Expectations versus reality - Search engine features needed for Web research at mid 2005

Web research is based on data from or about the Web. Often data is collected using search engines. Here we describe our "wish list" for the ideal search engine, explain the need for the specific features and examine whether the currently existing major search engines can at least partially fulfil the requirements of the ultimate search tool. The major search tools are commercial and are oriented towards the "average" user and not towards the Web researcher, and therefore are unable to meet all the requests. One possible solution is for the research community to recruit the necessary funding, resources and know-how in order to build a research-oriented search tool.