"No references were imported" message in online search

[adamduus]

Hello.

I do an "online search", enter the search terms and it returns the selected number of results.

I select a desired reference, click import, and get the notification message "No references were imported."

I don't want to import the PDF/article etc, just the metadata.

It has worked so far for about 200 references in my library over the past 3 days.

I don't think its a Google Scholar lock-out issue as that did also occur, providing no references at all. I returned the next day to continue.

Any assistance appreciated.

Regards,
Adam

[Jon]

You can import from other sources (say, PubMed)? And you didn't say what version of Bookends you're using.

Jon
Sonny Software

[adamduus]

Hi Jon. Thanks for the prompt reply.

Apologies... Bookends version 13.0.2.

Since your reply I haven't been able to reliably recreate the problem.

I tried PubMed as suggested, and it worked fine.

I then tried Google Scholar again and was locked-out still from yesterday. I tried a VPN re-route to get around this and it worked, FWIW. It also allowed the metadata import. "No references were imported" message only occurred about 3~4 times in 40 reference imports. With all of these, however, I was able to import metadata via Bookends Browser/Google Scholar.

I'll let you know if I discover anything else.

Cheers.
Adam

[adamduus]

Hello again Jon.

Still haven't been able to recreate the original problem.

I'm wondering if I just hit the Google Scholar limit of metadata import from one single online search (consisting of 200 results).

Can't verify this with PubMed as its not suitable to my topic.

Cheers.
Adam

[Jon]

I don't think they limit the search, I think it's the number you download very quickly. But who really knows -- this isn't public information AFAIK, and of course they can change their algorithms any time.

Jon
Sonny Software

[jamiehatzis]

I am importing references from online searches from within Bookends. When I go to import a reference using Google Scholar, I am finding the reference is not actually there. It was working fine however a few minutes before. Is there a limit to how many Bookends allows me to import into the Hit List??

[Jon]

Google Scholar probably thinks you're a robot. There are threads on this forum that go into this in detail. Search for "Google Scholar".

Jon
Sonny Software

[jamiehatzis]

I read the posts first before posting my question since they provided no information beyond what I already experienced. They provide no info on how to fix the problem....not sure why this is a feature if there is a cap of some sort that triggers Google to lock us out.

[Jon]

Here's a long thread that goes through pretty much everything.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3334

Bookends has nothing to do with this, it's a limitation imposed by Google. How they actually determine who is a potential robot is of course unknown to anyone outside of Google.

In Bookends Online Search you may be able to verify you're not a robot when you try to search GS. If not, you can try that in your browser. It can take Google up to 24 hours to restore your ability to search and/or download.

Jon
Sonny Software