Classic papers: d\'ej\`a vu, a step further in the bibliometric exploitation of Google Scholar

TL;DR

This paper reviews Eugene Garfield's contributions to citation analysis and evaluates Google Scholar's Classic Papers service, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses in identifying highly cited research articles.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of Google Scholar's Classic Papers feature and its relation to bibliometric studies inspired by Garfield's work.

Findings

Google Scholar's Classic Papers displays highly cited English-language articles from 2006.

The service has specific strengths in field-based citation analysis.

Weaknesses include limited coverage and potential biases.

Abstract

After giving a brief overview of Eugene Garfield contributions to the issue of identifying and studying the most cited scientific articles, manifested in the creation of his Citation Classics, the main characteristics and features of Google Scholar new service Classic Papers, as well as its main strengths and weaknesses, are addressed. This product currently displays the most cited English-language original research articles by fields and published in 2006