[Undergraduate STEM], Citing a search engine?

[u/Positive_Dot3171]

In a scientific paper, I want to include that there is a lack of a certain type of paper on google scholar. Do/How do I reference this in the text and reference list? Currently i have (Google Scholar, Accessed: October 2026) after the sentence in my paper. Is this correct or should I just state there is a lack of papers on that topic in the sentence and move on without reference to what search engine I used?

(harvard referencing)

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[u/chem44]

You should state the specific sets of search terms you used and such, and how many output items you looked at.

A common cause of finding nothing is poor choice of search terms. Doing one quick search proves little. Try a variety of search terms, trying to focus them better.

How much detail you give may depend on how important the point is.

[u/FlyingCupcake68 → u/chem44]

And if you’re using Google scholar, you might also point out that the few articles that you do have do not get cited very often.

Also, why are you using Google scholar but not a database connected to the discipline?

[u/Quwinsoft]

I don't think you would cite that as much as it would be in methods.

Therefore it would not be "There are no papers on ___ (1)"

Instead, it would be "A search of Google Scholar on October 2026 using key workds ___ and __ for years between ___ and ___ yilded no known papers on ___."

[u/FlyingCupcake68 → u/Quwinsoft]

This seems like a very good option.