Normalizing Book Citations in Google Scholar: A Hybrid Cited-side Citing-side Method

Abstract

Abstract Purpose To design and test a method for normalizing book citations in Google Scholar. Design/methodology/approach A hybrid citing-side, cited-side normalization method was developed and this was tested on a sample of 285 research monographs. The results were analyzed and conclusions drawn. Findings The method was technically feasible but required extensive manual intervention because of the poor quality of the Google Scholar data. Research limitations The sample of books was limited and also all were from one discipline —business and management. Also, the method has only been tested on Google Scholar, it would be useful to test it on Web of Science or Scopus. Practical limitations Google Scholar is a poor source of data although it does cover a much wider range citation sources that other databases. Originality/value This is the first method that has been developed specifically for normalizing books which have so far not been able to be normalized.