Citation Analysis, measuring your research impact : Scopus

Online tutorials help you quickly learn how to use Scopus features. The tutorials are updated when new features are added, so they are always current.

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• Performing a Document Search
• Reviewing Search Results
• Reviewing Documents
• Browsing and Analyzing Journals
• Using the Personalized Features
• Authors and Affiliations Search
• Cited Reference Searching

The h-index is a measure of a researcher's impact.  It was proposed by Hirsch as a more accurate alternative to looking solely at the total number of citations received and has spawned much discussion and a host of "new and improved" measures.  Scopus will calculate and chart a researcher's h-index, but keep in mind the figure is based only on citation data from 1996 to the present for only those articles that are included in Scopus.  For more information:

The Scopus navigation bar contains the following buttons:

Author search

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Author search helps you find documents written by a specific person, even if the author is cited differently. For example, an author may be cited as Smith, J in one document, but as Smith, John in another.  For more information, see Scopus Author Identifier.

Author search results include any available author name variations that match your search criteria.

To search for authors

1. In Last Name, enter the author's last name.
2. In Initials or First Name, enter the author's first name or initials.  

   Example

   Last Name: carrera finds: Carrera, F S Carrera, S Carrera, S R Carrera, Samuele Carrera Díaz, S Carrera Justiz, S C Dueñas Carrera, S Sánchez Carrera, S

3. Select Show exact matches only to restrict your search to authors that exactly match the terms entered in the Last Name field and to authors that start with the terms entered in the Initials or First Name fields.
4. If necessary, in Affiliation, enter affiliation search criteria for your author, such as organization name and location. 

   Note	If you use only the Affiliation field in your search, affiliations are returned instead of authors.

5. Select one or more Subject Areasfor your search.

   Tip	To view a list of subjects covered in a Subject Area category, move your cursor over the subject name.

6. Click the search button .
7. On the Author search results page, select the author(s) you want to search for. See Working with Author search results for more information.
8. Do one or more of the following.
   • To view the documents associated with your selected authors, click Show documents.
   • To view author details, click the name of the author.
   • To track citations for the selected authors, click View citation overview.
   • To view documents for an author, click the number in the Documents column.
   • To show the most recent document for an author, click Show Last Title.

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Affiliation search helps you find  a specific affiliation even if the affiliation is cited differently. For example, an affiliation might be cited as Clarke Institute in one document, but as Clarke Inst. in another. An affiliation search returns a list of affiliations with links to documents and to information about the affiliation  (if available). You can also search for documents by affiliation.

From your affiliation search results, you can group affiliations together. Some documents do not have sufficient information to accurately match them, even when they are from the same affiliation. To ensure that you are viewing a complete list of documents for an affiliation, group information from other affiliations on the Affiliation details page.

To search for affiliations

1. Navigate to the Affiliation search tab of Scopus.
2. In Affiliation, enter your affiliation search terms, such as organization name or location. Search tips
3. Click the search button .
4. On the Affiliation search results page, select the affiliations whose documents you want to view.   
5. Do one of the following:
   • Click an affiliation name to view the associated Affiliation details page.
   • Click the number in the Documents column to view documents for an individual affiliation.
   • Click Show documents to view the documents associated with the affiliations you selected.

On the Advanced search form, you can create a search using field codes, proximity operators, or Boolean operators to narrow the scope of the search. For example:

• ALL("heart attack") AND AUTHOR-NAME(smith)
• TITLE-ABS-KEY( *somatic complaint wom?n ) AND PUBYEAR > 1993
• SRCTITLE(*field ornith*) AND VOLUME(75) AND ISSUE(1) AND PAGES(53-66)

To create an advanced search

1. Enter your search terms using proximity or Booleanoperators as necessary to connect them.

   For more information on creating searches see Search tips and Field codes.

2. As you enter your search, Scopus may highlight suggested codes and provide code definitions and examples.

   To add the suggested code to your search, press Enter.

   If your search is long or complex, you can change the display to outline form, or click the arrows on the edges of the search box to expand it.

3. To include author or affiliation names in your search, click Add Author name/Affiliation.See below for additional details.
4. Click the search button .

To include author or affiliation names in an advanced search

1. Click Add Author name/Affiliation.

   Note	If you know the unique author identifier number or the unique affiliation identifier number you want to search for, enter it directly in your search on the Advanced search form. To search in document fields, use the AUTHOR-NAME field or the AFFIL field.

2. Enter any or all of the author's last name, initials or first name, and affiliation name.

Note	Click the Show exact matches only check box to retrieve only an author whose name matches the exact name details you enter.

3. Click the search button .
4. On the search results page , click the check box of the author(s) or affiliation you want to add to your advanced search.
5. Click the Add to searchlink above the list of search results.

   The Advanced Search page shows your search with the author or affiliation you specified.

To view your search in outline form

To make long or complicated searches easier to read, you can view them in outline form. Outline form displays each section of your search starting with an operator on a separate line.

• Click the Outline query button to view your search in outline form.
• Click Compact query to return to the "normal" form of the search.

Use alerts to receive email notices when new documents are loaded on Scopus. From the Alerts page, you can create alerts, view the latest results for an alert, edit alerts, and delete alerts. There is no limit on the number of alerts you can create.

The Alerts pages lists alerts you have previously set up:

The My list page shows the temporary list of documents you created during this Scopus session. You can work with this list in the same way you work with any search results list - output the list, track citations, refine the list, and so on.

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