Retrieving URLs from Google Scholar

Mark.E
I noticed recently that for some items imported into my library from Google Scholar, the URL field was blank. I tested this by importing a few different articles and it looks like it's happening every time.

When I right-click on an item and select, "Show online," it takes me to the correct page, so it seems the information is recorded somewhere. But often it's handy to be able to copy the URL without opening the page, so displaying the URL is useful.

Here's a link to a page where I'm experiencing this behavior:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Does+Child+Sponsorship+Work?+Evidence+from+Uganda+Using+a+Regression+Discontinuity+Design

I normally use Firefox and submitted a debug request after attempting to import from this page. ID: D1027750489.

As a side note, while troubleshooting this I tried it with Chrome, and found that it would retrieve metadata (minus the URL) but failed to grab either a snapshot or the pdf. So I created a debug request for that as well. ID: D1020730017.
  • bwiernik
    Google Scholar doesn't include the URL in the metadata it provides, so Zotero doesn't have anything to import. The URL you are taken to when you click "View Online" is taken from the source of the PDF attachment item. This URL is often not an appropriate one to use in a citation [which is what should be stored in the URL field], so Zotero doesn't put that into the URL field by default. You can copy the URL without opening the page by expanding the Zotero item (clicking the triangle at the left of the title or typing the right arrow), selecting the attachment, and dragging the URL from there. You can also copy this URL to the URL field if it would be appropriate to cite that source.

    (In general, Google Scholar has terrible metadata; it is almost always a better idea to go to the original publisher page to import an item into Zotero—items published exclusively on ResearchGate [which provides no structured metadata at all] being a rare exception.)

  • Mark.E
    Thanks bwiernik, you're right—I could have sworn URLs were usually included with GScholar metadata, so I thought this might have something to do with Zotero 5 and/or the new GScholar layout. But looking more closely at items imported to my library from various sources, I now see what you mean.

    As always, thanks to you and the rest of the devs for all your work on Zotero and on the forums.
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