Content Selection

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Content Selection for Scopus

Newly suggested titles will be reviewed by the independent and international Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) on a continuous basis. Before suggesting a title for Scopus coverage, it is recommended to read the CSAB's statement: Advice to Secure Accession for a Journal to Scopus.

Minimum Criteria

To be considered for review, titles should at least meet the following main eligibility criteria:

  • The title should have peer-reviewed content
  • The title should be published on a regular basis (have a ISSN number that has been registered with the International ISSN Centre)
  • The content should be relevant and readable for an international audience (for example have references in Roman script and English language abstracts and titles)
  • The title should have a publication ethics and publication malpractice statement

Publication Ethics & Publication Malpractice

Publication malpractice is unfortunately widespread in the world of scientific literature, in all subject areas and in all jurisdictions, and no journal is immune. The prevention of publication malpractice is the responsibility of every author, editor, reviewer, publisher and institution.
 
Scopus requires that every indexed journal publish a clear and consistent statement of publication ethics and publication malpractice, and that each and every publisher will be held accountable for the performance and compliance with this policy of every journal in its portfolio. Scopus mandates no specific wording of a publication ethics and publication malpractice statement, but notes that:
  • Major publishers already publish comprehensive statements of compliance on their web sites, see for example Elsevier.
  • A number of industry organisations, notably the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and Consolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials (Consort) publish comprehensive guidelines and advice which can be readily adopted and adapted by all journals and publishers.

For more information on the importance of Ethics in Research and Publication, see also: http://www.ethics.elsevier.com/ and this Webinar.

Scopus selection criteria:

Subject experts review titles using both quantitative and qualitative measures and the selection is partly based on sample documents from the title. The criteria that will be used in the review process are grouped in five main categories: Journal Policy, Content, Journal Standing, Regularity and Online Availability.

Category Criteria
Journal Policy Convincing editorial policy
Type of peer-review
Diversity in geographical distribution of editors
Diversity in geographical distribution of authors
Content Academic contribution to the field
Clarity of abstracts
Quality and conformity with stated aims and scope
Readability of articles
Journal Standing Citedness of journal articles in Scopus
Editor standing
Regularity No delay in the publication schedule
Online availability Online content available
English language journal home page available
Quality of journal home page

 

After review, the suggestor and/or Publisher will be informed about the outcome of the review including the supporting reasons of the decision.

Scopus Title Suggestion Form

If you have a suggestion for a title that you think should be indexed in our database, please fill in the Title Suggestion form.