How long does it take for citations to appear online when someone cites my work?
Someone cites your paper.
How long will it take to be visible?
Citation indexing time (comparing Scopus versus Google Scholar)
We have previously discussed the importance of citation boost and how to increase your citation count. However, many researchers are interested in increasing citation count for the EB-1 green card/visa; therefore, boosting citation numbers quickly would be important for these researchers.
Why is citation indexing time important?
For a researcher, speed is often equivalent to opportunity. A delay of 6–12 months in citation indexing can lead to "invisible impact" during crucial evaluation windows. Here we explain why:
Grant & tenure applications: Funding bodies and tenure committees look at your recent impact. If you apply for a grant today, but your citations from the last 6 months haven't appeared in your profile yet, your h-index and citation velocity will look artificially low.
The "first citation" predictor: Bibliometric studies suggest that the waiting time (WT) to the first citation is a strong predictor of a paper's long-term success. Rapid indexing validates this early traction, signaling to the community that the work is relevant now.
Avoiding "scooping" & duplication: In fast-moving fields (like AI or Genetics), knowing who cited whom last month matters. If indexing is slow, you might miss a new paper that critiques or builds upon your work, leading you to waste time on redundant research.
Preprint visibility: Fast indexing captures the "grey literature" (preprints, conference posters) that often precedes formal journal publication by a year. This allows you to claim credit for an idea long before the formal peer-review process is complete.
Why is Google Scholar Faster than Scopus in citation indexing?
Their differences can be related to their fundamentally different ingestion technologies. Google Scholar uses automated "web crawlers" (bots) that continuously scan the entire intesimultaneously rnet. It looks at university repositories, social networks (ResearchGate), preprint servers (arXiv), and publishertaneously. As soon as a PDF or citation lands on a public server (even a university department page), the bot finds it. There is no human intermediary. It picks up "noise"—duplicates, PowerPoint slides, and non-peer-reviewed drafts—which inflates citation counts but reduces reliability.
On the other hand, Scopus operates on a structured ingestion pipeline. Scopus does not "go out and find" papers; it waits for publishers to send them data. This process creates a delay (citation lag) but ensures that every citation is verified, peer-reviewed, and correctly linked to the correct author profile.
Two more reasons: (1) Google Scholar indexes preprints immediately. Scopus generally does not index preprints (with some exceptions, such as arXiv in specific views), waiting instead for the final published version. This creates a natural lag of months or years in citation tracking. (2) Google Scholar parses the references from "Articles in Press" immediately. Scopus often waits until the article is assigned a volume and issue number before fully processing its references. The table below summarizes the difference between Google Scholar and Scopus:
| Feature | Google Scholar | Scopus |
|---|---|---|
| Indexing Method | Automated "web crawlers" scan the entire internet. | Structured ingestion pipeline; publishers send data. |
| Indexing Time | 24–48 hours (Fastest) | Up to one month (Slowest) |
| Indexing Scope | Includes preprints, grey literature, PDFs, and official journals. | Generally waits for final, peer-reviewed journal articles. |
How long should you wait to see your citation online?
It depends on the website you are looking for your citation; usually, Google Scholar is the fastest. If someone cites you, it will appear on your Google Scholar profile 24 - 48 hours after publication. This means that if you are monitoring your citation number for the EB-1 visa, Google Scholar is the fastest website.
Unfortunately, Scopus is the slowest, and adding that citation to your profile may take even one month. That is why we always encourage you to have a Google Scholar profile to better monitor your citations. If you are interested in how to increase citations on Google Scholar, browse our professional citation boosting services.
