The most effective way to locate background information, institutional affiliation, current contact information and other biographical data is to conduct an internet search. Using an internet search engine, like Google, you can search by the author’s name. The influence of the author will determine how much or how little information is available about him/her.
Here’s a sample search for the influential author/scholar/psychologist Robert M. Gagne:
Institutional Affiliation
All journals print the author’s institutional affiliation (college, university, or organization) on the first page of an article. See this example below:
You may also locate author affiliation and sometimes direct contact information (email and/phone) in NavigatorSearch (formerly Roadrunner) by clicking on the title of a result and viewing the Detailed Record screen. Here is an example of a detailed record screen for an article:
Other Resources
Academia - results may appear in an internet search. Click on People at the bottom of the home page to search for an author. Sign up for a free account to download select open access full-text articles.
Google Scholar Citations – authors/scholars have the option to create a Scholar Profile. Not all authors opt to do this; you may find results for Google Scholar Citations by conducting a search on the author’s name + Google Scholar Citations. Here is an example search: peter sleegers google scholar citations
Microsoft Academic – click on an author’s name to view institutional affiliation, description, websites, fields of study, co-author affiliations, journals in which published, and conferences at which they presented (not all sections may be available).
ResearchGate – results may appear in an internet search. Click on Researchers at the bottom of the home page for an author. Sign-up for a free account to connect with other scholars and to access select open-access full-text articles.
To locate publications by an author, see our Authors FAQ.
For biographies of highly influential scholars and figures, see our Find Biographies FAQ.
