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. 2019 Dec;6(6):1291-1312.
doi: 10.1002/ehf2.12583. Epub 2019 Dec 30.

The difference in referencing in Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar

Markus S Anker  1   2   3   4 , Sara Hadzibegovic  1   2   3   4 , Alessia Lena  1   2   3   4 , Wilhelm Haverkamp  1   3   4
Affiliations

The difference in referencing in Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar

Markus S Anker et al. ESC Heart Fail. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Aims: How often a medical article is cited is important for many people because it is used to calculate different variables such as the h-index and the journal impact factor. The aim of this analysis was to assess how the citation count varies between Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and Google Scholar in the current literature.

Methods: We included the top 50 cited articles of four journals ESC Heart Failure; Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle; European Journal of Preventive Cardiology; and European Journal of Heart Failure in our analysis that were published between 1 January 2016 and 10 October 2019. We recorded the number of citations of these articles according to WoS, Scopus, and Google Scholar on 10 October 2019.

Results: The top 50 articles in ESC Heart Failure were on average cited 12 (WoS), 13 (Scopus), and 17 times (Google Scholar); in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle 37 (WoS), 43 (Scopus), and 60 times (Google Scholar); in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 41 (WoS), 56 (Scopus), and 67 times (Google Scholar); and in European Journal of Heart Failure 76 (WoS), 108 (Scopus), and 230 times (Google Scholar). On average, the top 50 articles in all four journals were cited 41 (WoS), 52 (Scopus, 26% higher citations count than WoS, range 8-42% in the different journals), and 93 times (Google Scholar, 116% higher citation count than WoS, range 42-203%).

Conclusion: Scopus and Google Scholar on average have a higher citation count than WoS, whereas the difference is much larger between Google Scholar and WoS.

Keywords: Google Scholar; Scopus; Web of Science.

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Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Impact factor of EJHF, ESC‐HF, EJPC, and JCSM between 2008 and 2018. EJHF, European Journal of Heart Failure; EJPC, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology; ESC‐HF, ESC Heart Failure; JCSM, Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average number of citations from 01/2016 to 10/2019 of the top 50 cited papers in EJHF, ESC‐HF, EJPC, and JCSM. EJHF, European Journal of Heart Failure; EJPC, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology; ESC‐HF, ESC Heart Failure; JCSM, Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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