The UW-Madison libraries recently added Scopus, published
by Elsevier, to its impressive collection of abstract and citation
databases. Scopus is in many ways the
first real competitor for Web of Science (previously Web of Knowledge), a
database that has long had the most extensive multidisciplinary coverage of
scholarly publications.
Both databases provide broad access to literature in the sciences,
arts, and humanities. And both databases include an array of literature, from
peer-reviewed articles to conference papers and presentations along with ways
to analyze and visualize citation information.
Scopus includes an
“author identifier” tool that allows for exact matches when searching for
publications by author and a “citation analysis” tool that analyzes by author,
document type, publication year, source title, and subject area, and also lets
users sort and view articles cited by the original publication. There are also more refining options for a
search.
Web of Science includes an author index so that searchers
can find specific authors and includes multiple ways to refine searches. Cited reference searching, analyzing shared
references, and other citation analysis tools are available.
 |
| Journal coverage comparison between Scopus and WoS |
Although both databases cover an extensive amount of
scholarly publications in a variety of fields, there are key strengths and
weaknesses in both. Scopus and Web of
Science cover biomedical sciences, natural sciences, engineering, social
sciences, arts, and humanities. Scopus
is strongest in the areas of biomedical sciences, natural sciences, and
engineering. It is weaker in sociology,
physics, and astronomy. Scopus extends
back to about 1996, while Web of Science contains literature dating back to
1900. Web of Science’s strongest areas
are in natural sciences and engineering.
Web of Science has more consistent coverage of journals and more
thorough coverage of older literature than Scopus.
The chart below summarizes the differences and relative
strengths of Scopus and Web of Science.
Scopus vs. Web of Science |
||
|
Features
|
Scopus
|
Web of Science
|
|
Number of journals
|
>20,000
|
>13,000
|
|
Content
|
Biomedical sciences, natural sciences, engineering,
social sciences, arts & humanities. Strongest coverage of
biomedical & natural sciences and engineering.
|
Natural sciences, biomedical sciences, engineering,
social sciences, arts & humanities. Strongest coverage of natural
sciences & engineering.
|
|
Databases covered
|
100% of Medline and Embase - plus other content
|
Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index,
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
|
|
Time period covered
|
Initially covered 1996-present. Now includes
substantial content prior to 1996, with some back to 1823.
|
Science component: 1990-
Social science component: 1975-
Arts & humanities component: 1975-
|
|
Updating frequency
|
Daily
|
Weekly
|
|
Publisher
|
Elsevier
|
Thomson Reuters
|
|
Citation analysis
|
Yes, including citation tracking, citation counts, and
author h-index calculations
|
Yes, including citation tracking, citation counts, and
author h-index calculations
|
|
Controlled vocabulary
|
No Scopus-specific controlled vocabulary. Keyword
field includes indexing terms for references taken from other databases, such
as PubMed and Embase
|
No.
|
|
Export feature for references
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Alerts feature
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Relative strengths
|
More versatile search and refine options, including
ability to search for "first author"
Tools for analyzing search results by author,
affiliation, country, journal title, and broad subject categories.
Scopus Author Identifiers are broadly assigned; useful
for distinguishing among publications from authors with similar names
Growing book chapter coverage, especially for social
sciences and arts & humanities
Can search using controlled vocabulary terms
|
More thorough coverage of older literature
Ability to analyze search results by author,
affiliation, country, journal/book title, and broad subject categories.
Can sort search results according to how frequently the
articles have been cited.
|
For more information on the differences and similarities
of Scopus and Web of Science, take a look at the research guide
comparison chart compiled by the University of Washington libraries.