Google Scholar reCAPTCHA with Zotero Connector

thompsonmj · January 22, 2018

I just started using Zotero and have started being subject to loooong reCAPTCHAs upon manually entering a search into Google Scholar. The only thing that has changed with my system is the installation of Zotero and Zotero Connector for Firefox (not running VPN or anything else that could be counted as suspicious traffic). Is this something Google needs to figure out how to fix, or could it be done on Zotero's end? Do all citation management web importers cause this issue? I haven't tried any others.

dstillman · January 22, 2018

Have you been using "Retrieve Metadata from PDF" in Zotero or using the Zotero Connector to save from Google Scholar? Simply having Zotero installed shouldn't affect anything, but using either of those features essentially results in automated requests against Google Scholar, and they'll start temporarily blocking you after a certain number of requests.

An upcoming version of Zotero should help address the "Retrieve Metadata from PDF" case. Generally speaking, simply saving from Google Scholar to Zotero isn't an issue unless you're saving many items/pages in quick succession.

bwiernik · January 22, 2018

If you importing MANY items from Google Scholar using the Save to Zotero (e.g., for a systematic review), you should follow these tips to avoid being locked out:
https://www.zotero.org/support/getting_stuff_into_your_library#large-scale_imports_from_databases