SCOPUS - DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SCIENTIST

Today there are several authoritative scientific databases and one of the largest in the world is Scopus, which was created in 2004 by the publishing company "Elsevier". According to the latest figures, this platform holds up to 24,000 scientific publications. Its features provide scientists with unique opportunities to track and analyze scientific potential in order to expand and deepen their work.

Scopus indexes journals, books and book series, conference proceedings and patents, etc. in many fields of science: natural, technical, humanities, social sciences and arts. The most active journals are in the following fields: psychology, economics, medical sciences, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering.

Information from this database is used by many organizations that work in the scientific field, analyze data, create ratings. The depth of the archive dates back to 1823.

The Scopus database includes many international publishers, namely Elsevier, SAGE, Springer, Brill, Cambridge and Oxford Universities and others. Scopus is characterized by its peer-review policy and makes sure that sources are thoroughly peer-reviewed.

Scopus takes a very serious look at the journals it accepts into its database. It is important to it that the publication is of high quality and meets the basic criteria so that scientists can publish their work without worrying that it is a "predatory journal". To admit a publication to the main evaluation, it must undergo an initial and mandatory review.

Basic standards for publication selection in Scopus

• Journal articles must undergo mandatory peer review with a description of the process in the public domain.

• Possess ISSN number and publish regular issues.

• Content should be of high quality, relevant and translated into academic English.

• Post an open access statement of support for publishing ethics and practices.

After that, if the journal meets the minimum and listed above criteria, it is submitted to the Expert Council for review.

Indicators affecting the review process

• The journal should have an editorial policy that will consist of editors of experts in their field from different countries and from the chosen method of peer review.

• Quality content that is in line with the aims and objectives of the publication.

• The journal has its own website with an English version.

There are certain requirements for publishing an article in a journal that is included in Scopus, so reviewers look at both the content of the article and the way it is presented.

The main requirements

• The article indicates the relevance of the research, novelty, its importance for science, results and conclusions. These are mandatory criteria, without which experts will not even familiarize themselves with the work.

• All references to other sources are formalized according to the standards. In any case, it is necessary to exclude plagiarism or excessive self-citation in the work. Otherwise, such work will definitely be returned to the author, and this may spoil his reputation. The research should be unique.

• Each article uses scientific style, which is characterized by the logic of thought, structured and objective presentation. Synonyms are used in a very small number, there are no explanations of the author, his value judgments. The article should not be in a conversational style.

• A scientific paper is an original text that has not been published anywhere before.

• The bibliography should be up-to-date, as the main task of a scientific paper is to make the research relevant, advanced and accessible to other scientists. The article should not duplicate other inventions, contain outdated data and results.

• It is necessary to adhere to the standards in the title, abstract, keywords accepted in the topics in which experiments are conducted.

• Articles are translated into academic English so that foreign reviewers can analyze the work, and other scientists from around the world can read after publication.

• Each article is formatted according to the IMRAD structure.

How does a scientist benefit from indexing in this database?

Thanks to open access and indexing, a scientist has many opportunities, namely:

• He or she can freely search for other materials, authors, scientific organizations using a wide range of search options: year, keywords, references, sources, and the like.

• The researcher is able to submit data to Mendeley, EndNote, RefWorks and customize notifications.

• Thanks to the ORCID setting, the researcher can search for co-authors and experts in the field in which he/she works, consider scientific organizations and get acquainted with their developments.

• The author tracks the citation rate (Hirsch index), as well as the indicators of various journals (SJR, SNIP, CiteScore). Thanks to these parameters, the scientist monitors trends and builds his own scientific publishing strategy.

Scopus characterizes its citation metrics, thanks to which a scientist keeps track of scientometric changes, keeps abreast of major developments, tracks which fields are now cutting-edge and much more for his scientific publishing activity.

The main citation metrics in Scopus are as follows

Selection of scientific content

It takes place with the help of an expert board - Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB). Independent scientific representatives from around the world, who research in various fields of science and review world-class articles, identify those publications that meet the strict criteria of this abstract platform. The selection policy is constantly updated to fill the service with only high-quality and cutting-edge research.

Radar system

In order to detect and control atypical behavior of journals, Scopus created the "Radar" system, which monitors their actions, and in case of suspicious behavior, scrutinizes them thoroughly.

The main reasons for suspicious behavior are

• The journal starts to over-publish scientific articles.

• High level of plagiarism or self-citation in papers.

• Authors or editorial board changes their location.

• Any complaints about the journal provoke suspicions and the like.

Every year, Radar checks journals that are indexed in Scopus, updating its tools to do so.

Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK)

In addition to checking publications for quality, Scopus monitors compliance with publication ethics, which is the reason for the creation of the online service "Publishing Ethics Resource Kit" (PERK). Thanks to it, all participants of the publication process (scientists, editors, reviewers) can turn to it and solve an issue or even conflict situations when publishing a scientific article.

Also, this platform helps to monitor compliance with all the rules of design and content of scientific papers, protects the scientific world from the publication of low-quality material with plagiarism and false data, which can harm humanity. PERK monitors any manifestation of fraud.

The Scopus scientific database is a really important and large-scale world-class platform. If a scientist or a journal intends to become a part of it, it is necessary to understand the responsibility of this decision. In addition, indexing in Scopus is a new opportunity that will help all participants of the publication process to take active steps in their activities.

Scientific Publications company has been helping scientists from all over the world to publish their works in journals from Scopus list for many years. If you are interested in publishing, contact our specialist, thanks to the chat to ask exciting questions and start active cooperation.