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VOL.463 NO.7284 DATED 25 FEBRUARY 2010
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News: A land without Google?
With no end in sight to the stand-off between Google and the Chinese government, Nature’s news team has surveyed scientists in China to find out how much they rely on Google – and what the consequences would be if they lost access to the search engine and its related products.
More than three-quarters of the scientists said they use Google as the primary search engine for their research. Over 80% use the search engine to find academic papers; close to 60% use it to get information about scientific discoveries or other scientists’ research programmes; and more than half use the literature search Google Scholar.
A large proportion – 84% – of the scientists who responded to Nature’s survey say that losing Google would “somewhat or significantly” hamper their research and 78% say that international collaborations would be affected to the same degree.
“The findings are very typical of most countries in the world,” says David Bousfield, London-based vice-president and lead analyst of Outsell, an information and publishing consultancy. “Google and Google Scholar have become indispensable tools for scientists.”
Science in China would not come to a halt without Google, adds David Nicholas, an Internet researcher in London. But Google “has transformed information-seeking behaviours in academic communities”, and losing such an important research tool would significantly compromise scientists’ efficiency, he says.
One Chinese scientist says: “Research without Google would be like life without electricity.”
The full survey results will be online at www.go.nature.com/FJ6QTm from 1800 London time today.
The news article and results can be found under embargo on the Nature press site, 25 February issue of Nature.
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