| Type: | Package |
| Title: | Analyse Citation Data from Google Scholar |
| Version: | 0.2.5 |
| Maintainer: | Guangchuang Yu <guangchuangyu@gmail.com> |
| Description: | Provides functions to extract citation data from Google Scholar. Convenience functions are also provided for comparing multiple scholars and predicting future h-index values. |
| Depends: | R (≥ 4.1.0) |
| Imports: | R.cache, dplyr, httr, rlang, rvest, stringr, xml2, tidygraph,ggraph, ggplot2 |
| Suggests: | knitr, rmarkdown, prettydoc, roxygen2, spelling, testthat (≥2.1.0), yulab.utils |
| VignetteBuilder: | knitr |
| License: | MIT + file LICENSE |
| URL: | https://github.com/YuLab-SMU/scholar |
| BugReports: | https://github.com/YuLab-SMU/scholar/issues |
| RoxygenNote: | 7.3.2 |
| Encoding: | UTF-8 |
| Language: | en-GB |
| NeedsCompilation: | no |
| Packaged: | 2025-06-26 07:42:06 UTC; HUAWEI |
| Author: | Guangchuang Yu [aut, cre], James Keirstead [aut], Gregory Jefferis [aut], Gordon Getzinger [ctb], Jorge Cimentada [ctb], Max Czapanskiy [ctb], Dominique Makowski [ctb] |
| Repository: | CRAN |
| Date/Publication: | 2025-06-26 08:10:02 UTC |
scholar
Description
Thescholar package provides functions to extract citation data fromGoogle Scholar. There are also convenience functions for comparing multiplescholars and predicting h-index scores based on past publication records.
Google Scholar cookies
Google does not encourage people to use thescholar website as an API. You will find a number of issues related to thisif you follow:https://github.com/jkeirstead/scholar/issues?q=is:issue+cookie
If you try to fetch too many pages, you can expect to see your access toscholar blocked. One step that they do take is to provide a session cookie.Reusing these seems to help. If you wish to write your own code to interactwith Google Scholar, we recommend that you use theget_scholar_resp function to carry out the query.
Author(s)
Maintainer: Guangchuang Yuguangchuangyu@gmail.com (ORCID)
Authors:
James Keirsteadjames.keirstead@gmail.com
Gregory Jefferisjefferis@gmail.com (ORCID)
Other contributors:
Gordon Getzinger [contributor]
Jorge Cimentadacimentadaj@gmail.com [contributor]
Max Czapanskiymaxczapanskiy@gmail.com [contributor]
Dominique Makowskidom.makowski@gmail.com [contributor]
Source
The package reads data fromhttps://scholar.google.com. Datesand citation counts are estimated and are determined automatically by acomputer program. Use at your own risk.
See Also
Useful links:
Get author order.
Description
Get author rank in authors list.
Usage
author_position(authorlist, author)Arguments
authorlist | list of publication authors |
author | author's name to look for |
Value
dataframe with author's position and normalized position (a normalized index, with 0 corresponding, 1 to last and 0.5 to the middle. Note that single authorship will be considered as last, i.e., 1).
Author(s)
Dominique Makowski
Examples
## Not run: library(scholar)id <- "DO5oG40AAAAJ"authorlist <- scholar::get_publications(id)$authorauthor <- scholar::get_profile(id)$nameauthor_position(authorlist, author)## End(Not run)Compare the careers of multiple scholars
Description
Compares the careers of multiple scholars based on their citationhistories. The scholar'scareer is defined by the numberof citations to his or her work in a given year (i.e. the barchart at the top of a scholar's profile). The function has ancareer option that allows users to compare scholarsdirectly, i.e. relative to the first year in which theirpublications are cited.
Usage
compare_scholar_careers(ids, career = TRUE)Arguments
ids | a character vector of Google Scholar IDs |
career | a boolean, should a column be added to the resultsmeasuring the year relative to the first citation year. Default =TRUE |
Examples
## How do Richard Feynmann and Stephen Hawking compare? # Compare Feynman and Stephen Hawking ids <- c("B7vSqZsAAAAJ", "qj74uXkAAAAJ") df <- compare_scholar_careers(ids)Compare the citation records of multiple scholars
Description
Compares the citation records of multiple scholars. This functioncompiles a data frame comparing the citations received by each ofthe scholar's publications by year of publication.
Usage
compare_scholars(ids, pagesize = 100)Arguments
ids | a vector of Google Scholar IDs |
pagesize | an integer specifying the number of articles tofetch for each scholar |
Value
a data frame giving the ID of each scholar and the totalnumber of citations received by work published in a year.
Examples
## Not run: ## How do Richard Feynmann and Stephen Hawking compare? ids <- c("B7vSqZsAAAAJ", "qj74uXkAAAAJ") df <- compare_scholars(ids)## End(Not run)format_authors
Description
This function converts first and middle names to initials
Usage
format_authors(string)Arguments
string | a character vector of names |
format_publications
Description
Format publication list
Usage
format_publications(scholar.profile, author.name = NULL)Arguments
scholar.profile | scholar profile ID |
author.name | name of author to be highlighted using bold font |
Value
a vector of formated publications
Author(s)
R Thériault and modified by Guangchuang Yu
Examples
## Not run: library(scholar) format_publications("DO5oG40AAAAJ") ## End(Not run)Gets the citation history of a single article
Description
Gets the citation history of a single article
Usage
get_article_cite_history(id, article)Arguments
id | a character string giving the id of the scholar |
article | a character string giving the article id. |
Value
a data frame giving the year, citations per year, andpublication id
Gets the URL to the google scholar website of an article.
Description
Gets the URL to the google scholar website of an article.
Usage
get_article_scholar_url(id, pubid)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID. |
pubid | a character string specifying the article id. |
Value
a String that contains the URL to the scholar website of the article
Get historical citation data for a scholar
Description
Gets the number of citations to a scholar's articles over the pastnine years.
Usage
get_citation_history(id)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID. Ifmultiple ids are specified, only the first value is used and awarning is generated. |
Details
This information is displayed as a bar plot at the top ofa standard Google Scholar page and only covers the past nineyears.
Value
a data frame giving the number of citations per year towork by the given scholar
Gets the network of coauthors of a scholar
Description
Gets the network of coauthors of a scholar
Usage
get_coauthors(id, n_coauthors = 5, n_deep = 1)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID.If multiple ids are specified, only the first value is used and awarning is generated. |
n_coauthors | Number of coauthors to explore. This number should usually be between 1 and 10 aschoosing many coauthors can make the network graph too messy. |
n_deep | The number of degrees that you want to go down the network. When |
Details
Considering that scraping each publication for all coauthors is error prone,get_coauthorsgrabs only the coauthors listed on the google scholar profile (on the bottom right of the profile),not from all publications.
Value
A data frame with two columns showing all authors and coauthors.
See Also
Examples
## Not run: library(scholar)coauthor_network <- get_coauthors('amYIKXQAAAAJ')plot_coauthors(coauthor_network)## End(Not run)Get the Complete list of authors for a Publication
Description
Found as Muhammad Qasim Pasta's solution here https://github.com/jkeirstead/scholar/issues/21
Usage
get_complete_authors(id, pubid, delay = 0.4, initials = TRUE)Arguments
id | a Google Scholar ID |
pubid | a Publication ID from a given google Scholar ID |
delay | average delay between requests. A delay is needed to stop Google identifying you as a bot |
initials | if TRUE (default), first and middle names will be abbreviated |
Value
a string containing the complete list of authors
Author(s)
Muhammad Qasim Pasta
Abram B. Fleishman
James H. Conigrave
Get journal ranking.
Description
Get journal ranking for a journal list.
Usage
get_journalrank(journals, max.distance = 0.05)Arguments
journals | a character list giving the journal list |
max.distance | maximum distance allowed for a match between journal and journal list.Expressed either as integer, or as a fraction of the pattern length times the maximal transformation cost(will be replaced by the smallest integer not less than the corresponding fraction), or a list with possible components |
Value
Journal ranking data.
Author(s)
Dominique Makowski and Guangchuang Yu
Examples
## Not run: library(scholar)id <- get_publications("bg0BZ-QAAAAJ&hl")impact <- get_journalrank(journals=id$journal)id <- cbind(id, impact)## End(Not run)Calculates how many articles a scholar has published
Description
Calculate how many articles a scholar has published.
Usage
get_num_articles(id)Arguments
id | a character string giving the Google Scholar ID |
Value
an integer value (max 100)
Gets the number of distinct journals in which a scholar haspublished
Description
Gets the number of distinct journals in which a scholar haspublished. Note that Google Scholar doesn't provide informationon journalsper se, but instead gives a title for thecontaining publication where applicable. So ajournal heremight actually be a journal, a book, a report, or some otherpublication outlet.
Usage
get_num_distinct_journals(id)Arguments
id | a character string giving the Google Scholar id |
Value
the number of distinct journals
Gets the number of top journals in which a scholar has published
Description
Gets the number of top journals in which a scholar has published.The definition of a 'top journal' comes from Acuna et al. and theoriginal list was based on the field of neuroscience. Thisfunction allows users to specify that list for themselves, or usethe default Acuna et al. list.
Usage
get_num_top_journals(id, journals)Arguments
id | a character string giving a Google Scholar ID |
journals | a character vector giving the names of the topjournals. Defaults to Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Neuron. |
Source
DE Acuna, S Allesina, KP Kording (2012) Future impact:Predicting scientific success. Nature 489,201-202.doi:10.1038/489201a.
Gets the year of the oldest article for a scholar
Description
Gets the year of the oldest article published by a given scholar.
Usage
get_oldest_article(id)Arguments
id | a character string giving the Google Scholar ID |
Value
the year of the oldest article
Gets profile information for a scholar
Description
Gets profile information for a researcher from Google Scholar.Each scholar profile page gives the researcher's name,affiliation, their homepage (if specified), and a summary of theirkey citation and publication availability metrics. The scholarID can be found by searching Google Scholar athttp://scholar.google.com.
Usage
get_profile(id)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID.If multiple ids are specified, only the first value is used and awarning is generated. See the example below for how to profilemultiple scholars. |
Value
a list containing the scholar's name, affiliation,citations, impact and publication availability metrics,research interests, homepage and coauthors.
Metrics include:
total_cites combined citations to all publications
h_index the largest number h such that h publications each have at least h citations
i10_index the number of publications that each have at least 10 citations
available the number of publications that have a version online that can be read for free (though not necessarily reusable under an open access license)
not_available the number of publications only available behind a paywall
Examples
{ ## Gets profiles of some famous physicists ids <- c("xJaxiEEAAAAJ", "qj74uXkAAAAJ") profiles <- lapply(ids, get_profile)}Gets the abstract for a publication id.
Description
Gets the abstract for a publication id.
Usage
get_publication_abstract(id, pub_id, flush = FALSE)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID. |
pub_id | a character string specifying the publication id. |
flush | Whether or not to clear the cache |
Value
a String that contains the abstract of the publication.
Gets the full data for a publication
Description
Gets the full data for a publication
Usage
get_publication_data_extended(id, pub_id, flush = FALSE)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID. |
pub_id | a character string specifying the publication id. |
flush | Whether or not to clear the cache |
Value
a list that contains the full data
Gets the full date for a publication
Description
Gets the full date for a publication
Usage
get_publication_date(id, pub_id, flush = FALSE)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID. |
pub_id | a character string specifying the publication id. |
flush | Whether or not to clear the cache |
Value
a String that contains the publication date
Gets the PDF URL for a publication id.
Description
Gets the PDF URL for a publication id.
Usage
get_publication_url(id, pub_id, flush = FALSE)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID. |
pub_id | a character string specifying the publication id. |
flush | Whether or not to clear the cache |
Value
a String that contains the URL to the PDF of the publication.
Gets the publications for a scholar
Description
Gets the publications of a specified scholar.
Usage
get_publications( id, cstart = 0, cstop = Inf, pagesize = 100, flush = FALSE, sortby = "citation")Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID. Ifmultiple IDs are specified, only the publications of the firstscholar will be retrieved. |
cstart | an integer specifying the first article to startcounting. To get all publications for an author, omit thisparameter. |
cstop | an integer specifying the last article toprocess. |
pagesize | an integer specifying the number of articles to fetch in onebatch. It is recommended to leave the default value of 100 unless youexperience time-out errors. Note this isnot thetotalnumber of publications to fetch. |
flush | should the cache be flushed? Search results arecached by default to speed up repeated queries. If this argumentis TRUE, the cache will be cleared and the data reloaded fromGoogle. |
sortby | a character with value |
Details
Google uses two id codes to uniquely reference apublication. The results of this method includescid whichcan be used to link to a publication's full citation history(i.e. if you click on the number of citations in the main scholarprofile page), andpubid which links to the details of thepublication (i.e. if you click on the title of the publication inthe main scholar profile page.)
Value
a data frame listing the publications and their details.These include the publication title, author, journal, number,cites, year, and two id codes (see details).
Search for Google Scholar ID by name and affiliation
Description
Search for Google Scholar ID by name and affiliation
Usage
get_scholar_id(last_name = "", first_name = "", affiliation = NA)Arguments
last_name | Researcher last name. |
first_name | Researcher first name. |
affiliation | Researcher affiliation. |
Value
Google Scholar ID as a character string.
Examples
get_scholar_id(first_name = "kristopher", last_name = "mcneill")get_scholar_id(first_name = "michael", last_name = "sander", affiliation = NA)get_scholar_id(first_name = "michael", last_name = "sander", affiliation = "eth")get_scholar_id(first_name = "michael", last_name = "sander", affiliation = "ETH Zurich")get_scholar_id(first_name = "michael", last_name = "sander", affiliation = "Mines")get_scholar_id(first_name = "james", last_name = "babler")Recursively try to GET a Google Scholar Page storing session cookies
Description
seescholar-package documentation for details about Scholarsession cookies.
Usage
get_scholar_resp(url, attempts_left = 5)Arguments
url | URL to fetch |
attempts_left | The number of times to try and fetch the page |
Value
an [response][httr::response] object
See Also
[GET][httr::GET]
Plot a network of coauthors
Description
Plot a network of coauthors
Usage
plot_coauthors(network, size_labels = 5)Arguments
network | A data frame given by |
size_labels | Size of the label names |
Value
aggplot2 object but prints a plot as a side effect.
See Also
Examples
## Not run: library(scholar)coauthor_network <- get_coauthors('amYIKXQAAAAJ&hl')plot_coauthors(coauthor_network)## End(Not run)Predicts the h-index for a researcher
Description
Predicts the h-index for a researcher each year for ten years intothe future using Acuna et al's method (see source). The model wasfit to data from neuroscience researchers with an h-index greaterthan 5 and between 5 to 12 years since publishing their firstarticle. So naturally if this isn't you, then the results shouldbe taken with a large pinch of salt.
Usage
predict_h_index(id, journals)Arguments
id | a character string giving the Google Scholar ID |
journals | optional character vector of topjournals. See |
Details
Since the model is calibrated to neuroscienceresearchers, it is entirely possible that very strange(e.g. negative) h-indices will be predicted if you are aresearcher in another field. A warning will be displayed if thesequence of predicted h-indices contains a negative value or isnon-increasing.
Value
a data frame giving predicted h-index values in future
Note
A scientist has an h-index of n if he or she publishes npapers with at least n citations each. Values returned arefractional so it's up to your own vanity whether you want to roundup or down.
Source
DE Acuna, S Allesina, KP Kording (2012) Future impact:Predicting scientific success. Nature 489,201-202.doi:10.1038/489201a. Thanks to DEAcuna for providing the full regression coefficients for each yearahead prediction.
Examples
## Predict h-index of original method author## Not run: id <- "DO5oG40AAAAJ" df <- predict_h_index(id)## End(Not run)set_scholar_mirror
Description
set scholar mirror
Usage
set_scholar_mirror(mirror = NULL)Arguments
mirror | compatible scholar mirror |
Details
setting google scholar mirror
Author(s)
Guangchuang Yu
Ensures that specified IDs are correctly formatted
Description
Ensures that specified IDs are correctly formatted
Usage
tidy_id(id)Arguments
id | a character string specifying the Google Scholar ID.If multiple ids are specified, only the first value is used and awarning is generated. |