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Research Metrics

This guide discusses the common metrics that are used to measure the impact of research. It also introduces the researcher to Scopus: a bibliometric tool that can be used to analse research impact at journal, article and author levels.

What is Scopus?

Scopus is a citation and abstract database of research sources, including journals, books, conference proceedings and trade publications. It helps in combating predatory publishing, institutional ranking and reputation and also boosts performance. Scopus is multidisciplinary covering disciplines such as life sciences (e.g. Agricultural and Biological Sciences and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology), Physical Sciences and Engineering (e.g. Engineering, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Earth and Planetary Sciences and mathematics), Social Sciences and Humanities (e.g. Business, Management and Accounting, Economics, Econometrics and Finance) and Health (e.g. Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine),.

Metrics

Scopus provides metrics at source, document, author and affiliation levels. BUAN Libraries provides access to Scopus for all the bona-fide staff and students of BUAN.

It can be used to search for:

  • sources - consists of indexed publications that are either serial or non-serial. e.g. journals, annuals (such as reports, yearbooks, and directories), and book series.
  • documents - articles, conference proceedings, book chapters and more 
  • authors - find potential collaborators and research partners
  • affiliations - uncover potential collaborators working in specific institutions

Searching Scopus

Creating an Account / signing in to Scopus

For authentication purposes, sign in using the registered BUAN email credentials. As a registered user; Scopus accords one the following privileges:

  • Save searches
  • Create lists
  • Set up alerts
  • Monitor authors
  • Set preferences for reference management tools
  • Access dashboard

Scopus Key Features

1 - Sign up for a new account

2 - Sign in if you already have a user account

3 - Search for sources e.g. journals, annuals (such as reports, yearbooks, and directories), and book series.

4 - Document search

5 - Author search

6 - Affiliation search

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