Scopus Database – Full Overview. Advantages of the System and Description of Opportunities for Scientists
- April 19, 2024
- Posted by: Yury Subachev, PhD
- Categories: For young scientists, Paper publication
The Scopus database is a truly multifunctional resource, for every scientific researcher to know about, and moreover, to be able to use it.
Just imagine that, as a scholar, you no longer have to search painstakingly online for the latest and most relevant papers in your field. You no longer need to spend time in a science library looking for articles you need. Imagine that you can easily find it all in one website! Writing a review of scientific literature for your paper, compiling a list of sources used in your paper to reflect the latest advances in your field – all of the above will be much easier.
This article is about the Scopus database which can provide you, as a scientist, with all these opportunities. Let us take a closer look at what the Scopus database is all about.
Firstly, it is the world’s largest abstract database of scientific publications from all over the world, containing as well the information on scientific papers citation. It contains almost 24,000 publications from over 5,000 publishers from around the world. The Scopus database is unlimited in thoroughness; the search is carried out only by abstracts; and the full text of publications can be found in any of 40 languages.
Useful articles will be found by anyone interested in humanities, natural or exact sciences, people who have devoted their lives to arts, medicine, engineering and technologies.
Secondly, it is the most reputable and high-quality information resource in all the above areas. It not only has huge amounts of available data being constantly updated and replenished. It is also important that the Scopus database selects and indexes scientific publications on the basis of own stringent quality control standards.
All of this ensures due integration, integrity and uniformity of data in the base. That is not just talk – in fact, the level of the Scopus database data is confirmed by recognition by the world’s key universities, academic organisations and rating agencies that compile international university rankings.
2. What scientific material is included in the Scopus database?
So, what kind of data can you find in the Scopus database?
– primarily journals (over 4,000 of 23,700 publications are in the public domain);
– a great number of specialised publications;
– books (their number is already 166,000; moreover, twenty thousand volumes are added every year); as well as book series;
– millions of papers delivered within the framework of a hundred thousand international conferences;
– records of publications, the earliest of them dating back to 1788, and what is important – with reference lists of sources.
The automated analysis of these lists’ content is actually what determines the citation rate in the system. In addition, the analysis of reference lists is also important for a researcher as it helps to draw attention to papers in his field or a related sphere, previously unfamiliar to him.
– the latest articles from thousands of journals, that have been accepted for publication but have not yet appeared in print – the so-called ‘Articles-in-Press’;
– millions of patent records from the world’s five patent offices. This is important in order to:
- identify new research lines and/or licensing opportunities;
- avoid research duplication;
- find out how things work (diagrams and detailed descriptions are a helpful instrument);
- find information on a company’s profile or experts in this field;
- get protection of one’s idea or invention;
- it is estimated that 85-90% of technical information contained in patents is found nowhere else.
In addition, Scopus includes:
– factual data from the profile BD Elsevier (e.g. Compendex, etc.) and other organisations (Medline);
– author accounts – such profiles give detailed description of any researcher’s work;
– records of various institutions reflecting specific features and trends of their scientific activity;
– a tool to compare journals, possible due to the extensive list of bibliometric indices (SJR, CiteScore, etc.).
Also significant is the fact that DB Scopus is replenished every day! In addition, all records store complete metadata of the published material, including the digital object identifier (DOI) and its numerical identifier (EID).
3. What are the advantages of the Scopus database?
Once you have gained a due understanding of the depth of retrospection and completeness of the Scopus DB (and these parameters are higher than those of similar world databases), its merits should be described.
– Scopus is characterised by a user-friendly intuitive interface which was created with the help of a specialist in cognitive psychology; the developers took user requests into account. Incidentally, the system is still being improved.
– Scopus indexes abstracts of papers before they are issued in printed form (stated differently, the so-called “embargo” is not practiced).
– The database includes the means of monitoring the effectiveness of research carried out by the authors and even institutions. Such tools provide due ranking for specific journals and entire research areas.
– Scopus displays at once a consolidated list of search results for all kinds of sources. The results are sorted by journal name, (co-)authors, institution, year of publication, type of publication, etc. When searching, the system takes into account any of the possible ways of spelling the above parameters.
4. 6 significant Scopus’ minimum criteria for selection of a journal
All journals must meet all minimum criteria for further evaluation and have at least a 2-year publishing record:
1) Reviewed;
2) Title, author information, abstract, keywords in English;
3) Regularity of publication;
4) Reference list in the Roman alphabet
5) Declaration of publishing ethics
6) Minimum of 2-year publishing record and a website in English.
5. 14 important Scopus’ evaluation criteria for a journal
Journals that meet these criteria are further evaluated by the CSAB according to the combination of 14 quantitative and qualitative criteria:
1. Editorial policy.
– Convincing editorial concept/policy (goals)/ rules of publication by a journal
– Reviewing policy
– Geographical spread of the editorial board
– Geographical spread of authors
2. Content quality.
– Scientific contribution to the academic field
– Comprehensible and complete abstracts
– Quality and consistency with the stated
policy/goals of the edition
– Articles readership
3. Journal status.
– Citation rate of journal articles in Scopus
– Status of the editorial board (citation rate, publication activities)
4. Regularity.
– Publication on schedule, with no delay
5. Online accessibility
– Content available online
– Journal’s English-language home page
– Home page quality
The essential difference between the Scopus database and other systems is that Scopus does not register individual authors – only organisations can be registered. These institutions can further set access rights to various DB features for scholars, allowing them to file publications to Scopus.
If one compares Scopus with WoS, Scopus is at an advantage. The point is that Scopus collects information on scientific papers from all over the world, in all possible languages (if the material has an abstract in English). Meanwhile Web of Science focuses on highly specialised materials, with US publications being primary. In addition, Scopus does not take into account the so-called impact factor, although the Hirsch index is used very actively.
6. Comparison of Scopus and Web of Science
Every year DB Scopus receives thousands of requests from publishers seeking to have their materials indexed in this system. Such requests are processed by the so-called Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB). The board, which was established in 2005, reviews and evaluates the journals. The CSAB is comprised of independent academic staff from different countries, with expertise in different scientific fields. The board also includes members of editorial boards of academic journals as well as library experts. The CSAB also pinpoints the journals that can no longer be indexed in Scopus.
7. Why does a researcher need to have articles cited in the Scopus database?
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the use of the Scopus abstract database enables a scientist to retrieve an aggregate of search results from a consolidated resource easily and quickly.
Most likely, searching for such voluminous data on different websites would have taken a lot more time and effort.
In addition, Scopus allows a scholar to find out what particular scientists and organisations work in his field worldwide, and get comprehensive data about his colleagues and research centres.
The built-in analytical tools help a scholar to understand at what development stage the subject of his interest is, how much it is in demand and promising, whether academics’ interest in it is growing or subsiding.
Presently the database contains over 1.4 billion citations. Every paper indexed in the Scopus database enjoys 10-15% more citation on the average than if it had been published by its closest competitor, Web of Science.
The higher citation rate means:
– more thorough and in-depth analysis of bibliometric and historical trends;
– more complete author profiles;
– improved Hirsch index score for authors who started publishing their works before 1996.
It might also be added that, owing to Scopus, a researcher can:
– build his academic career based on his proven scientific achievements (papers, citation, Hirsch index);
– decide with whom, when and in what area he can establish academic cooperation (e.g. by analysing which academics and journals cite his works or papers of scholars belonging to the same unit);
– find new ideas, decide how to differentiate his subject area from other fields and distinguish it from the domain of his previous papers;
– monitor the impact of his already published papers;
– analyse and conclude which journals pertaining to his subject of interest are worth reading and to which he might submit his articles (comparison can be made according to a specific range of criteria);
– see, by analysing the already issued articles, the numerical, geographical and other patterns in appearance of citations for papers posted in different journals;
– receive notifications on latest citations of his works.
Scopus helps to resolve researcher’s problems:
|
TARGETS |
SOLUTION |
|
Finding the existing information in the global scientific space and evaluating it |
Basic/Advanced Search, Refine Results |
|
Analysing scientific topics, searching for ideas |
Basic/Advanced Search |
|
Searching for research partners |
Author/Affiliation Profiles |
|
Searching for journals and their analytics |
Journal Analyzer |
|
Tracking the significance of research; monitoring global scientific trends |
Alerts, Citation Overview, Analyzers, Article Metrics |
|
Monitoring the dynamics of research chops at the level of individual researcher, organisation, country |
Alerts, Author Profiles, Analyzers |
Source: Scopus Own Data, Scopus Exit Survey, 2015
8. What is Scopus Author ID?
Supposing, you have more than 2 papers indexed in Scopus. In this case, you will be assigned an Author ID. This number is automatically assigned to your personal data, thus avoiding confusion when publishing materials – they will match your profile only (namesakes are also excluded).
How do I know my Author ID?
There are two ways of identifying your ID:
– log in to the official Scopus resource. Then search by the title of your paper or by authorship. After that, proceeding from the publication page, go to the page with the author imprint. Clicking on your name will take you to your personal profile where you can see your Author ID and other scientometric data, for instance, Hirsch index, citation statistics for your material, source, time and specific domain of citation.
– use the feedback service which allows you to get restricted access to Scopus without logging in. Using the provided link, you will get to the page that contains a search form. You need to enter your surname and first name (in Latin characters). The generated combo list will contain authors’ names, including yours. Clicking on your name, you can enter your personal account with displayed scientometric parameters.
9. How do I link my SCOPUS and ORCID identifiers?
To begin with, below is the basic information about ORCID. It is an acronym for “Open Researcher and Contributor ID”. It represents a unique researcher’s digital identifier. What is it used for? Often a researcher’s name can be spelled differently in different contexts and in different languages, which can result in ambiguity and even confusion. Now then, the ORCID code helps to identify a person in a single unique way.
This code is formed according to the ISO standard (ISO 27729). It consists of Arabic numerals (0 – 9) and a capital letter X denoting the digit 10. The identifier is in the form of a link to a web page and looks as follows: http://orcid.org/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx.
A scholar can link his Scopus Author ID to his unique ORCID number. How can this be done? Go to your author’s page in the Scopus database and then click on “Add to ORCID”.
10. Subscription to Scopus
The subscription allowing access to Scopus is very expensive. It can usually be afforded by large universities or libraries enjoying government or commercial funding. If you work for one of such institutions you can use the database as its employee, accessing it from the company’s computers.
Conclusion
You have now learned about the resource of the Scopus database. So all you need now is to apply your knowledge in your daily research activities – look for articles in your own research domain, search for foreign authors in related fields, etc.
Being published in Scopus journals, your papers will be indexed in the world’s most influential scientific database; your colleagues around the world will see and cite your articles, and you will gain reputability as a scientist not only at your university or institute, but also in your country, becoming a figure of scientific authority known to academic colleagues worldwide! One cannot but agree that this is a very attractive prospect.
Undoubtedly, getting to know the Scopus database will provide you with an excellent opportunity to propel your research to a qualitatively new level.
