In your line of work, do you need to find journal articles from many different subject areas? Scopus™, the most recent research tool added to the NIH Library’s collection of online databases, allows you to navigate 14,000 journal titles covering scientific, technical, medical, and social science literature. You can also search through 15 million patents.
Scopus, an Elsevier product, is updated daily and contains records with abstracts going back to 1966. The database offers you basic, advanced, and author search options, as well as an email alert service.
The Scopus Basic Search screen.
When available, a link to full-text articles is provided via the "NIH LIBRARY" button.
Clicking on this icon gives you access to full-text articles in journals subscribed to by the NIH Library and allows you to request document delivery for articles in journals to which the Library does not subscribe. An added benefit of using the NIH LIBRARY button is that the citation information automatically populates the item request form for you.
Other Scopus features include:
- Alerts – create and save search strategies to keep current with research topics
- Cited By – lists articles citing the target paper
- Combine – manipulate sets to refine results
- Indexing – provides EMTREE, Compendex, and MESH terms, when available
- Export – send to text, EndNote®, Reference Manager®, ProCite®, or RefWorks
- Highlighting – shows keywords in color within abstracts
- Limits – select date range, subject area, or document type
- Search History – tracks progression for the duration of the current search session
- Sort – display search results by date, relevance, author, source title, or times cited
Users should know that the Scopus default search ANDs words. To search on an exact phrase, use double quotes—e.g., "stem cells". The multi-character wildcard, or truncation symbol, is the asterisk "*". Additional search strategy information is accessible from Search Tips, located on the upper right of each search option folder.
To access Scopus, mouse-over Research Tools on the green menu bar of the NIH Library website and click on Databases from the drop-down options. Scopus is listed alphabetically, near the bottom of the page.
For more information about using Scopus, contact NIH Library staff via AskUs Live!; call Reference & Information Services at 301-496-1080; or email NIHLibrary@nih.gov.