Keeping Data in Sync

Once a researcher is imported through search, Scholar Sync keeps their publications and citation stats current without any manual work.

Automatic sync

Scholar Sync periodically re-checks each synced researcher in the background and updates their publication list and stats. No action is needed on your part.

Manual sync

To sync a specific researcher right away, open their profile and go to the Sync Details tab, then click Sync Articles.

Reading the sync history

The Sync Details tab keeps a log of every sync attempt for that researcher:

  • Date and Type (Automatic or Manual)
  • Outcome — Success, Skipped, or Error
  • Added / Updated — how many articles changed
  • Message — details, when relevant (e.g. an error explanation)

A sync with 0 added and 0 updated simply means everything was already current — that's expected and not an error.

Why some researchers can't be synced

A researcher added through Add Manually has no linked Scholar ID for the service to sync against. Their Sync Details tab explains this instead of showing a Sync button — their data is exactly what you entered, and only changes when you edit it yourself.

Sync-protected fields

If you manually edit Interests, Citations Total, h-index, or i10-index on a synced researcher, that field is locked from being overwritten by the next sync, so your manual correction isn't silently lost. See Editing a Scholar for how to re-enable syncing on a locked field.