A Comparison between Two Main Academic Literature Collections: Web of Science and Scopus Databases

Asian Social Science, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 18-26, April 27, 2013

9 Pages Posted: 29 Apr 2013 Last revised: 9 May 2013

See all articles by Arezoo Aghaei Chadegani

Arezoo Aghaei Chadegani

Islamic Azad University; University Kebangsaan Malaysia

Hadi Salehi

Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch

Melor Yunus

National University of Malaysia - Faculty of Education

Hadi Farhadi

National University of Malaysia (UKM) - Research Center for Islamic Economics and Finance (EKONIS-UKM)

Masood Fooladi

Islamic Azad University, Mobarakeh Branch

Maryam Farhadi

National University of Malaysia (UKM)

Nader Ale Ebrahim

Research and Technology Department, Alzahra University, Vanak, Tehran, Iran, Postcode: 19938 93973; Centre for Research Services, Institute of Management and Research Services (IPPP), University of Malaya (UM); University of Malaya (UM) - Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture

Date Written: April 7, 2013

Abstract

Nowadays, the world’s scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them, which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

Keywords: web of science, scopus, database, citations, provenance, coverage, searching, citation tracking, impact factor, indexing, h-index, researcher profile, researcher ID

JEL Classification: L1, L11, L7, M11, M12, M1, M54, Q1, O1, O3, Q31, Q32, P24, P42, P29, L17

Suggested Citation

Aghaei Chadegani, Arezoo and Aghaei Chadegani, Arezoo and Salehi, Hadi and Yunus, Melor and Farhadi, Hadi and Fooladi, Masood and Farhadi, Maryam and Ale Ebrahim, Nader, A Comparison between Two Main Academic Literature Collections: Web of Science and Scopus Databases (April 7, 2013). Asian Social Science, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 18-26, April 27, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2257540

Arezoo Aghaei Chadegani

Islamic Azad University ( email )

Tehran
Iran

University Kebangsaan Malaysia ( email )

Malaysia

Hadi Salehi

Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch ( email )

Iran
Iran
Najafabad, Isfahan
Iran

Melor Yunus

National University of Malaysia - Faculty of Education ( email )

43600 Bandar Baru Bangi
Bangi, Selangor 06010
Malaysia

Hadi Farhadi

National University of Malaysia (UKM) - Research Center for Islamic Economics and Finance (EKONIS-UKM) ( email )

Malaysia

Masood Fooladi

Islamic Azad University, Mobarakeh Branch ( email )

Department of Accounting
Mobarakeh Branch
Mobarakeh, Isfahan
Iran

Maryam Farhadi

National University of Malaysia (UKM) ( email )

Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor 43000
Malaysia

Nader Ale Ebrahim (Contact Author)

Research and Technology Department, Alzahra University, Vanak, Tehran, Iran, Postcode: 19938 93973 ( email )

Iran

Centre for Research Services, Institute of Management and Research Services (IPPP), University of Malaya (UM) ( email )

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan 50603
University of Malaya (UM)
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan 50603
Malaysia

HOME PAGE: http://https://umresearch.um.edu.my/

University of Malaya (UM) - Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture ( email )

Kuala Lumpur, 50603
Malaysia

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