Scopus as a curated, high-quality bibliometric data source for academic research in quantitative science studies
Lessons
ABSTRACT
Scopus is among the largest curated abstract and citation databases, with a wide global and regional coverage of scientific journals, conference proceedings, and books, while ensuring only the highest quality data are indexed through rigorous content selection and re-evaluation by an independent Content Selection and Advisory Board. Additionally, extensive quality assurance processes continuously monitor and improve [...]
SCOPUS AS A BIBLIOMETRIC DATA SOURCE
In 2004, Elsevier launched Scopus as a new search and discovery tool . Scopus is an abstract and citation database consisting of peer-reviewed scientific content. At its launch, it contained about 27 million publication records (1966–2004). Since then, the content of the database has grown to over 76 million records at the time of writing, […]
DATA AVAILABILITY FOR RESEARCH
Next to the aim of supporting the academic community with robust results using reliable data in the analyses mentioned, providing access to raw data is an essential component in securing advancement of the bibliometric field. Until 2014, Elsevier supported bibliometricians with data using the Elsevier Bibliometric Research Program (EBRP). The program provided precompiled data sets […]
SUPPORT FOR LARGE-SCALE ANALYSES
Since its official launch in 2004, Scopus has been used globally in many large-scale analyses. There are three types of large studies where Scopus data are used in a central role. The first group of large-scale analyses deals with national research assessments. The first national assessment supported by Scopus was the Excellence in Research for […]
EXAMPLES OF STUDIES USING SCOPUS DATA
Scopus data have been used as a source for many types of different bibliometric studies. The different quality properties of Scopus described support different types of analyses. For instance, there are studies on mobility, using Scopus’ unique historic author-affiliation records, such as by Caroline Wagner and Koen Jonkers on international collaboration, mobility, and openness (Wagner […]
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM SCOPUS DATA, TOGETHER?
In the preceding lessons, we have outlined some of the concrete ways in which Scopus data have been used for large-scale evaluative studies (typically at the national or institutional levels) and for exploratory work leading to a plethora of papers on aspects as diverse as topic detection, researcher mobility, and data visualization techniques. But the […]