Ingenta and Google Scholar: the next generation
Readers will know that we have been working closely with Google since we were one of the first organisations they approached for full-text indexing, over two years ago. Whilst Google's services have proven controversial in some areas, their success (and the extent to which they are used by researchers of all levels) is not in doubt - and means that continued engagement is a necessity to ensure discoverability of scholarly content.
Therefore we are pleased to be announcing yet another first in our relationship with Google: we have just completed pilot work to make our library holdings (subscription) data available to Google Scholar. This pioneering work will enable Google to highlight a current user's institutional access rights in Scholar search results, ensuring that users are linked to an "appropriate" copy to which they will have full text access (rather than, for example, an aggregator copy which will not permit them to access it, or a document delivery supplier's copy, for which they will be required to pay).
The first "Full Text@IngentaConnect" links are now appearing to users accessing Google Scholar from within their institution's IP range. As Kevin Murphy of IngentaConnect customer Mineralogical Society points out, “Google is the primary port of call for many researchers, and we’re pleased that Ingenta is working with Google in this way. Both we and our users will benefit as our content is made more accessible to its readers.” IngentaConnect Product Development Manager Kirsty Meddings adds, “Studies shows that a high proportion of researchers use Google Scholar as a key discovery service for academic literature. As online content providers, we need to reach out to those users. It’s important to ensure that the services they choose to use are as geared to their needs as possible, and are supporting their access needs by directing them on to the appropriate information sources.”
Plain IngentaConnect links will still appear in search results for non-subscribed users, so that they have the option to view the abstract at IngentaConnect and proceed to purchasing full text access via our pay-per-view functionality.
For more information about our work with Google and Google Scholar, please contact libraryinfo@ingenta.com.