Can scientific collaboration and excellence be measured by Web presence and Web links? Judit Bar-Ilan Bar-Ilan University and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Web presence and excellence measurements One of the major tools is commercial search engines.One of the major tools is commercial search engines. –Google –Yahoo (different interfaces at AltaVista, AlltheWeb) –Teoma – + some minor ones Do they fulfill our expectations?Do they fulfill our expectations? What are our expectations?What are our expectations?

Major items on my “wish list” –page 1 Coverage Reliability Timeliness Response time, accessibility Objectivity – –No commercial influences – –Tool has no influence on the environment

Major items on my “wish list” –page 2 All reported results can be easily retrieved – –If not, high quality of ranking Clear documentation, disclosure High quality retrieval of non-English language documents Ability to develop applications on top (API)

Major items on my “wish list” –page 3 Features Full Boolean searches Backlinks – –To specific page, to whole site/subsite Limits – – dates – – domains/sites – – languages – – countries/geographical regions – – format – – in title, in anchor text, in url

Major items on my “wish list” –page 4 Features (continued) Stemming (word forms): on/off Site collapse: on/off Access to cache Spell check, alternative suggestions Clustering (?) Ability to combine all the above in a single query

What else would you like to add to the wish list?What else would you like to add to the wish list? Suggestions are more than welcomeSuggestions are more than welcome –Meet me at the conference –Send to Don’t expect me to fulfill your wishes!Don’t expect me to fulfill your wishes! Thank youThank you