Key topics:
How discoverable is my research?
Are Figshare items included in Google Dataset Search results?
Is Figshare content indexed by Google Scholar?
How discoverable is my research?
There are a few ways you can increase discoverability of your research:
- Make sure your keywords are relevant — this way when people search for topics related to your work, they will be more likely to find you
. The ‘keyword’ field is free-text, you can insert as many as you like (just remember to hit the enter button after each one!)
- Provide as much metadata as possible. Add a descriptive title and add useful details to the description section.
- Share your research on social media and track the Altmetric attention. We have made it easy for you to do so – there are links on the public version of the page to share on several platforms.
Where can others find my research?
Figshare works directly with a number of organizations to harvest Figshare content into their databases. A few of these organizations are described below.
In addition to the below, there are a number of integrations Figshare offers that allow you to sync your Figshare account to sites like ORCID, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, RSpace, Binder, OSF, and more making it even more discoverable. Please see the integrations section for information on our integrations and applications.
Please note: because Figshare has an open, fully-documented API, there may be additional databases indexing or harvesting Figshare content that are not mentioned here.
Google, Google Scholar, and Google Dataset Search
We mark up all content uploaded to Figshare to enable identification by Google. This involves configuring meta-tags in line with Google indexing guidelines so that their ‘parser’ software can identify your data when crawling the Figshare site. Data from DataCite suggests that Figshare content gets 10x more views than any of the other DataCite DOI minting repositories.
Please see the Google Scholar and Google Dataset specific information further along on this page.
Please note: it can take a few weeks for Google to index your research.
Data Citation Index
Data Citation Index is a citation database powered by Clarivate. If your organization has access to the Data Citation Index through a subscription, you’ll have access to Figshare citation data.
For more information, please visit https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/webofscience-data-citation-index/.
DataCite
Not only is Figshare a DataCite consortium member, but items published on Figshare with a DataCite DOI are harvested into DataCite’s database of scholarly records. You can search metadata through DataCite Commons.
For more information, please visit https://datacite.org/.
DataMed
DataMed is a biomedical data search engine that includes thousands of biomedical research items published on Figshare.
For more information, please visit https://datamed.org/.
Dimensions
Dimensions is an Abstracting & Indexing (A&I) database that indexes grants, publications, datasets, clinical trials, patents, and policy documents. Datasets published in Figshare are harvested into Dimensions automatically.
For more information, please visit https://www.dimensions.ai/.
PubMed LinkOut
PubMed LinkOut is a service that allows you to link directly from PubMed and other NCBI databases to a wide range of information and services beyond the NCBI systems. LinkOut aims to facilitate access to relevant online resources in order to extend, clarify, and supplement information found in NCBI databases. Examples of LinkOut Resources include full-text publications, biological databases, consumer health information, research tools, and more.
For more information, please visit https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/linkout/. To see a full list of their LinkOut providers, please visit https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/linkout/journals/htmllists.cgi?type_id=6
Are Figshare items included in Google Dataset Search results?
Yes, Figshare items with the type dataset are included in Google Dataset Search results. This is achieved by including schema.org JSON-LD markup in the public item’s metadata HTML pages. For example, for https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5590852.v1 the following markup is included:
You can test the JSON-LD markup of any public Figshare dataset using Google’s Structured Data testing tool. The general discoverability tips elsewhere in this guide can help improve your dataset’s visibility in Google Dataset Search; don’t hesitate to contact us at support@figshare.com if you spot any issues or require further information!
Is Figshare content indexed by Google Scholar?
Figshare strives to have all content of type poster, journal contribution, conference contribution, presentation, chapter, report, monograph, thesis, book and preprint indexed by Google Scholar. This required implementing a number of guidelines, as outlined by Google:
- Include specific meta tags in the HTML pages of the records; currently, the mentioned item types have the following tags included in the page: citation_title, citation_publication_date, citation_author, DC.identifier.
- Provide a direct link to PDFs: this is included in the citation_pdf_url meta tag, similarly to the tags above.
- Provide a sitemap: Google advises on using the sitemaps.org standard and Figshare provides a sitemap for both its free offering (https://figshare.com/sitemap/siteindex.xml) and each customer portal. The sitemap is linked in the footer of each landing page.
Moreover, Figshare has been in direct contact with the Google team to ensure that all guidelines have been correctly implemented and that the records can be crawled by the Scholar.