Scopus
Encyclopedia
Scopus, officially named SciVerse Scopus, is a bibliographic database
containing abstracts
and citation
s for academic journal
articles
. It covers nearly 18,000 titles from over 5,000 international publishers, including coverage of 16,500 peer-reviewed
journals in the scientific, technical, medical, and social sciences (including arts and humanities). It is owned by Elsevier
and is available online by subscription
. Searches in Scopus incorporate searches of scientific web pages through Scirus
, another Elsevier product, as well as patent
databases.
Since Elsevier is the owner of Scopus, and is also one of the main international publishers of scientific journals, some users have misgivings about a potential conflict of interest in the choice of the periodicals to be included in the database. In response, Elsevier established the independent and international Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board to maintain an open and transparent content coverage policy. The board consists of scientists and subject librarians from all scientific disciplines and geographical areas, whose interest is to access any relevant information regardless of the publishers.
A study from 2008 compares PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar and concludes " PubMed and Google Scholar are accessed for free [...] Scopus offers about 20% more coverage than Web of Science, whereas Google Scholar offers results of inconsistent accuracy. PubMed remains an optimal tool in biomedical electronic research. Scopus covers a wider journal range [...] but it is currently limited to recent articles (published after 1995) compared with Web of Science. Google Scholar, as for the Web in general, can help in the retrieval of even the most obscure information but its use is marred by inadequate, less often updated, citation information."
Evaluating ease of use and coverage of Scopus and the Web of Science, a study from 2006 concludes that "Scopus is easy to navigate, even for the novice user. [...] The ability to search both forward and backward from a particular citation would be very helpful to the researcher. The multidisciplinary aspect allows the researcher to easily search outside of his discipline" and "One advantage of WOS over Scopus is the depth of coverage, with the full WOS database going back to 1945 and Scopus going back to 1966. However, Scopus and WOS compliment each others as neither resource is all inclusive. [...]".
Scopus also offers author
profiles which cover affiliations, number of publications and their bibliographic data, references, and details on the number of citations each published document has received. It has alerting
features that allows registered users to track changes to a profile and a facility to calculate authors' H-factor
.
Bibliographic database
A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records, an organized digital collection of references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government and legal publications, patents, books, etc...
containing abstracts
Abstract (summary)
An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a...
and citation
Citation
Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated...
s for academic journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
articles
Article (publishing)
An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...
. It covers nearly 18,000 titles from over 5,000 international publishers, including coverage of 16,500 peer-reviewed
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
journals in the scientific, technical, medical, and social sciences (including arts and humanities). It is owned by Elsevier
Elsevier
Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
and is available online by subscription
Subscription business model
The subscription business model is a business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but is now used by many businesses and websites....
. Searches in Scopus incorporate searches of scientific web pages through Scirus
Scirus
Scirus is a comprehensive science-specific search engine. Like CiteSeerX and Google Scholar, it is focused on scientific information. Unlike CiteSeerX, Scirus is not only for computer sciences and IT and not all of the results include full text. It also sends its scientific search results to...
, another Elsevier product, as well as patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
databases.
Since Elsevier is the owner of Scopus, and is also one of the main international publishers of scientific journals, some users have misgivings about a potential conflict of interest in the choice of the periodicals to be included in the database. In response, Elsevier established the independent and international Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board to maintain an open and transparent content coverage policy. The board consists of scientists and subject librarians from all scientific disciplines and geographical areas, whose interest is to access any relevant information regardless of the publishers.
A study from 2008 compares PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar and concludes " PubMed and Google Scholar are accessed for free [...] Scopus offers about 20% more coverage than Web of Science, whereas Google Scholar offers results of inconsistent accuracy. PubMed remains an optimal tool in biomedical electronic research. Scopus covers a wider journal range [...] but it is currently limited to recent articles (published after 1995) compared with Web of Science. Google Scholar, as for the Web in general, can help in the retrieval of even the most obscure information but its use is marred by inadequate, less often updated, citation information."
Evaluating ease of use and coverage of Scopus and the Web of Science, a study from 2006 concludes that "Scopus is easy to navigate, even for the novice user. [...] The ability to search both forward and backward from a particular citation would be very helpful to the researcher. The multidisciplinary aspect allows the researcher to easily search outside of his discipline" and "One advantage of WOS over Scopus is the depth of coverage, with the full WOS database going back to 1945 and Scopus going back to 1966. However, Scopus and WOS compliment each others as neither resource is all inclusive. [...]".
Scopus also offers author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
profiles which cover affiliations, number of publications and their bibliographic data, references, and details on the number of citations each published document has received. It has alerting
Alerts
Alert is a colloquial term used to define a machine-to-person communication that is important and/or time sensitive. An alert contains user-requested content such as a reminder , a notification , and ultimately an alert...
features that allows registered users to track changes to a profile and a facility to calculate authors' H-factor
H-factor
H-factor is a kinetic model for the rate of delignification in kraft pulping. It is a single variable model combining temperature and time and assuming that the deligification is one single reaction....
.
External links
- Scopus Info homepage from Elsevier
- Scopus database
- Author Preview
- Scopus Integration Program
- CitationControl homepage Software for managing bibliographies linked with Scopus.