SCOPUS, an objective system of validation and evaluation

SCOPUS was launched by Elsevier in 2004, which is the world's largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed research literature, with over 22,000 titles from approximately 11,678 publishers in top-level subject fields like Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Health Sciences. It covers three types of sources: Book Series, Journals, and Trade Journals. Regardless of their publishers, all the journals covered in the Scopus database are reviewed each year to ensure whether high-quality standards are maintained or not [1]. So, if you as a researcher or scholar, want to keep track of what is happening in the research world, turn to Scopus. It provides a broad and reliable overview of global integrative scientific information and helps you to access the valuable treasury of authentic research.

The criteria of Scopus to index journals:

When a journal is indexed in Scopus, it is regarded to be of higher scientific quality. A journal which is included in Scopus, gets visible internationally, its opportunity for collaboration with other researchers from around the world gets heightened, and because of the enhanced accessibility, the possibility of the article content being cited by other authors, increases [2]. Despite these privileges coming along being included in Scopus, it should be kept in mind that getting indexed in Scopus is not an easy task. There are some important criteria which should be fulfilled for which the most significant ones are listed below:

• The Journal should consist of peer-reviewed content.
• The Journal should possess an ISSN number that has been registered with the International ISSN Center, which means it should be published regularly.
• The content of the journal should be related and legible for an international audience (at least it should have references in Roman script and English language abstracts and article titles).

• The Journal should have a publication ethics and publication malpractice statement. Scopus demands that every indexed journal should have vivid and publicly available statements of publication ethics and publication malpractice. Scopus requires each publisher listed in the database to be responsible for the performance and compliance with these policies.
• Before a journal can be reviewed for Scopus coverage, it should have a publication history of at least two years [2].

How to check the inclusion of a journal in Scopus:

When you as an author intend to publish your paper in an Elsevier journal, finding the right journal for your paper is the first step to be taken. The following tips are suggested to check the inclusion of a journal in Scopus:

• Check the title list. Browse sources on Scopus.com to check the title list, and evaluate the journal with CiteScore and other journal metrics freely available.
• Search in Scopus. Use a Scopus search for the name of the journal or conference and check if any current content is available to see if the title is indeed indexed.
• Ask! When in doubt, send an email to the Scopus Helpdesk and one of their Customer Service representatives can let you know if that title is indexed (or is going to be indexed) [3].

1. https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/content
2. https://www.elsevier.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/95118/SC_FAQ-content-selection-process_March2018.pdf
3. https://blog.scopus.com/posts/titles-indexed-in-scopus-check-before-you-publish