english
Your Ultimate Research Guide: Scopus-indexed journal
Your Ultimate Research Guide: Scopus-indexed journal
Journal indexing plays an important role in academic publishing, as it maintains the quality, credibility, and impact of research work within the academic community. Indexing journals on platforms like Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and others also significantly increases the visibility of research papers. This way, articles are visible to a wider audience and are more easily discoverable by researchers worldwide.
Platforms like Scopus, which is the largest database of abstracts and citations, offer a vast repository of indexed articles across different disciplines. This way, scholars from across the globe can stay updated on recent research in their respective fields.
Scopus maintains very rigid criteria for journal indexing; consequently, a Scopus-indexed journal represents a certain level of quality and credibility. Scopus also provides scholars, researchers, and institutes with various tools and features, helping them access research from different regions.
This article explores what Scopus is, what Scopus-indexed journals are, what the procedure is to index a journal in Scopus, and how this benefits the scientific community and institutes.
Understanding Scopus
Scopus is a large abstract and citation database for articles published in more than 21,500 peer-reviewed journals from more than 5000 international publishers. It was launched in November of 2004 by Elsevier. Scopus covers the journals covered by MEDLINE and EMBASE, along with additional journals from diverse fields and disciplines.
It provides a list of articles cited in the bibliography of each article for articles cited from 1996 onwards and links the cited articles to the original article. Scopus provides a comprehensive overview of the global research output in different fields such as science, technology, medicine, social science, and arts and humanities.
Who uses Scopus?
From researchers to academic institutes and government agencies evaluating research and pursuing scientific breakthroughs, Scopus is the database of choice. it is currently being used by over 3000 academic and government institutes.
With almost 330 disciplines to offer, Scopus ensures researchers and scholars are not missing out on any information related to their field to advance their research.
Scopus indexing
Scopus indexes serial publication journals, trade journals, book series, and conference material that have been assigned an ISSN, along with abstracts and citations.
Journals make up the bulk of the content in Scopus and can have various print or electronic formats.
Scopus also includes trade journals based on the consideration that selected articles from these journals are deemed scientifically relevant by users.
Conference material is also included in Scopus and may contain full articles or abstracts of the papers presented at conferences.
Scopus also provides over 27 million patent records from five major patent offices to equip researchers with information on patented inventions, technologies, and innovations. These patent offices include:
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
European Patent Office (EPO).
US Patent Office (USPTO).
Japanese Patent Office (JPO).
UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO.GOV.UK).
Navigating Scopus
Scopus websites can easily be accessed through search engines such as Google. The website provides the following services:
It allows the user to search documents by author affiliation or keywords and refine the results by year, language, source type, etc. It also provides links to full-text articles and other library sources.
The references can be exported to software such as Mendeley, RefWorks, and EndNote.
Users can limit the search to Articles, Review, Conference Review, Letter, Editorial, Notes, Short Survey, Business Articles, etc, according to need
It also tracks citations over time for an author using a citation tracker and Provides insights into the performance of indexed journals using metrics such as Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), and Impact per Publication ( IPP). This provides an insight into journal influence and prestige.
Various metrics such as publication counts, citation counts, h-index, and collaboration patterns of individual authors can be explored to assess the influence and significance of an author's contributions to the academic community.
Author profiles
Scopus also offers a search feature based on author data. This service is facilitated by the Scopus author identifier.
It assigns each author a unique number, and all documents written by that author are grouped, making it easier to analyze citation metrics and identify specific articles authored by an
individual.
Scopus AI:
Scopus also introduced Scopus AI, an intelligent search tool that leverages generative AI (GenAI) designed to help researchers enhance their research experience by providing relevant and personalized information according to their needs.
It offers features such as expanded summaries, Foundational Papers, concept maps according to user's search, and Academic Expert Search.
Understanding Scopus Indexing
Getting indexed with Scopus is the goal of many journals. Why would it be? Scopus covers over 40,000 journals across different fields, and it’s one of the go-to places for scholars and
researchers to find articles relevant to their field and also for Research stakeholders, including academic institutions and funding agencies, often consider Scopus as an indicator of research quality.
Scopus maintains a high standard of quality by employing a strict application process. This ensures the reliability and credibility of selected journals. the selection process is overseen by the Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB) is comprised of an international group of scientists who are experts in their respective field
How to have a journal indexed in Scopus
To qualify for consideration for getting indexed, a journal must meet the following basic criteria.
It should publish peer-reviewed content, and the peer-review policy should be publicly available and listed on the journal's website.
Have content that is relevant to a global audience and readership.
The abstract and titles should be in English, and references must be in Roman script.
Publications of the journal should be regular.
Have ISSN-identified publications.
Have a publicly available ethics and malpractice statement in publication practices
Scopus typically requires that journals must have a track record of publishing of at least
two years.
Then, the journal is assessed according to the following criteria:
Journal Policy:
The journal's website should prominently feature its editorial policy and details of editorial board members on its website.
Clearly describe the kind of peer review the journal follows (i.e., single-blind, double-blind, open review)
Demonstrate that both authors and editors are diverse in their geographical backgrounds.
If the journal offers open access (OA) publishing options, then the journal should provide clear information about its criteria and costs. Content of the journal:
The content of the journal should have made an academic contribution to their field.
the abstracts should be clear and concise, and the content should be of high quality, well-formed (i.e., correct grammar, appropriate sentence structure, etc.), and by the stated aims
and scope of the journal
Prestige of the journal:
The journal should have citations in Scopus reflecting that the journal's articles are popular.
The editorial team's expertise should be demonstrated through online professional profiles showcasing their academic qualifications and research interests to establish
credibility.
Regularity of publication:
There should be no interruptions in the journal publication schedule, and it should have a
history of a minimum of two years of uninterrupted publications.
Online visibility:
The website of the journal should be available online, with a friendly homepage.
Benefits of Publishing in Scopus Indexed Journals
Scopus re-evaluates journals every year. This way, journals maintain their high
standards of content. Consequently, Scopus journals receive a greater number of submissions
due to their prestige in the index. Due to increased competition and higher-quality submissions, acceptance rates are lower in these journals than in non-indexed ones.
Benefits of publishing in Scopus-indexed journals
There are many benefits of publishing in Scopus-indexed journals, such as enhancing the visibility, credibility, and academic impact of research work. With various features such as open access and peer-reviewed journals, it ensures a global reach of the research work of an individual.
With powerful search engine capabilities, Scopus allows for easier and faster information searching.
This platform offers researchers and scholars access to a vast array of scientific and scholarly articles spanning diverse topics and fields
Moreover, there are tools to set up alerts for specific topics, authors, or citations that allow authors and researchers to stay up to date in their respective field
Paper Presentation Tips
Publishing in Scopus-indexed journals is crucial for academic recognition. Therefore, authors must ensure their submissions are polished and peer-reviewed before submission, as professional editing is expected to meet the high standards of these journals. Following are some tips on preparing papers for submission to indexed journals like those in Scopus.
1. Firstly, it’s important to familiarize yourself with both the Scopus indexing criteria and the specific requirements of your target journal to ensure that the paper meets the necessary publication standards.
2. It is important to choose a topic that is relevant to your field and has the potential for significant impact.
3. It is important to write a clear and concise abstract.
4. Ensure your paper employs a robust methodology that aligns with your research question and thus presents and discusses the result in a clear and organized manner, including tables, figures, and graphs. In the end, write a strong conclusion.
5. Cite relevant sources and literature. Use the citation and references style as mentioned in the journal formatting requirements.
6. Before submitting the paper, proofread the manuscript. Keep in mind the journal’s submission guidelines, formatting requirements, and review process
By following these tips, researchers can increase the chances of having their papers accepted and indexed.
Scopus Indexed Journals
The list of Scopus-indexed journals can be directly accessed from Scopus' official website. The indexed journals can be filtered on the basis of subject and field. This list of journals is, however, revised every year. Following are some Scopus-indexed journals.
Acta Psychologica (ISSN 0001-6918)
Biochimie (ISSN 2214-0085)
Education for Chemical Engineers (ISSN 1749-7728)
Sustainable Production and Consumption (ISSN 2352-5509)
Vaccine (ISSN 0264-410X)
Current Opinion in Psychology (ISSN 2352-250X)
Journal of Plant Physiology (ISSN 0176-1617)
Nature Medicine (ISSN: 1078-8956)
Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (ISSN: 0084-6597)
Living Reviews in Solar Physics (ISSN: 2367-3648)
Conclusion
Scopus was launched by Elsevier in November of 2004. It provides a repository of credible indexed journals. This offers researchers a platform to publish their research, where it reaches a global audience, ensuring their work is accessible to different scholars in the community.
Scopus also provides various features, such as access to abstracts and citations. It also provides the option of exporting the references and citations in referencing softwares such as EndNote. It also provides tools such as a citation counter that tracks citations over time for an author. Scopus also provides insights into the performance of indexed journals using metrics such as SNIO, SJR and IPP.
Scopus adheres to a strict journal indexing procedure. Moreover, the list of indexed journals is revised annually. This ensures that the indexed journals keep up with their research publication quality. Also, with the emergence of AI technology, Scopus has also launched its “Scopus AI.” It aids in providing expanded summaries and foundational papers, builds concept maps according to user search, and searches academic experts in a field.
With platforms like Scopus, researchers can maximize the visibility and impact of their research work, ultimately contributing to the knowledge of the scientific community.