Google Scholar as a Means for Quantitative Evaluation of German Research Output in Business Administration - Some Preliminary Results

Abstract

We examine Google Scholar as a potential basis for the evaluation of Research output in German business administration. As German business administration relies heavily on publications in books and is moreover characterized by a high relevance of publications in German, citation analyses on the basis of the ISI web of science are not very helpful. Therefore, up to now, a journal oriented publication evaluation with the help of the so-called VHB-Jourqual (a list of several hundred journals ranked by the members of the German Academic Association in Business Administration - VHB) has become the current standard in Germany. Google Scholar may offer a potential alternative to this journal oriented ranking. We show exemplary consequences in rankings of journals and academics when utilizing Google Scholar. This study is only preliminary, as it should be extended to all journals that enter the VHB-Jourqual and to all members of the VHB.

Keywords: German business administration, Google Scholar, ISI web of science, research output

JEL Classification: A20, I21, I29, M10