Confessions of a User

Dr. Mark Levy
Using Scopus’ Citation Tracker and content in his research

Mark Levy

Dr. Mark Levy knows about effective research. As a busy GP specializing in respiratory illnesses, lecturer and author, while also actively pursuing his passion of wildlife photography, Dr. Levy is pretty good at finding relevant research publications for application in his work.

Having graduated as a medical doctor in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1974, Dr. Levy went on to become an accomplished and well known authority in the area of asthma, COPD and allergy management in the primary care setting; his main interest has included helping individuals cope with their asthma, for example with the publication of Asthma at Your Fingertips, one of the 5 books he has authored.

One of Dr. Levy’s greatest achievements is co-founder of The General Practice Airways Group (GPIAG), an independent charity representing primary care health professionals interested in delivering optimal standards of respiratory care for all.

When asked about Scopus, and how it benefits in his research, Dr. Levy replies, “Scopus is excellent for finding papers and research articles both within and outside its core database. If I need to quickly find rarer diseases and symptoms, all I need to do is type in select keywords on Scopus, and download the information I need in a few easy steps. Majority of the time I find what I’m looking for.”

Dr. Levy sits on Scopus’ Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB), comprised of external and independent experts from all fields of science, whose mission is to evaluate and select information sources for inclusion in Scopus.

The CSAB meets 2-3 times per year to discuss publishing issues, librarian needs and to learn more about Scopus product enhancements and developments. As a whole, the CSAB reviews approximately 1,000 journals in a year, based on different disciplines. Dr. Levy reviews on average 100- 200 journals per year in his particular discipline. “The CSAB meetings are very interesting and informative. We discuss the various issues librarians, authors, editors and researchers encounter,” says Dr. Levy.

He continues, “The reviews are a time consuming, thorough process. We first shortlist journals and then review content for quality purposes. For example, we check whether a journal has an editorial board, the quality of that board and check if any referee processes are in place, links to websites, membership, and whether it has open access.”

The Scopus advantage is not limited to article searches. During the content selection process, Dr. Levy frequently uses Scopus’ Citation Tracker to search for authors and their output or when he’s editing and tracking citations of journals, he finds referees to review respiratory articles. The Scopus Citation Tracker provides a simple way to investigate citations in a number of different ways. This functionality enables users to track data year by year for a specific author or topic, such as:

• the most highly cited author in a field and check that author's relevance for a referee job;
• the real-time citation data of articles and authors of interest;
• what topics are hot in familiar or unfamiliar subject areas; and
• what subjects are being cited by other authors.

When asked what his favorite area of work is, Dr. Levy couldn’t choose just one. “As an allergy and asthma specialist, researcher, author, editor, teacher, wildlife photographer and married for 34 years, I’m too darn busy to think about it.”