Overview of Scopus and Web of Science:
Elsevier operates Scopus, a service that indexes and abstracts citations. This database covers more than 43,000 journals and serves as one of the largest scientific literature databases in the world. Over 6 million documents are indexed monthly, providing abstracts for more than half a millions are difference. An abstract is a summary of the content of the article and is used as a reliable representation of the research article that has been published.
Scopus is the largest citation index of peer-reviewed research articles in the world. It compiles peer-reviewed articles of academics and professionals from over 1,000 journals in the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and other disciplines. There are over half a billion words and over half a million references dating back to 1831 in this collection. It ensures maximum relevance for the academic community by indexing, abstracting, and ranking the content according to the highest academic standards.
Globally, Scopus indexes journal research articles and books. The database is the official repository for the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the World Association of Science Editors (WASE), and the International Society of Technological Repression (ISTR). Scopus is used as a primary citation index for research by many organisations and institutions. Scopus primarily consists of journal articles and books, but can also contain proceedings from conferences, patent applications, and other scholarly outputs.
Web of Science stands out among the largest and most comprehensive databases of academic and scientific literature. Academicians and researchers can use it to discover, compile, and analyse research topics across diverse fields of study. There are over 11,000 peer-reviewed journals in the database, as well as preprints, conference proceedings, and other types of scholarly literature. A diverse array of disciplines is represented by citations and abstracts from over 4,000 scholarly and scientific journals around the world.
This multidisciplinary database consists of an array of specialised indexes organised by the type of in-depth content or topic covered. One of the main features of the WoS platform is the Core Collection (WoS – CC), which consists of six main citation indexes. “These include Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI); Books Citation Index (BKCI), and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).” Because of the ability to adjust the subscription of the Web of Science database, universities and educational institutions tend to subscribe only to WoS-CC instead of the whole Web of Science Platform.
How do both citation databases work?
Scopus is a database that houses scholarly journal articles as well as books, making it the most popular citation index in scientific literature. In addition to providing a starting point for exploring and researching information on topics, it can assist users in finding relevant academic journals and books from vast resources. The Scopus database can also be used to find articles cited in other works, which is useful for tracking the dissemination of scholarly ideas and research. Scopus requires a subscription, which is one of its main drawbacks.
Scopus contains citations and abstracts of articles published in peer-reviewed journals. The database is used by academicians and researchers to find relevant information and progress in their fields. In the past, Scopus was available only to those who subscribed to Thomson-Reuters’ premier research paper writing database. However, users today can access a limited version for free. A subscriber can access the full text of articles for free, but a premium account is required to access the full version.
Web of Science provides an excellent platform and a powerful tool for researchers to discover, analyse, and share scientific research. This database contains more than thirty-three million bibliographic records and abstracts from more than 11,000 scholarly journals. Furthermore, there are also over five million citation records for articles and book chapters in the database. Web of science is a database that allows you to search for articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Besides being highly useful for researchers and academicians, it is also the world’s largest citation index. Citations, abstracts, and full-text articles are all included in the millions of records on the Web of science. For many researchers, the Web of Science is a great tool for finding articles that are relevant to their topic and for finding background information.
A difference of Scopus and Web of Science:
Scopus database is owned and operated by the company Elsevier. Journal articles from various disciplines are available through this database. The Institute for Scientific Information maintains and operates the Web of Science database. Articles from journals in different fields can be accessed through this database are difference.
Currently, Web of Science and Scopus are the two most important index citation databases. Scientific journals and books, as well as conference proceedings, are included in the Web of Science. Scopus offers a wealth of information about citations of articles. For example, it shows the number of times an article has been cited, whether the same author has cited the same article many times, etc.
There are several research databases that researchers and academicians use to find scholarly literature, but the most important databases are Scopus and Web of Science. Despite that, they differ greatly in many ways. One of the major differences between Scopus and Web of Science is that Scopus does not include books, book chapters, or other non-journal literature. Furthermore, Web of Science is a subscription database, which means that a fee is required to access it, whereas Scopus is an open-access database that can be accessed free of charge.
Which database is better, Scopus or Web of Science?
The two most popular citation databases are Scopus and Web of Science. Both databases offer a range of benefits to researchers and academicians, including citation data and total citations. In addition to providing citations to the latest publications, the databases also provide citations of the latest authors. However, which database is the best? As each database has pros and cons, and in several cases, it is possible to find the same article in both databases. In essence, Web of Science is a citation database, whereas Scopus is a citation index. Despite this, there are other differences between the two. Researchers and academicians may prefer to use Scopus or Web of Science, depending on their preferences.
Scopus is touted by every academic journal and publication platform you’ve come across as the primary citation database. Nevertheless, the Web of Science is the primary citation database for the majority of fields and disciplines (Science, 2011b; Thomson Reuters, 2015). It is the most widely used database among academic and industry researchers alike because Web of Science is by far the largest citation database. By contrast, Scopus is the second most widely used database by academics and researchers in both academia and industry.
The Scopus database is a journal index, which means it lists journal citations for research articles or authors in a given field. According to the Web of Science’s definition, it is an author index, which lists the publications of a specific author. Web of Science is more comprehensive than Scopus indexed journal publication in terms of citation indexes.
In addition to providing more detailed information about the citations of the articles, Scopus is an excellent database for locating scholarly literature. This allows researchers to find literature that has been cited by other authors, which is often a good indicator that the literature is reliable and worth reading. The primary benefit of using the Web of Science database is that it provides access to publications in a variety of disciplines. Further, it includes information such as how many times an article is cited, how often it is cited by the same person, etc. In addition to finding literature that has been cited by other authors, this is often a good indication of the reliability and legitimacy of the literature.
Researchers and academicians can access cited literature through Scopus and Web of Science. By doing so, researchers can identify the most relevant historical references and literature. In addition to this, it helps them keep track of the development of the field as well as how they fit into the current discourse. Researchers, like those in medical fields, who deal with constant change and evolution, will find these tools particularly useful. A database such as Web of Science provides access to publications across several disciplines. By using citation information, researchers can find literature that has been referenced by other authors, a good indicator of whether the literature is reliable and worthwhile.
Despite significant growth in the availability of bibliographic data sources and metrics in the last decade, the Web of Science and Scopus databases remain the two most comprehensive and major sources of publication metadata and impact indicators. They are therefore suitable for a wide range of tasks, ranging from the selection of journals and literature to the analysis of bibliometric data and practice of research evaluation at all levels. Both databases and publications are subscription-based and expensive data sources. Accordingly, institutions frequently have to choose between the two.
The scientometric community has extensively compared Web of Science and Scopus indexed journal publication databases for the past 15 years, but scientometrics is still unable to decide which one is superior. In contrast, as a result of intense competition and notable proliferation of academic activities into digital environments, both databases are constantly being improved. As a result, they nowadays encompass so many features and functionalities that such a generalisation is not possible. This is because the database may be better suited to serve one purpose, but for another, it may be less suitable. A member of an institution that has access to both databases should be able to decide which one is more appropriate for a given situation based on his or her own personal and well-informed judgement.
