Volume 9, Issue 3, July 2015, Pages 570–576
A systematic analysis of duplicate records in Scopus
Highlights
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- We perform a systematic analysis of the problem of duplicate records in Scopus.
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- In the seven journals included in the analysis, 12.4% of the records are duplicates.
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- Most duplicate records are due to orthographic differences in journal titles.
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- Journal name changes and title variations also play a role.
Abstract
In recent years, the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus
databases have become primary sources for conducting studies that
evaluate scientific investigations. Such studies require that duplicate
records be excluded to avoid errors of overrepresentation. In this line,
we identify duplicate records in Scopus and examine their origins. Identifying journals with duplicate records in Scopus,
selecting and downloading bibliographic journal records, and
identifying and analyzing the duplicate records is the methodology
adopted. Duplicate records are found when articles published in a
journal are incorrectly mapped by Scopus to this journal and to
a different journal from the same publisher and when there are journal
title changes, orthographic differences in the presentation of a journal
name, and journal name variants. In these last three cases, one
bibliographic record of each duplicate is mapped to Medline coverage of Scopus.
Consequently, the identified duplicates and the significant differences
in the number of citations received in duplicate articles may influence
bibliometric studies. Thus, there is a need for rigorous quality
control guidelines to govern database managers and editors to prevent
the creation of duplicates.
databases have become primary sources for conducting studies that
evaluate scientific investigations. Such studies require that duplicate
records be excluded to avoid errors of overrepresentation. In this line,
we identify duplicate records in Scopus and examine their origins. Identifying journals with duplicate records in Scopus,
selecting and downloading bibliographic journal records, and
identifying and analyzing the duplicate records is the methodology
adopted. Duplicate records are found when articles published in a
journal are incorrectly mapped by Scopus to this journal and to
a different journal from the same publisher and when there are journal
title changes, orthographic differences in the presentation of a journal
name, and journal name variants. In these last three cases, one
bibliographic record of each duplicate is mapped to Medline coverage of Scopus.
Consequently, the identified duplicates and the significant differences
in the number of citations received in duplicate articles may influence
bibliometric studies. Thus, there is a need for rigorous quality
control guidelines to govern database managers and editors to prevent
the creation of duplicates.
Keywords
- Bibliographic control guidelines;
- Bibliometric indicators overdimensionalized;
- Duplicate records;
- Indexing errors;
- Scopus database
A systematic analysis of duplicate records in Scopus
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