Naver to End Academic Search Next Month... Academic Documents to Appear in General Search Results

Prioritizing Academic Materials with Full-Text Access
Immediate Viewing Available After Search

Naver's academic information category search service is scheduled to be discontinued next month.

According to the IT industry on the 27th, Naver recently announced through a notice that the "Academic Information" search category will be terminated next month. The academic information category, which is one of the categories at the top of the search page, allowed users to search exclusively for academic data such as theses and scholarly articles.

Naver logo. Provided by Naver

Starting from the 25th, after the discontinuation, academic documents with accessible full texts will be displayed together with general search results.

Naver decided to discontinue the academic search category due to the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Portal sites have been restructuring their search services to be more intuitive and user-friendly for users. Major tech companies such as Google and Microsoft Bing are also moving away from highly segmented search categories, instead focusing on providing integrated information in their search results.

In its notice, Naver explained, "We have maintained a separate academic information category within search, where documents such as theses, academic papers, and research trend reports listed in Naver Academic Information were displayed separately. However, to provide a better user experience, we will end the separate exposure of this category."

Naver further stated, "Academic materials with direct access to the full text will be prioritized in general search results, and the format will be changed to an intuitive and simple structure that allows immediate viewing after searching."

After this change, academic documents with accessible full texts can be found through integrated search. Other general academic documents can still be searched via the Naver Academic Information Service.

Meanwhile, Naver is gradually expanding the AI Briefing section, which has been piloted for certain search results. The company aims to increase the proportion of search results featuring AI Briefing to 20% within this year, which is higher than its initial target.