Ensuring the Accuracy of University Data
Republished from © 2023 Elsevier B.V.
By Emily Hart, Liaison Librarian and Research Impact Lead at Syracuse University Libraries
Since 2020, the Research Impact Team at Syracuse University Libraries has been making great strides toward improving the research reputation of Syracuse University and supporting its research enterprise. Scopus data, Elsevier’s abstract and citation database, is used in evaluations, rankings, reporting, landscape analyses and other strategic efforts worldwide. For example, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings use Scopus datasets in their calculations, as do Scimago Institutions Rankings. For the Research Impact Team, making certain that Syracuse University’s Scopus data is as relevant, clean and current as possible helps to ensure that the rankings accurately reflect the University’s achievements and raise its reputation.
The Research Impact Team has worked with the Office of Institutional Research to understand some of the differences between the rankings. The perspective that the Research Impact Team brings is a strong understanding of what Scopus is, what data Scopus holds and the limitations of the data. This collaboration supports more informed conversations around rankings on the campus going forward.
The Research Impact Team conducts an annual review and clean-up of Scopus data to ensure faculty and their publications are correctly affiliated with Syracuse University. They also talk to faculty about their researcher profiles in Scopus, as well as in Pure, ORCID, Web of Science, Google Scholar, etc. They try to convey that even though it can be time consuming to monitor multiple profiles, it is important for researchers to check that there are no errors and that all their publications have been captured correctly. For example, when people change university or name, they can end up with duplicate profiles, which throws off their institutional affiliation and their total publication and citation counts.
For more information or to inquire about support from the Research Impact Team, email riteam@syr.edu.