Product Overview of Scopus
Introduction
Scopus, launched by Elsevier in November 2004, is a comprehensive scientific abstract and citation database designed to serve as a robust tool for researchers, librarians, institutional research managers, and funders. It competes with the Web of Science and is part of the triad of main universal academic research databases, along with the Web of Science and The Lens.
Coverage and Content
Scopus is a multidisciplinary database that covers a vast array of peer-reviewed literature, including journals, books, conference proceedings, and patents across various fields such as life sciences, social sciences, physical sciences, health sciences, and arts and humanities. Here are some key coverage highlights:
- Temporal Coverage: Scopus includes records dating back to 1788 and is updated daily.
- Geospatial Coverage: It offers worldwide coverage with over 41,462 indexed titles and more than 82 million records.
- MEDLINE and EMBASE: Scopus includes 100% coverage of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Compendex, enhancing its health sciences content.
Key Features and Functionality
Search and Analysis Capabilities
- Advanced Search: Scopus allows for sophisticated searches using field codes, proximity operators, and Boolean operators. Users can search within specific fields such as title, abstract, and keywords, and can combine multiple search fields for more precise results.
- Forward and Backward Citation Tracking: Users can track citations both forward and backward, linking to more recent papers that cite the article being examined and to the references cited by the article.
Visualization and Analytics
- Graph Results: Users can analyze search results by year, source, author, affiliation, country/territory, document type, and subject area, providing a detailed breakdown of the search outcomes.
- Compare Sources: Scopus enables the comparison of up to 10 journals in table or graph format, helping users evaluate journals based on various metrics.
Bibliographic Management
- Export Options: Citations can be exported into preferred reference managers such as Mendeley, RefWorks, and EndNote in formats like CSV, BibText, ASCII, and RIS.
Alerts and Notifications
- Search, Document, and Author Alerts: Registered users can set up alerts to receive email notifications when new documents are loaded, ensuring they stay updated with the latest research in their areas of interest.
Scopus AI
- Seminal Papers Identification: Scopus AI identifies and displays the most cited papers on a given topic, helping researchers find influential works quickly.
- Expanded Summary: Provides a more in-depth and comprehensive overview of references, enhancing the initial summary with additional details.
- Leading Experts and Emerging Themes: Scopus AI highlights leading experts relevant to the query and identifies emerging themes in the literature, complete with summaries, supporting references, and potential research hypotheses.
Quality Metrics
- Journal Evaluation: Journals in Scopus are reviewed annually based on quality metrics such as the h-Index, CiteScore, SJR (SCImago Journal Rank), and SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper), ensuring they meet peer review quality standards.
Additional Capabilities
- Patent Searches: Although limited, Scopus allows patent searches through a dedicated patent database, integrating this functionality into its broader research tools.
- Book and Chapter Level Indexing: Books are indexed both at the book and chapter level, with a publisher-based selection policy to ensure quality and relevance.
In summary, Scopus is a powerful and versatile tool that offers extensive coverage of peer-reviewed literature, advanced search and analysis capabilities, robust bibliographic management options, and innovative AI-driven features to support researchers in their academic and professional endeavors.