Thursday, October 11, 2007

Try Scopus This Fall for Access to Science and Social Science

Scopus, launched by Elsevier Science in 2004, has grown into one of the largest online indexes to scientific literature available. Covering the fields of science, technology, medicine and the social sciences, Scopus offers

  • 33 million citation records for articles from 15,000 peer-reviewed journals (representing over 4,000 publishers)
  • Citations/Abstracts from:
    • 500+ conference proceedings
    • 600+ trade publications
    • 125+ book series
Scopus also integrates useful information from other sources, including:

  • Over 386 million scientific web pages indexed in Elsevier's own specialized science web search engine Scirus
  • 21 million patent records from five major patent offices

Scopus is designed to support both forward and backward citation tracking. Almost half the citation records in the database, covering items published from 1996 to the present, include references to enable citation tracking. Using features available through the creation of a personal account in Scopus, faculty members can monitor the citation history of their own publications and run automated searches.

A User Guide (in PDF format) is available to assist you in exploring Scopus' many useful features.

Scopus is offering trial access to the University through November 30. We urge all faculty to try the database and evaluate it in terms of its coverage of your own subject area and its ease of use, along with its general quality as a tool for accessing the research literature of your field and related information. Please contact Richard Kearney (x2165) at the Cheng Library if you have any questions during the trial period. We're interested in knowing what you think of Scopus!