Accelerate academic research using Scopus APIs

Submitted by Susannah Beatty...
on Fri, 10/07/2016 - 18:03

Did you know Scopus data can be used to help facilitate your research and be integrated in your published work? Scopus data has been used to help researchers:

  • Analyze cited-by counts across specific, singular academic disciplines
  • Study relationships between authors’ geographic locations and academic affiliations
  • Analyze the relationship of citing works from a limited set of publications
  • And more.

To make this easier and more efficient, you can now obtain a Scopus API key for free and without having to seek permission — provided you are affiliated with a subscribing institution and using the data in support of academic research.To get an idea of how others are using Scopus data in their published work, run a search in Scopus using: “Scopus data”.  

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What you need to know about Scopus APIs

The Elsevier Developer Portal is a self-service site. Begin by reading through the ‘Academic Research’ use case to learn what is permissible to use, see what metadata is available and determine which APIs you want to use. Once done and you are ready to go, click on ‘Get API key’ and start coding. TIP: Use the interactive APIs to gain better insight into the type of results your API will return. It allows you to manipulate coding examples and discover what adjustments you might need to make in order to get the information you need.

Why use an API? The case of PhD Candidate, Filip Biljecki

To provide a real-life example of how an API helped solve a particular need, we share the case of PhD Candidate, Filip Biljecki. Filip was looking to analyze papers published in a very specific discipline category in an effort to explore publication patterns and trends from multiple aspects including, number of publications, citations, country output, collaboration and more.The use of Scopus APIs enabled Filip to programmatically obtain large datasets from which he could conduct up-to-date analyses, helping him complete his research faster and publish his findings in his research article.

The recent addition of the Academic Research policy on the Developer Portal makes it easier for researchers affiliated with a Scopus subscribing institution to begin using Scopus APIs. Additionally, the new Academic Research use case provides guidance into how Scopus APIs can be used to support academic research and what metadata can be accessed.

Helpful Resources:

Tags: 
API
Academic Research