There are few ways to locate current researchers in your field using both online search engines and websites, as well as Library databases. Conducting an online search using a search engine, such as Google, is a good starting point for locating prominent researchers in your field. You can also search for journals, institutions, and professional associations within your field to identify current researchers.
We also suggest using the resources and techniques described below.
Google Scholar Citations - Authors/scholars have the option to create a Scholar profile. Though not all authors create a profile, you may find results for Google Scholar Citations by conducting a regular Google search on your topic + google scholar citations. Below is an example of a topic search. Alternatively, you can go directly to Google Scholar and search for your research topic to discover relevant resources and authors.
Here is an example of an author profile within Google Scholar Citations.
Academia - Searching by topic within Academia.edu, also provides you with a list of people within the topic field. Sign up for a free account to download select open access full-text articles.
ResearchGate - Search by topic to find researchers within the field. Sign up for a free account to download select open access articles, create a personal profile, and follow researchers, topics, institutions, and departments.
Web of Science - Web of Science is a database found within the Library's A - Z Database List. In Web of Science, you can search by topic, and then analyze the results to determine the most cited authors that appear within that keyword search. Analyzing your results will generate a treemap from which you can select to view/filter by Web of Science Categories (topics), Authors, Research Areas, etc. See example below.
Example: A treemap author analysis for the topic search, "early childhood education"
For additional information, see the following FAQs:
- To locate publications by an author, see our Authors FAQ.
- For biographies of highly influential scholars and figures, see our Find Biographies FAQ.
- For more information on ResearchGate and Academia.edu, see our FAQ.
