> To justify my suspicions I attach two links to the ALIAS project to solve these disambiguating problems. This leads me thinking that Microsoft would not address these problems if it is thinking to close MAS. On the contrary, it maybe is thinking to launch a new version more reliable and competitive.
> 
> http://cwds.uw.edu/alias-identifying-duplicate-authors-microsoft-academic-search
> 
> http://www.kdd.org/kddcup2013/sites/default/files/papers/papers.pdf
> 
> At last, I use the occasion to promote mi last book on MAS, Google Scholar and other academic search engines. You can pre-order now in Google eBooks!
> 
> http://books.google.es/books?id=uelfAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb
> 
> Regards
> 
> José Luis Ortega
> CCHS-CSIC
>  
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 30. April 2014 um 09:22 Uhr
> Von: "Enrique Orduña" <enorma at UPV.ES>
> An: SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
> Betreff: [SIGMETRICS] GOOGLE SCHOLAR DIGEST. Research on Google Scholar: empirical evidences
> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe): http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
> Dear colleagues:
> 
>  
> 
> “GOOGLE SCHOLAR DIGEST. Research on Google Scholar: empirical evidences” is presented, an informative newsletter created and maintained by EC3 Research Group (http://www.ec3.ugr.es), that comes with the intention of reporting the results of upcoming research oriented to shed light about Google Scholar and its derivatives (Google Scholar, Google Scholar Citations, and Metrics). Since the products made by Google are widely reported and raise sometimes acrimonious debates, it is essential to provide empirical evidences based on research about its uses and applications, determining accurately what their strengths and weaknesses as data source are.
> 
>  
> 
> Click here for more information:
> 
> http://googlescholardigest.blogspot.com.es
> 
>  
> 
> To inaugurate the blog we present a first report which intends to summarize the main empirical evidences provided by the scientific community as regards the comparison between the two main citation-based academic search engines: Google Scholar (GS) and Microsoft Academic Search (MAS), paying special attention to the following issues: coverage; correlations between journal rankings; and usage of these academic search engines.
> 
>  
> 
> The poor results obtained by Microsoft Academic Search led us to an unexpected and unnoticed discovery: Microsoft Academic Search is outdated since 2013. Therefore, the second part of the working paper aims at advancing some data demonstrating this lack of update.
> 
>  
> 
> Finally, we can only be saddened by the performance loss of this product of Microsoft, which poked healthy competition and had deployed at the same time simple bibliometric indicators and brilliant visualization tools. We do hope that Microsoft Academic Research can rise back for the sake of the academic information search, and scientific evaluation.
> 
>  
> 
> We hope this new service may be of interest.
> 
>  
> 
> Best,
> 
>  
> Enrique Orduña-Malea
>  EC3 Research Group. Evaluación de la Ciencia y de la Comunicación Científica  / Science and Scientific Communication Evaluation.    Universi ty of  Granada  / Polytechnic University of Valencia    
> ec3.ugr.es
>  
>  
> --
> 	
>  
> 
>  
> Enrique Orduña-Malea
> Personal de investigación.
> Grupo de Investigación EC3. Instituto de Diseño y Fabricación (IDF).
>  
> Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV).
>  
> Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia. Edificio 1H.
> Tfo. 96 3879480 (Ext. 79480)
> 
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