Content policy and selection

For your research to be the best that it can be, you need access to the most up-to-date and highest-quality interdisciplinary content out there. This is why Scopus has a clearly stated selection policy and an internationally acclaimed board of selection experts, so you can be sure that what you see on Scopus meets your high standards.

While most of the information provided on this page is written for publishers wishing to have their content included on Scopus, we invite you to read on. We hope you'll get a sense of the level of scrutiny and focus on authority that is the hallmark of Scopus.

What publishers need to know: Continuously reviewing and expanding Scopus

As the largest indexer of global research content, Scopus includes titles from more than 7,000 publishers worldwide. These journals, books and conference papers are visible to millions of Scopus users, who in turn read your content and then cite it in papers, in grant applications and reports, and in patent applications. To ensure that Scopus serves the broadest information needs of researchers, our Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB) continuously reviews suggestions and publishing programs in order to expand our content listings.

Scopus helps to:

Title evaluation process

We are proud of our transparent selection process and independent review board. The international experts on our content selection and advisory board continually review new titles using both quantitative and qualitative measures. Only serial titles may be suggested to the content selection and advisory board for inclusion on Scopus. Serials include journals, book series or conference series. Suggestions may be made by publishers or editors of a title. Individual researchers and librarians can also suggest titles for Scopus, but these suggestions need the support from the publisher and/or editor. Before suggesting a serial title, please:

Check the current Scopus title lists to be sure it's not already indexed: Journals list opens in new tab/window

The individual who suggests a title and the publisher (if different) will be informed about the outcome of the review and reason(s) for the decision. Please be advised that Scopus is pro-actively adding titles to its evaluation pipeline that can potentially enrich the database. Note that in such cases the evaluation will only commence after consent has given by the publisher or journal management. You can also track the progress of the evaluation process by entering the unique Tracking ID provided at the time of submission into the Title Evaluation Tracker

Title re-evaluation policy

The quality of our content is paramount for Scopus. In addition to journals undergoing a rigorous evaluation and selection processes prior to acceptance into Scopus, they must also demonstrate the ability to maintain their quality status year over year.

To determine journal quality, Scopus runs an ongoing Re-evaluation program, which identifies outlier and underperforming journals in four different ways:

The journal is underperforming as it does not meet any of the three metrics and benchmarks for journals in the same subject area

Concerns about the publication standards of the journal or publisher have been raised by formal complaints

1. Metrics and benchmarks

Once a year, Scopus analyzes the performance of all journals in the database. All journals must meet the below three metrics and benchmarks in the table below. If a journal does not meet all of the three benchmarks for two consecutive years, it will be flagged for re-evaluation by the independent CSAB.

Benchmark and Explanation

The journal has a substantially higher self-citation rate, when compared to peer journals in its subject field.

Total citation rate

The journal received a substantially lower number of citations, when compared to peer journals in its subject field.

The journal has a substantially lower CiteScore, when compared to peer journals in its subject field.

2. Publication concerns

A journal can also be flagged for Re-evaluation based on publication concerns at either the publisher or journal level. Concerns for such journals are identified by Scopus or flagged to Scopus by the research community. If the concern is legitimate, the title will be added to the Re-evaluation program and re-evaluated by the CSAB in the year of identification of the publication concern.

3. Outlier performance

Elsevier Data Scientists created a data analytics algorithm called RADAR to identify journal outlier performance in the Scopus database. Outlier journal signals include, but are not limited to:

The tool improves continuously by incorporating new examples or signals. It runs regularly to check all Scopus journals for outlier performance.

4. Continuous curation

Since the establishment of the CSAB in 2010, Scopus has continuously collected review data as part of the content curation process. For example, the CSAB can indicate whether any accepted title should be evaluated again in the future. This is an ongoing process and ensures continuous curation of Scopus content.

All titles identified for underperformance, publication standard concerns, outlier behavior, or during continuous content curation will be re-evaluated by the CSAB. The review criteria for re-evaluation are identical to the Scopus content selection criteria used for newly suggested titles. Upon completion of the re-evaluation process, the CSAB will decide to either continue a journal’s coverage or to discontinue the forward flow of the journal's coverage in Scopus (content covered in Scopus prior to the re-evaluation completion will remain in Scopus). Discontinued titles will only be considered for evaluation again 5 years after the discontinuation decision was made.

(incl. Scopus discontinued sources list)

For questions, please contact: [email protected]

Publication ethics and publication malpractice statements

Publication malpractice is an unfortunate occurrence in the world of scholarly literature. It happens in all subject areas and in all jurisdictions; and few journals or books are immune. The prevention of publication malpractice is the responsibility of every author, editor, reviewer, publisher and institution.

Scopus requires that every journal we index has clear and publicly available statements of publication ethics and publication malpractice. Scopus will hold each publisher listed in the database accountable for the performance and compliance with these policies. Scopus does not mandate any specific wording of publication ethics and publication malpractice statements, but notes that:

Major publishers already publish comprehensive statements of compliance on their websites. See Elsevier for an example.

Guidance on the Scopus Title Evaluation Requirements of Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement ( PEMS opens in new tab/window

For more information on the importance of Ethics in Research and Publication, see researcheracademy.elsevier.com

Journals scope and selection criteria

To be considered for review, journal titles should meet all of these minimum criteria:

Consist of peer-reviewed content and have a publicly available description of the peer review process

Be published on a regular basis and have an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) as registered with the ISSN International Centre

Have content that is relevant for and readable by an international audience, meaning: have English language abstracts and titles

CSAB members have deep subject matter expertise, and are committed to actively seeking out and selecting literature that meets the needs and standards of the research community that they represent. Journals eligible for review by the CSAB will be evaluated on the following criteria in five categories:

Convincing editorial policy Type of peer review Diversity in geographical distribution of editors Diversity in geographical distribution of authors

Academic contribution to the field Clarity of abstracts Quality of and conformity to the stated aims and scope of the journal Readability of articles

Citedness of journal articles in Scopus Editor standing

No delays or interruptions in the publication schedule

Full journal content available online English language journal home page available Quality of journal home page

Books scope and selection criteria

Scopus covers globally sourced academic books, that include scholarly, professional, and educational information. For book selection, serial books (serial titles with ISSN), conference proceedings and dissertations are not considered and are evaluated through other routes.

Book selection is done via a publisher-based approach in which the entire book program is considered. No individual book suggestions are considered. Decisions on which book publishers are selected are made by the Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB).

Publishers can suggest their books list for Scopus coverage via the Scopus Books Suggestion form

opens in new tab/window . The books list will only be considered for evaluation if it meets the following minimum criteria:

All books must be available in digital format, i.e., books only available in hard-copy are ineligible. All metadata must be provided in ONIX or MARC format.

Book metadata (including title and abstract) must be in the English language, while the full text may be in any language.

Those book lists from publishers that meet the minimum criteria are reviewed by the CSAB according to the following selection criteria:

For those selected publishers, in principle, all academic books of the entire book program, including its imprints, are in scope for coverage. At all times, Scopus reserves the right to remove a book or an imprint collection from a selected publisher’s book publishing program. For example, something objectionable such as hate literature, or an imprint exhibiting questionable publishing practices, could be removed.

Scope and coverage policy for preprints

What are preprints?

Preprints are preliminary, unpublished, non-peer-reviewed versions of scholarly papers that precede publication and can act as an early indication of research. Preprints reside on preprint servers which are online repositories, which usually cover a set of subject domains and allow for dissemination, laying claim to an idea, and help collect feedback prior to submission. Some preprints may get submitted and accepted for publication while other preprints may never be submitted or accepted for publication and will remain as the preprint version. Preprints allow authors to showcase their research, making a paper discoverable earlier in the publication process, and are an avenue for finding new research collaborators. Preprints differ from Articles-in-Press in that preprints are not peer-reviewed and have not been accepted for publication.

Scopus coverage policy

The Scopus collection of preprints contains preprints from the preprint servers selected based on (but not limited to) the following criteria:

Usefulness to the research community (i.e.: should be recognized either for its broad coverage or as serving a specific subject domain);

Maturity status (e.g.: scope, preservation and storage plan, availability of curation and retraction processes, documentation, etc.);

Preprint metadata quality (i.e.: should essentially contain most major bibliographic elements such as preprint title, unique identifier (preferably DOI), abstract, language, publication date, author(s), author affiliation(s), references, etc. to ensure preprint discoverability).

Preprint servers included are: