To me it looks a lot like a manipulation of search engine. Maybe Google or Microsoft will not disclose their rank inflation counter-tactics, but what they could do is to provide their solution for this specific verticals.
As much as I'd like open-source effort for that, I understand that knowing the rules allows easy manipulation.
Well, there already is Google Scholar. I don't know precisely how much effort goes into the ranking algorithms used there -- but I do already use it in preference to Pubmed.
As much as I'd like open-source effort for that, I understand that knowing the rules allows easy manipulation.