Scrape the number of references found on google scholar.

scholarCites.R

library(rvest)
library(magrittr)

# Our search string
sp <- "Myotis myotis"

spString <- tolower(gsub(' ', '+', sp))

url <- paste0('https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&q=%22', 
              spString, '%22&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=')

#Download the webpage
page <- html(url)

# Extract the number of references.
refs <- page %>%
          html_node('#gs_ab_md') %>%
          html_text() %>%
          gsub('About\\s(.*)\\sresults.*', '\\1', .) %>%
          gsub(',', '', .) %>%
          as.numeric