Will Web Search Engines Replace Bibliographic Databases in the Systematic Identification of Research?

The availability of web search engines offers opportunities in addition to those provided by bibliographic databasesfor identifying academic literature, but their usefulness for retrieving research is uncertain. A rigorous literaturesearch was undertaken to investigate whether web search engines might replace bibliographicdatabases, using empirical research in health and social care as a case study. Eight databases and five web searchengines were searched between 20 July and 6 August 2015. Sixteen unique studies which compared at least onedatabase with at least one web search engine were examined, as well as drawing lessons from the authors’ ownsearch process. Web search engines were limited in that the searcher cannot be certain that the principles ofBoolean logic apply and they were more limited than bibliographic databases in their functions, such as exportingabstracts. Recommendations are made for improving the rigour and quality of reporting studies of academic literaturesearching.