Blogs

The importance of high-quality content in Scopus

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Fri, 02/12/2021 - 14:53

Maintaining the integrity of Scopus and its high-quality, curated content is of paramount importance to us. Scopus is vigilant in identifying and discontinuing journals that are, or have become, predatory.

Nature recently published an article based on research looking into predatory publishing using Beall’s list as a definition for predatory journals. Beall’s list has not been maintained since 2017.

This article is based on a study from 2017 which we were aware of. Therefore, in 2017 the Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB) immediately re-evaluated all Beall’s list journals in Scopus and discontinued the underperforming journals. This was part of our ongoing journal re-evaluation program.

Any research that helps shine a light on predatory journals is welcome. Poor-quality and predatory journals are a threat to the integrity of science.

Scopus has an acclaimed, independent and transparent selection process to determine which journals are indexed on its platform; it has

Understand Scopus and SciVal’s role in university rankings

Submitted by Aileen
on Fri, 02/12/2021 - 12:50

Ranking methodologies rely on data inputs from a range of external resources. These resources often include university and researcher data, relevant data on human resources, student administration, finances, and data from reputation surveys; each varying based on a league table's niche and focus.

Ranking organizations have increasingly turned to Elsevier's Scopus and SciVal for the research information and publication data used to formulate and implement their ranking methodologies.

Two such organizations are Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds Limited (QS). In this reosurce page (linked to below), we take a deeper look at Scopus and SciVal's role in both the THE and QS World University Rankings and their applied methodologies.

Learn more about university rankings data

 

Release Date: 
February 15 2021

Meet the Team: Surya Nedunchezhiyan, Engagement Manager

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Fri, 02/05/2021 - 14:59

This profile is part of a Scopus blog series, featuring the Research Content Operations team. This team looks after the relationships with all third parties such as publishers, societies and funding agencies whose content is included in Scopus, Engineering Village and other multi-publisher platforms. 

Name:  Surya Nedunchezhiyan

Job title:  Engagement Manager

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I’m a small-town person who moved to the big city to attend Law school. I am proud to be the first female in the family to graduate Law school. I have worked in Insurance, Banking, and now in the Publishing industry. When I am not working or cleaning the house, you can find me with my nose buried on my Kindle, or in the nearby movie hall, off traveling somewhere I have never been.

When did you join Elsevier? Feb 2012 as a Journal Manager.

What do you love most about your job? To be a part of making the ground-breaking research

Preprints are now in Scopus!

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Thu, 01/28/2021 - 21:39

We are excited to announce that Scopus is now incorporating preprints as a content type in Author Profiles to help Scopus users discover the latest contributions of a researcher. Preprints are non-peer-reviewed publications and are directly derived from arXiv, bioRxiv, ChemRxiv and medRxiv servers (with SSRN coming later this year) and follow their respective curation policies. Preprints do not affect existing publication and citation metrics in Scopus.

Scopus covers preprints from 2017 onwards.

What are preprints?

A preprint is a version of a scholarly paper that precedes publication in a peer-reviewed journal and act as an early indication of research.

Preprints reside on preprint servers, which cover a set of domains and allow for dissemination, laying claim to an idea, and help collect feedback prior to submission. In some fields, preprints are the main communication vehicle.

Scopus homepage re-design coming January 18

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Thu, 01/14/2021 - 19:22

We are testing and improving the Scopus homepage over the next few months, starting with a refresh of the search form. This is to make it simpler, easier to use and more accessible based on direct feedback from our users.

We initially tested this new design with an A/B test (which you may have seen) and have been closely monitoring your feedback. The results indicate that the new design is performing better and helps users to more effectively search for valuable insights. Therefore, we will be releasing this improvement to all customers on 18th January.

Part of a broader re-design of the Scopus homepage

This update is part of a broader re-design of the Scopus homepage. Other changes we’re planning over the next few months include:

  • improved search history,
  • the addition of saved searches to the home page,
  • improved alerts to help you stay-up-to date, and
  • better linking to your author profile.

We’ll continue to

Meet the Team: Rachel Guenevere Brennesholtz, Senior Publisher Relations Manager

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Wed, 12/23/2020 - 21:21

This profile is part of a Scopus blog series, featuring the Secondary Content Operations team. This team looks after the relationships with all third parties such as publishers, societies and funding agencies whose content is included in Scopus, Engineering Village and other multi-publisher platforms. 

Name: Rachel Guenevere Brennesholtz

Job title: Senior Publisher Relations Manager, Secondary Content Operations

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I grew up on a farm in rural New York and moved to Philadelphia after university.  One thing that people always find interesting is that I did my MBA in Mumbai, India.  I am a cyclist and an apple pie lover, which makes living in Amsterdam perfect. The Dutch love their bikes and always finish a long ride with pie.     

When did you join Elsevier? June 2015. I moved from the US to Amsterdam to run Pure marketing and moved into the Secondary Content

Meet the Team: Kalyani Sridhar, Senior Engagement Manager, Secondary Content Operations

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Wed, 12/23/2020 - 19:31

This profile is part of a Scopus blog series, featuring the Secondary Content Operations team. This team looks after the relationships with all third parties such as publishers, societies and funding agencies whose content is included in Scopus, Engineering Village and other multi-publisher platforms. 

Name:  Kalyani Sridhar 

Job title:  Senior Engagement Manager, Secondary Content Operations  

How would you explain your job to a stranger on a bus? First, I would ask what that person is doing for work. If the person worked in research or publishing, I would explain I help support third-party content on Scopus.  I would say that I help researches get a huge audience for their work and expand their readership network.   

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I am a calm, but fun-loving person. I am interested in gardening and have a small garden.

Meet the Team: Sophie Wolthers, Director Publishing Relations

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Fri, 12/18/2020 - 20:45

Welcome to a new series on the Scopus blog, featuring the Secondary Content Operations team. This team looks after the relationships with all third parties such as publishers, societies and funding agencies whose content is included in Scopus, Engineering Village and other multi-publisher platforms. 

Name: Sophie Wolthers 

Job title: Director Publishing Relations 

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

Although Dutch by birth, the first 21 years of my life were spent living in many different parts of the world. I consider this exposure to different cultures as one of the most enriching experiences of my life and one that has fundamentally shaped me to see us all as global citizens of the world.      

When did you join Elsevier? 

January 2001 and being immersed in such an environment of incredibly driven and dedicated individuals has been inspirational. 

What do you love most about your job? 

Building

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Scopus

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Wed, 12/09/2020 - 19:58

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are part of a plan to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve the lives and prospects of everyone by 2030. The 15-year plan has 17 goals with 169 targets aimed at stimulating action in areas of critical importance to humanity and the environment.

Elsevier data science teams built pre-generated search queries for 16 of the SDGs. These search queries are now available as part of Scopus Advanced search and can help researchers and institutions track and demonstrate progress towards the targets of the SDGs. Full details of the methodology and results for each SDG search query are available on Mendeley.

How were the search queries created?

Elsevier data scientists designed the queries. The initial work was part of a request from Times Higher Education (THE) who asked for help in defining SDG search queries for use in their University Impact Rankings by SDGs. This original query then formed the starting point for several rounds

Scopus filters for Open Access type and 5.5 million more OA articles (17 million in total!)

Submitted by Rachel McCullough
on Wed, 12/09/2020 - 18:51

Key points:

  • As of 9th December, Scopus has new Open Access filters, providing greater clarity on the type of open access per article.
  • With this new classification system, there are an additional ~5.5 million articles (17 million from 11.5 million) receiving the Open Access label, as we expand our definition of open access to include those available in open repositories (typically referred as ‘Green OA’).
  • Users can now filter their results on the Documents Results page on ‘all open access articles’ or use specific OA tags i.e. gold, hybrid gold, green and bronze.

Where are the Open Access definitions derived from? 

The source of OA documents in Scopus is Unpaywall, a database run by Impactstory (a non-profit organization) which harvests Open Access content from over 50,000 publishers and repositories. 

Which Open Access filters are supported in Scopus?

Scopus users can now see Open Access Gold, Hybrid-Gold, Green or Bronze status per document.
Furthermore, the Scopus advanced search

Pages