What does Scopus cover?

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Content Coverage

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed research literature with more than 20,500 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers. Scopus offers researchers a quick, easy and comprehensive resource to support their research needs in the scientific, technical, medical and social sciences fields and arts and humanities.
 
Scopus at-a-glance (November 2012):

  • 19,500 peer-reviewed journals (including 1,900 Open Access journals)
  • 400 trade publications
  • 360 book series
  • “Articles-in-Press” from over 3,850 journals

49 million records:

  • 28 million records back to 1996 (of which 78%include citing and cited references)
  • 21 million records pre-1996 which go back as far as 1823 (abstracts are included where available, but these do not include cited references)
  • 5.3 million conference papers from proceedings and journals
  • Approximately 2 million new records are added each year via daily updates

The Scopus Books Enhancement Program

Beginning Q1 of 2013, Scopus began a 3-year initiative to increase books coverage beyond the current 340 Books Series to 75,000 titles. This expansion of this book coverage will include monographs, edited volumes and major reference works and graduate level textbooks. The process of adding thousands of books to the Scopus database will include an evaluation of the new book content from an array of publishers equal to the content review for journals.  After the initial 3-year period, Scopus is committed to index an additional 10,000 book titles annually.  This increased breadth and depth of coverage is aimed at meeting the needs of book-oriented disciplines in the social sciences and arts & humanities.

Please note that the following eligibility rules apply to our content coverage in Scopus:

  • Scopus only indexes serial publications: journals, trade journals, book series and conference materials that have an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) assigned to them.
  • The only exception concerns conference papers, which can be captured via different routes than by being published in a serial publication with an ISSN.
  • Meeting abstracts are not covered by Scopus. Confusion around the conference coverage in databases can arise from not making a distinction between the document types “conference papers” and “meeting abstracts”. Whereas “conference papers” contain the final full-text version of a research paper (i.e. comparable to journal articles), “meeting abstracts” are short summaries of an ongoing research project. Often “meeting abstracts” are published in advance of a conference, while “conference papers” are made available after the conference as part of a proceedings volume.
  • Other examples of document types not covered in Scopus are document types where the author is not the person behind the presented research such as obituaries and book reviews.

What should I do if Scopus doesn’t cover a research item that I have published or that I think should be in the database?

It is possible to submit content correction requests to Scopus. First, please verify if the missing content you request falls within the scope of our editorial rules. You can read more about these rules here. Full details about the journals and conference proceedings covered by Scopus can be found by doing a search in Scopus (see steps below) or by downloading the Scopus Title List.

  1. Go to Scopus.com and click on the “Advanced Search” tab
  2. Type in: SRCTITLE(“NAME OF JOURNAL”) and hit “Search”
  3. Look under the facets (filters) for “Source Title”; if you click on “View More”, you’ll be able to see if the title in question is indexed in Scopus.

*Note: the most accurate way to see if a journal is indexed in Scopus is to use the Advanced Search method.

If the content/item you would like to add is not within the scope of our editorial coverage, we will not be able to add this to the Scopus database. There are a variety of reasons why content items cannot be changed or added. If this is the case for your request, Customer Technical Support will provide you with a full explanation.

If the content you are requesting does fall within our coverage policy we kindly ask you complete one of the forms outlined in the section below.

How do I submit a request to add or change content in Scopus?

There are a few types of content corrections that can be made in Scopus. Please use the list below to determine which form you need to complete. All requests will be routed to the appropriate department for evaluation and you will receive a follow-up communication.

  1. I wish to report missing content from titles that are already indexed by Scopus (i.e. an article is within the Scopus coverage policy but is not appearing in Scopus) that I think should be in Scopus. Please use the Missing Content form.
  2. I wish to report a data correction (i.e. a name or title is misspelled for an item in Scopus). Please use the Data Correction form.
  1. I wish to report a citation correction (i.e. I think the reported Cited-by number is lower than expected for a specific article). Please use the Citation Correction form.
  1. I wish to report a change or correction to merge or split an Author Profile. Please use the Author Feedback Wizard. Note: Please do not use this form for citation corrections.

If you are still unsure about what type of request you have, please contact your local e-Helpdesk.

 How long will it take for my request to be processed?

  1. Full processing of missing content from titles already indexed by Scopus varies according to the number and types of changes in your request. Factors such as the age and accessibility of the content type as well as the need to verify the source of the primary data can all increase the processing time. Currently, this process can take up to 5 weeks. Some changes may take longer; for instance, if we need to claim the content with a third party this can take some time.
  1. Data corrections submitted via the form listed above typically takes 3 weeks to be identified, processed and uploaded to Scopus.com. Please note that this is an average processing time. Some changes, such as requests to alter the Cited-by number in Scopus through reference matching, may take longer.
  1. Citation corrections submitted via the form listed above will typically take 2 weeks to show up in Scopus. Due to exceptional demand from researchers in Italy, the current processing time is 8 weeks. As a result, we have added more resources to our e-helpdesk to decrease this waiting time. We have also informed ANVUR (the Italian assessment agency) about the level of requests and the additional time we will require to fully process these requests.
  1. Author Profile corrections (simple splits and/or merges) submitted to Scopus via the Author Feedback Wizard will typically be processed and online within 3 weeks. However, if you have submitted citation corrections via the wizard, please see number 3 regarding the processing time for citation corrections.

The processing times listed above are estimates. Customer service will provide more information regarding the actual processing time for your specific request.

Once you submit your request, you will receive an auto-reply with a THREAD ID. Once action has been taken on your request, you will receive a reply from customer service. We recommend that you wait for this communication in order to maintain one THREAD ID.