Tip #1: Bulk export from Google Scholar

This post was updated on October 10, 2022 with new instructions for #3 under "For EndNote users..."

For years, I kept hearing from colleagues that I should be searching Google Scholar as part of my systematic review projects. I didn't, for 3 reasons:

1. I didn't know GS' search syntax
2. GS notoriously does not allow bulk export to reference managers
3. I didn't have a sense of how many results I should export.  

Last fall, I finally said enough was enough and it was time to learn how to wrangle this beast. It turns out that there is now a third-party tool that facilitates bulk export from Google Scholar, Harzing's Publish or Perish. Here's how you get started:

1. Download PoP for free
2. Paste your query into the Keywords field
3. Set your maximum number of results. I follow the guidelines on p. 135 of Wichor Bramer's dissertation, which is a great handbook for expert searching. Bramer suggests the first 200 results, or 100 if you are getting low numbers of results from other databases.
4. Click "Search."
5. Refill your coffee mug while you wait for the results; for 100-200 results, this usually takes a few minutes. 
6. Save the results as RIS
7. Import your RIS file to your reference manager of choice. (There's a "Save Results as EndNote" option; for some reason I haven't been able to get it to work, so I just import the RIS file to EndNote.)

One important thing to note is that you can't have any syntax errors in your GS query, or PoP will return 0 results. One example is using the | (OR) operator in quotes: "clinical skills|reasoning|competence" returns 0 results. Whereas Google Scholar will process this query and return results, the same query in PoP will return 0. Here's a quick tutorial on GS syntax and search tips, or see pages 41-42 of the Bramer dissertation for an example of how to translate a query from another database into GS. 

For EndNote users, a few extra steps can help you clean up the messy data you tend to get from GS (credit: Ben Harnke):

1. In EndNote, select all your results and run "Find Reference Updates." This takes about 6 minutes for 200 references.
2. Use EndNote to insert a message in the abstract field, before any text, that tells your collaborators to search the title in Google Scholar to view the complete abstract when they are screening. (Tools > Change/Move/Copy Fields.)
3. Upload to SR software for screening. 

Please feel free to share corrections or other tips in the comments, or email me if you're interested in contributing other tips related to GS, Publish or Perish, grey literature searching, or any other related topics.