Cover Story

Scopus Journal Analyzer helps librarians & publishing editors to effectively compare journals

An exciting new enhancement to Scopus has just been released which helps researchers, journal editors and librarians with analyzing the performance of a particular institute’s journals. Using Scopus’ extensive database of citations from over 15,000 peer-reviewed journals, the Scopus Journal Analyzer saves users valuable time by offering quick and easy access to a journal landscape going back to 1996.

Good research in itself is not the only factor when recognizing the efforts of an effective researcher – being published in journals that are highly regarded by their peers and the number of citations received is very important in getting the recognition and prestige they deserve. The Scopus Journal Analyzer will help researchers, journal editors and librarians to compare journals and assist them in optimizing resources and maximising their return on investment.

“The Scopus Journal Analyzer saves researchers valuable time in assessing which journals to target – particularly journals specializing in niche subject areas – and helping to identify key driving factors that will determine how likely the researcher will be published,” says Yukun Harsono, Vice President of Product Marketing, Academic and Government Products, Science and Technology Division. He further explains how librarians benefit, “although librarians are one step away from the research field, the Scopus Journal Analyzer can help them assess journal performance and recommend a portfolio that falls under a particular academic discipline.”

Users can select up to 10 journals to upload into a graph, illustrating the total number of citations received over the course of each year. The Scopus Journal Analyzer, updated bi-monthly includes new journals as well as journals not considered by existing metrics, which can help indicate whether to invest in a particular journal. Additionally, a user may analyze journal performance over a specific timeframe, or view results more granularly, by limiting the data displayed to ‘X’ number of years.

Total citations graph
Click to enlarge

Graphics make for easier analysis and quick decisionmaking
The Scopus Journal Analyzer graphically displays journal analysis, the Total Citations graph (see above) illustrates the number of citations received in a given year. The Articles Published graph (see below) is depicting the number of articles published by each journal over time. The Trend Line graph shows the number of citations, irrespective of the cited document’s publication date, divided by the total number of documents published in that year. Scopus meticulously updates the database and algorithms on a bi-monthly basis to ensure all data is up-to-date. If you have questions about the Scopus Journal Analyzer, please contact us.

Articles Published graph	Trend Line graph
Click to enlarge	Click to enlarge

Benefits users may enjoy… Librarians and information specialists can now quickly search for all their institute’s journals by subject area and review their performance. The information presented by the Scopus Journal Analyzer will ultimately help librarians to ensure they are investing in the most relevant journals Researchers: thanks to the Scopus Journal Analyzer, researchers can best evaluate which journals will give them the most visibility and how to prioritize their submissions. Journal editors can enjoy quick and easy access to performance over time of their own and competitor journals. Not only can this analysis help them to more effectively identify new growth areas, but also helps formulize a strategy to increase performance or evaluate journal editorial board opportunities.