Import your publications from another system (Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Academia.edu)

If you already manage your publications in another system, you may be able to import them into the UC Publication Management System. Once imported, the publications will immediately appear in your "Mine" publications list, and you or your delegate can deposit them directly to eScholarship.

  1. Import publications from ORCID

  2. Import publications from Google Scholar

  3. Import publications from ResearchGate and Academia.edu

Import publications from ORCID

The UC Publication Management System now supports a direct connection with your ORCID record that automatically imports your publications from ORCID and exports your claimed publications to ORCID. Learn more in: Connect your ORCID iD and write publications to ORCID.

Import publications from Google Scholar

Begin at Google Scholar


Select the items you'd like to export

Use the check boxes to select all the items you'd like to export from your Google Scholar profile. (Note, this guide assumes you've already curated your publications into a Google Scholar profile. If you haven't done that yet, Google will prompt you to add your publications ahead of this step.)

Export your publications

Select the Export button, then choose "BibTeX".

A file ending in *.bib will download to your computer.

Return to the UC Publication Management System

Go to https://oapolicy.universityofcalifornia.edu

Log in with your campus credentials

Select Menu > My Profile > Tools > Import Publications or type “Import” in the navigation search bar:


Upload your BibTeX file:

  1. Use the Browse button to locate the .bib file you downloaded from Google Scholar

  2. Select the BibTeX option

  3. Select Upload

Note: It may take several minutes for the system to process the file you've just uploaded. Please be patient and do not close your browser window.


Verify your imported publications

  1. The system will display the publications it was able to import from the Google Scholar export file. Take a moment to review these items to verify their accuracy. Be sure to check the separate lists for both New and Matched records so that you can determine how the system should handle potential duplicates.

  2. Also check the Relationships column for any items which were not authored by you: Untick the Relationships boxes, as appropriate.

  3. When you're done verifying this list, select the Import button.



Your Google Scholar profile publications are now imported

Your publications have now been imported from your Google Scholar profile. You can view the imported publications by selecting Menu > Publications. Imported publications will be listed in the Mine tab of the My Publications page.

Remember: your recent manuscripts may be covered by the UC Open Access Policy, in which case you retain the right to upload a version of the article for public display on eScholarship, UC's open access institutional repository.
The My Actions section of the Home tab will provide you with guidance regarding which imported items are covered by the policy and may be uploaded to eScholarship.

ResearchGate & Academia.edu

ResearchGate and Academia.edu block users from exporting their own publication information. (You can read more about the differences between academic social networking sites and institutional repositories on the Office of Scholarly Communication blog.)

If you're working with a large number of publications, the inability to export your own publication metadata can be frustrating. But before you give up, check to see whether citation management software can help gather most of the metadata for you. While it may initially seem like a lot of work to follow the steps below, the process has been tested with a collection of ~500 publications, which were able to be extracted with about 2 hours' work.

(Note: the method below utilizes Zotero, a freely available citation manager, however there are many other software solutions available that can be used to achieve similar results.)

1. First: Install the citation management software and accompanying browser plug-in

Both pieces of software are available on the Zotero Downloads page. You'll need to install both, and the Zotero desktop program must be open in order for the browser plugin to work.

2. Check configuration settings

Zotero is mostly ready for the next steps 'out of the box.' There is one setting, however, which you'll need to adjust. Open the desktop application's 'Preferences' panel and under 'General > Miscellaneous,' un-check the box that reads "Automatically take snapshots when creating items from web pages." Also make sure that the box labeled "Automatically attach associated PDFs" remains checked / enabled.

3. Start capturing metadata

Open up the webpage where your publications exist currently (the example pictured is a researcher profile page). You will need to click on each individual publication record, then click on the Zotero browser plugin icon to capture the metadata on the page.

If successful, you will see a confirmation that the metadata was captured in the bottom-right of your browser window. If a downloadable PDF of the article is available, Zotero should be able to capture that as well. Repeat this process for each item you'd like to capture.

TIP: It is much more efficient to capture several dozen publications in succession than it is to do them one at a time. To do so, hold down the CMD (on Mac) or CTRL (on PC) key on your keyboard while clicking on several publication records. This will open each record in its own browser tab. Once you've opened several new tabs, move to the first publication tab and click on the Zotero browser plugin icon. Leave your cursor on the icon. Wait for the confirmation notification to appear, then enter CMD+W / CTRL+W to close the current browser tab. You can then quickly click the Zotero icon on the next publication record and proceed through the process at a clip.

(To prevent your browser from crashing or freezing, avoid opening more than ~20 browser tabs at a time.)

4. Export your metadata

Once you've captured metadata for all publications you'd like to transfer to eScholarship, return to the Zotero Desktop application and select 'File > Export Library...' Leave all export options at their default values, except 'Format.' Select 'BibTeX' as the format.

5. Import your publications

Follow the same steps as above for Google Scholar to import your BibTeX file.