Google Scholar and full-text of articles

Google Scholar is a quick and effective way of finding articles when doing a literature search. Getting to the full-text of the article can require a little work.

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For example:-

A search returns an interesting looking result

“Datastream Returns and UK Open Offers”

Does the University of Manchester library offer access to the full-text?

Google Scholar offers several versions:

• papers.ssrn.com – SSRN (Social Sciences Research Network) is a repository of working papers – you can get a version of the paper but this might not be exactly the same as in the European Journal of Finance
• kar.kent.ac.uk – Kent Academic Repository only gives access to the bibliographic details (including abstract)
• informaworld.com – informaword (Taylor and Francis Group) will give you access to full-text. You need to either be recognised as using a University of Manchester PC or logon to authenticate youself.
• ideas.repec.org – a bibliographic database so no access to full-text
• ingentaconnect.com – University of Manchester does not subscribe to this journal on ingentaconnect so even if you sign-in you will still be asked to pay for the full-text
• econpapers.repec.org – again bibliographic database so no full-text

There is not really an easy way of knowing which is the best link offered by Google Scholar to choose.

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Using the journal title, The European Journal of Finance in this case, you can use the A-Z e-journal list to find details of the library’s subscription(s).

An alternative for academic journal articles is to try one of the bibliographic databases: ISI Web of Science (Web of Knowledge) or Scopus. Both of these include FindIt at JRUL links to help locate the full-text of articles.

See also Manchester Business Answers 24/7 FAQ – Where can I find journal articles for my research topic?

Google scholar – Find It via JRUL

Google scholar is a useful resource for finding books and articles. On campus PCs are configured so that it provides Find It via JRUL links. Off campus you can configure Google scholar to include these links.

Configuring Google Scholar

1. Select the Scholar Preferences link at the top right
2. In the Library Links section, find the University of Manchester library
3. Click the Save Preferences button at the foot of the page.

Video demo of setting Google Scholar preferences – http://screencast.com/t/X1Av0Nf9

Note:

The Find It via JRUL links do not give you direct access to online articles. You still need to authenticate yourself as a member of the University to access the full text. (See the second half of the demo video http://screencast.com/t/X1Av0Nf9.)

The Find It via JRUL links are not perfect. If the link does not give you access to the article then you should double-check whether the journal is available as an e-journal.

How can I check a journal’s availability through the library?
Other e-journal related questions on the FAQ

For those interested in the details, adding the library preference to Google scholar means that it checks the library’s “link resolver” for items in the search results and adds a link where appropriate.