Internet Indexing: Why it Matters and How Elsevier Helps
If you aren’t familiar with indexing and how it relates to your book, it basically refers to the algorithm that databases use to rank, or index, your book based on a given search. Getting this key element right is essential if users who aren’t familiar with your title are ever going to connect with your valuable work.
For example, if you are the author of a new book on Organic Chemistry, you would want to do everything you can to “index”, or rank, highly in search to make sure that your book is explored…and eventually purchased by users who are searching for topics relating to that subject.
Introducing Scopus: Elsevier’s Citation and Indexation Database
Scopus, the largest citation and indexation database around, provides comprehensive coverage of global research. This extensive database of peer-reviewed literature currently contains more than 137,000 books by more than 5,000 publishers. When you publish with Elsevier, your titles are automatically submitted, ensuring that your book is a part of this vital research tool.
Why is this important?
Academic and subject-specific searches often rely on abstracting and indexing services like Scopus to find research relevant to their area. Since Scopus is the largest database of its kind, it allows researchers to search for everything they are looking for in a single location.
In addition, repositories of large amounts of data rely on the indexation of content, including key terms, abstracts and reference lists to make sure that they serve up the most relevant content for a user’s needs.
This process helps researchers spend less time searching for content and more time using the comprehensive results for their work.
CiteScore: Creating New Impact for Your Work
With Scopus’ recent launch of CiteScore, serials receive citation numbers that show the impact your work is having. CiteScore is current, comprehensive, transparent and free, and is the only metric in the field that has a monthly updating version that allows tracking throughout the year.
Getting Your Book Indexed
Because of the rigorous standards that Scopus has in place, it’s imperative that your book is submitted in the most effective manner.
Here’s How it Works
- New titles are submitted monthly
- They are evaluated by Scopus’ automated tool, which uses our ONIX XML-based metadata to determine a title’s best fit
- Some books require further review by subject matter experts to make sure they are placed in the ideal category
- Some books are automatically selected
- These include monographs, edited volumes, major reference works, graduate-level textbooks and handbooks
- Titles with publication dates of 2003 and forward are also included in subject areas, such as social sciences, arts & humanities, and science, technology and math. If a book is in-scope, it will be indexed at both the book and the chapter level
- NOTE: If a title is a new volume in a serial, all subsequent releases will also be included
- Some books are excluded
- Dissertations, undergraduate level textbooks, atlases, yearbooks, biographies, popular science books, manuals, dictionaries and guides are excluded
- In addition, BISAC subject categorized books can also be excluded
- Finally, books with publication dates earlier than 2003 are not included
Our Rigorous Auditing Process
To make sure that your book is not incorrectly classified as out-of-scope, we audit titles to make sure that they have specific BISAC subject codes applied that accurately categorize the type of content covered.
We also coordinate with the Scopus team to audit for titles that may have been excluded in error, or to resubmit titles if there have been metadata changes that affect how your book is categorized.
To learn more about the content selection guidelines, you can view the Content Coverage Guide.
Timeline for Indexation
From the time your book is published to when it is indexed in Scopus takes about 3 months. To confirm if your book has been indexed, you can check the book list here. For serials, check here. And of course, you can search on scopus.com to confirm that your book is displaying.
If you have questions about whether your title has been included for indexation, or why it may have been excluded, please feel free to reach out to your Editorial Product Manager to learn more.