Google Scholar is a free web-based search engine that indexes scholarly literature across various fields and disciplines, including articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions. It was developed by Google in 2004 as a tool to help researchers find relevant academic information quickly and easily.

Google Scholar uses automated software called "crawlers" to search the internet for scholarly content, which it then indexes and makes available to users. Users can search Google Scholar using keywords, author names, article titles, and other criteria. Search results are ranked by relevance, and users can access the full text of articles if they are available online.

Google Scholar also provides various tools and features to help users stay up-to-date with the latest research in their fields, such as alerts for new publications and citation metrics for individual articles and authors.

Overall, Google Scholar is a valuable resource for researchers, academics, and students who need access to scholarly literature and want to stay informed about the latest developments in their fields.