Behind the scenes: the Scopus product team
So who are the people that work on Scopus? We thought it was time to let you meet them, in their own words. Rather than overwhelm you, I'll break this up into a few smaller groups. I asked everyone on our team the same 4-5 questions and here is what they had to say. My own "interview" is still to come...
First up, Senior Product Managers Dr. Wim Meester and Michael Habib and Market Development Manager Becky Brown.
Michael Habib, Senior Product Manager
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8860-7565
Twitter: @habib
How do you describe your role on the Scopus product team and what's your story?
As Senior Product Manager for Elsevier's Scopus, I am currently focused on altmetrics, author profiling, and Mendeley integration. I also serves as an ORCID Ambassador and on the NISO Alternative Metrics Initiative Steering Committee. Prior to joining Elsevier, I worked at the print-on-demand publisher Lulu.com. I previously worked in both public and academic libraries and hold an MS in Library Science from UNC-Chapel Hill, so my background is in library services.
What is your favorite part about working on Scopus (and at Elsevier)?
My favorite part about working at Elsevier is how international it is, both in colleagues and business. Working on Scopus has given me the opportunity to meet with librarians and researchers from all over the world. It is very interesting having to balance managing a global product with more specific regional needs. The Japanese localization project was especially enjoyable as it allowed the opportunity to focus deeply on learning about the unique needs of a particular country.
What’s your favorite feature or search to run in Scopus?
I have lots of favorite features, but I will limit myself to three. In the top right corner of the “Source title” tab of Analyze results is a link that enables users to “Compare Journals in Journal Analyzer”. This means that someone can search for the most prolific journals on a particular topic then easily compare those journals based on impact measures like SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper). This feature is very useful when a researcher is looking for a journal to publish in or for a librarian to determine if they have the appropriate titles to support a given research topic. Other features I love are the Scopus2ORCID service and the “Related documents” feature on Document Details pages.
What do you do in your free time?
In my spare time I travel.
Dr. Wim Meester, Senior Product Manager, Content Strategy and Policy
Scopus Author ID: http://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=6701821144
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9350-3448
Who are you and how do you describe your role on the Scopus product team?
I have a MSc and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Amsterdam. After two years of research as a post doc at Harvard Medical School, I decided to stop being an active researcher and joined the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) as a program manager for (international) research funding programs in Chemistry. In 2006 I joined the Publishing unit of Elsevier where I was responsible for the journals programs in Animal Science and Forensic Sciences. I joined the Scopus team in 2010 as the Product Manager for Content Strategy and Policy.
At Scopus I have the overall responsibility for the content strategy of the product. I work on the development of a transparent content selection procedure for existing and new content types including journals, conferences and books. I ensure that the content strategy meets the needs of customers in the Academic, Government and Corporate market segments. And in addition I manage the independent, international Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) and strategic partnerships with relevant research organizations and third party publishers.
What is your favorite part about working on Scopus (and at Elsevier)?
What I like about working in the Scopus team at Elsevier is the truly international environment. The nice thing about Elsevier is the opportunity to work together with researchers and customers to make it easier for them to find and analyze relevant research in an efficient way in order for them to spend the most time on their actual work: doing research. The exposure to so many excellent researchers in all different subject areas makes working on the Scopus team interesting every day.
What is your favorite feature or search in Scopus?
Given my background as publisher of the journal Small Ruminant Research I developed a special interest in research about sheep and goats. Therefore, here's my standard search in Scopus: Wim's favorite search. But, there are many great, interesting articles to be found in Scopus. Some of which have more scientific impact than others. One of my favorite articles with a high societal impact is: Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string.
What do you do in your free time?
[Editor's note: Wim ran out of inspiration after these search queries. We'll await his response but I can tell you he is an avid swimmer and has a wine collection to envy.]
Becky Brown, Market Development Manager (with a focus on Corporate Markets)
Who are you and how do you describe your role on the Scopus product team?
I have been working at Elsevier for 8 years now, in roles from Sales to Product Marketing to Academic Relations and now Product. I love to talk, and I am a serious PowerPoint addict.
How do you describe your role on the Scopus Product team?
Market Development to me means listening to customers. I work closely with our sales teams and try to meet as many of our diverse Corporate client base as I can. I then help the rest of the team filter the feedback we get to ensure we understand the needs of researchers working in a corporate environment.
What is your favorite part about working on Scopus (and at Elsevier)?
I love working with team members and customers from all over the world. Scopus is a global product and Elsevier is a global company; this challenges us to keep an open mind and always try to communicate clearly.
What’s your favorite feature or search to run in Scopus?
How could you not love Analyze Results?! When I show customers the ability to visualize the results of any search in Scopus, no matter how large or small, they are always surprised by what they see. That is exciting.
What do you do in your free time?
When I am not thinking about what restaurant I will try next, I am probably guilting myself into a long workout. Or dreaming of being on a beach, any beach. Seriously, any beach will do.
That's it for the first round of "Who are these people at Scopus?". Hope you enjoyed it -- I know I enjoy working with all of them.