Where you search is what you get: literature mining - Google Scholar versus Web of Science using a data set from a literature search in vegetation science

Question Is Google Scholar superior in literature search compared to the Web of Science? Location The Internet. Methods The maximum number of papers dealing with specific subjects was derived from a published review and compared with Google Scholar and Web of Science search results using GLM and a post-hoc test. Results Search results acquired through Google Scholar were not significantly different from the maximum number of papers found by manual search, while the Web of Science search delivered significantly less. Conclusion Researchers should give more prominent recognition to Google Scholar as a search tool, especially when conducting quantative reviews and meta-analysis.