Can we enhance the google-scholar discoverability of EPrints (and
DSpace) repositories?
http://linksource.ebsco.com/linking.aspx?sid=google&auinit=K&aulast=Arlitsch&atitle=Invisible+Institutional+Repositories:+Addressing+the+Low+Indexing+Ratios+of+IRs+in+Google+Scholar&title=Library+Hi+Tech&volume=30&issue=1&date=2012&spage=4&issn=0737-8831
Kenning Arlitsch, Patrick Shawn OBrien, (2012) "Invisible Institutional
Repositories: Addressing the Low Indexing Ratios of IRs in Google
Scholar", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 30 Iss: 1
Purpose - Google Scholar has difficulty indexing the contents of
institutional repositories, and the authors hypothesize the reason is
that most repositories use Dublin Core, which cannot express
bibliographic citation information adequately for academic papers.
Google Scholar makes specific recommendations for repositories,
including the use of publishing industry metadata schemas over Dublin
Core. This paper tests a theory that transforming metadata schemas in
institutional repositories will lead to increased indexing by Google
Scholar.
Design/methodology/approach - The authors conducted two surveys of
institutional and disciplinary repositories across the United States,
using different methodologies. They also conducted three pilot projects
that transformed the metadata of a subset of papers from USpace, the
University of Utah's institutional repository, and examined the results
of Google Scholar's explicit harvests.
Findings - Repositories that use GS recommended metadata schemas and
express them in HTML meta tags experienced significantly higher indexing
ratios. The ease with which search engine crawlers can navigate a
repository also seems to affect indexing ratio. The second and third
metadata transformation pilot projects at Utah were successful,
ultimately achieving an indexing ratio of greater than 90%.
Research limitations/implications - The second survey was limited to
forty titles from each of seven repositories, for a total of 280 titles.
A larger survey that covers more repositories may be useful.
Practical implications - Institutional repositories are achieving
significant mass, and the rate of author citations from those
repositories may affect university rankings. Lack of visibility in
Google Scholar, however, will limit the ability of IRs to play a more
significant role in those citation rates.
Originality/value - Little or no research has been published about
improving the indexing ratio of institutional repositories in Google
Scholar. The authors believe that they are the first to address the
possibility of transforming IR metadata to improve indexing ratios in
Google Scholar.
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