Google Scholar black box: disclosing the sources of full-text files available through Google Scholar

What is it about?

Full-text of 61.1% articles could be found via Google Scholar and about 80% of them are final published version (not preprint). Google Scholar find these full-text files mostly through education and organisational websites. ResearchGate accounts 10.5% of full-text files that could be accessed through Google Scholar and this makes ResearchGate the top single website providing full-text of papers.

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Why is it important?

Google Scholar is like a black box and little is known about its sources of full-text files. This study shows where those files come from.

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