Assistance with publication in Scopus journals

Scopus – глобальная наукометрическая база данных, индексирующая более 29 тысяч высококачественных рецензируемых научных изданий. Перечень журналов Scopus формируется на основании выполнения издателями четкого перечня требований к качеству научного контента, методам его отбора, наукометрическим показателям и соблюдению публикационной этики.

In addition to journals, this scientometric database indexes conference proceedings, books, editorial notes, and much more. Scopus publication is necessary for researchers to achieve many scientific goals, including:

• Obtaining academic degrees and titles
• Participating as a reviewer or editor of a scientific journal
• Receiving funding, grant support, and participation in influential research competitions
• Increasing the authority and ranking of scientific institutions and the researcher’s personal image

How does Scopus work?

Elsevier specialists, to whom Scopus belongs, carry out comprehensive work to maintain the organization’s ranking and raise the overall level of scientific research. The work of the scientometric database is mainly aimed at cooperation with publications; however, checks of scientific journals automatically also mean checks of the scientific content indexed there. With this in mind, several important aspects of working with Scopus journals should be considered.

To do this, the publisher must go through the following stages:

• Submitting a journal to Scopus. Representatives of the scientific publication (editor-in-chief, editorial board member, etc.) initiate the process of including the journal in the database, prepare the required document package, and submit a request for review by the independent Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB).
• Publication check. Scopus database specialists check compliance with the minimum inclusion criteria.
• Clarification. At this stage, additions are made and corrections are carried out.
• Review and decision. Successful completion of this stage depends on the result of the CSAB review.
• Communication. The publisher is informed of the decision on accepting the scientific journal into Scopus.

In theory, this process does not look very complicated, but in practice it is completely different.

Every year, thousands of new publications apply for inclusion in Scopus, but only 33% meet the strict technical criteria. Of these approximately 1,200 publications, only 50% are accepted after review by the independent Content Selection & Advisory Board.

Scopus citation is one of the main metrics both at the level of scientific publications and individual authors. In Scopus, citations influence the calculation of the following scientometric indicators of publications to one degree or another:

• SNIP – the ratio of the number of article citations to the average citation indicator in Scopus for the subject area
• SJR – an indicator of journal authority and citations in Scopus
• CiteScore – the ratio of the number of citations in Scopus to the number of articles over the last 4 years

Scopus constantly monitors all indexed journals to maintain high quality standards. The automated Radar system plays a key role in this process — a special algorithm developed by Elsevier that analyzes dozens of metric indicators.

The main reasons for exclusion are usually the following:

• Metrics and benchmarks – inconsistency in the analysis of self-citation level, CiteScore, and the Scopus citation coefficient.
• Publication concerns – unethical publication behavior.
• Radar – a sharp change in the journal’s publication behavior based on automatic service checks.
• Continuous curation – exclusion of a Scopus journal that had already been under specialist monitoring.

However, Scopus has recently somewhat changed and generalized the reasons for journal exclusions indicated in official lists. Instead of detailed labels such as Publication Concerns, Outlier behaviour, or Radar, which were actively used previously, most new exclusions are now marked as Discontinuation and Journal change policy.

Thanks to these checks and exclusions, Scopus maintains a high level of reliability and quality among scientific journals.

Citation and h-index in Scopus: key scientometric indicators of the author

In addition to the journal profiles mentioned above, this database also contains author profiles. Scientometric indicators are calculated for them as well.

The main ones are:

• Citation in Scopus – the total number of references to an author’s work by other researchers within the Scopus database.
• h-index in Scopus – the relationship between the number of works published in Scopus and citations within this database.

Uzbekistan journals in the Scopus database

The Scopus database includes many scientific journals from Uzbekistan with different metrics. They are represented by publishers such as Walter de Gruyter, Sciendo, Polish Academy of Science, Elsevier, Via Medica, and others.

Перечень журналов Scopus и Web of Scienes

Scopus или Web of Science?

Regulatory requirements for the number of scientific publications often compare these databases with each other. They have many similar features, but there are also significant differences. For example, Web of Science has a greater citation depth, while Scopus focuses on ‘younger’ publications. These databases also differ in scientific metrics, structure, and ways of implementing their own policies.