Combining peer review and metrics to assess journals for inclusion in Scopus

Abstract

Peer review has been in place for centuries as an accepted process to validate manuscripts submitted for publication in scientific journals. Yet a similarly rigorous assessment of content also happens a level up, when looking at the quality of journals that apply for indexing in bibliographic databases. Scopus, an abstract & citation database provided by Elsevier, indexing 18,000 scientific titles, is receiving an increasing number of title suggestions; in 2009 this grew to almost 5,000 in that year alone. Some of the suggested journals are dedicated to niche areas and/or are published in other languages than English. To ensure a fair and transparent evaluation of these titles and to address the rising interest in being indexed, Scopus redesigned its entire title evaluation process – basing it on a metrical scorecard and on the principles of peer review. By developing an online editorial system – the Scopus Title Evaluation Platform (STEP) – Scopus also created the prerequisite of an improved communication with publishers and editors about their journals.

A longitudinal comparison of citation rates and growth among open access journals

“…Scopus is the world's largest abstract and citation database containing records of approximately 18,500 peer-reviewed journals. The selection process for journals included in the Scopus database is transparent, objective and relies on external peerreview (Kähler 2010). As such the Scopus database provides a valuable frame of reference to assess the growth and citation averages of established OA journals that meet a basic set of quality standards.…”

Sino-Canadian Collaborations in Stem Cell Research: A Scientometric Analysis

“…Scopus is an international multidisciplinary database that indexes over 17,000 peer-reviewed journals in S&T, as well as more than 500 international conference and seminar proceedings (see: http://www.info.scopus.com/scopus-in-detail/facts/, [36]. We selected Scopus for its size – it is the largest international multidisciplinary database in the world, and for its quality assurance processes – over 95% of material is peer-reviewed, and all titles are evaluated before inclusion by an external Content Selection and Advisory Board [37]. Additionally, Scopus has wider coverage of journals from developing countries and emerging economies, including China, compared to another frequently used database, the Web of Science (see: http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/web_of_science/).…”

Trophodynamics as a Tool for Understanding Coral Reef Ecosystems

“…Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar were used to explore and extract available published material (Falagas et al, 2008). Google Books NGram Viewer (Lin et al, 2012), Scopus (Kähler, 2010), and SciVal (Colledge and Verlinde, 2014) metrics were used to analyze trends in keywords and publications to select articles for review (Table S1). Selection of publications was similar to Libralato et al (2014) who showed increased frequency of key phrases such as "food chains, " "food webs, " and "trophic level" in publications since 1960 from Scopus and NGram searches.…”