Getting into Google Scholar
These days, virtually all searching is done online so, to ensure success, it is imperative that your journals and articles are represented in the relevant online search engines. Moreover, many authors rely on finding articles through abstracting and indexing (A&I) services, which, in turn, leads to a boost in their online traffic. When authors come across high-quality articles from a particular journal during a search, they are very likely to consider that journal as a good outlet to publish their own manuscripts.
A&I services unlock the content of scientific journals, articles, and eBooks using metadata and abstracts. In doing so, they contribute significantly to increased access to scientific literature. The metadata presented in abstracting and indexing services includes the article title, the author(s), the date of publication, the journal title, the volume and issue, page numbers, the subject area, and any keywords or DOI. Users browsing these services using a particular search criteria are shown the relevant articles, chapters, or books matching the metadata and can then access abstracts and links to the full article or journal. If the users or their affiliated institution have access to the full text or if it is an open-access publication, then they can immediately go right to the article. Otherwise, they will be shown information from the publisher or other rights holder on how to go about accessing the material.
Google Scholar, one of the largest A&I services in existence, indexes almost any journal and likely accounts for more than half of all referrals to online journals. Google Scholar is also very important as its large open index of scholarly articles is easily accessible for most readers. It also does an excellent job of finding multiple versions of scholarly articles and theses. This includes various publisher and database sites as well as the open-access versions of articles. Google Scholar also provides interfaces that can make it easier for users to download articles into reference management software such as Zotero, EndNote, and Mendeley (to name a few). Getting open-access versions of your articles into Google Scholar is a key way to further the open-access agenda and get your work noticed.
Google Scholar is most interested in full-text articles. By this they mean HTML and PDF versions of scholarly material. If your repository does not have a lot of full-text versions it will not be very well indexed by Google Scholar. Google Scholar also looks for material that you may not find elsewhere such as a full-text thesis.
The best starting place for getting better exposure for your journal or article is to follow Google’s instructions for how to be indexed in GoogleScholar (Google Scholar Inclusion Guidelines)
Google Scholar also has a specially recognized category for OJS journals. Search Google Scholar to see if your journal appears. If it is not visible, you can register your journal by using the following link (Google Scholar Inclusion Registration).
