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Reflecting on 20 years of knowledge discovery

Since its inception in 2004, Scopus has evolved into a leading abstract and citation database to serve our user community of academics, librarians and research institutions. Our team has spent the last 20 years innovating our solution and exponentially growing our content for this purpose. Read on to follow this journey and learn what we are planning for the next 20 years.

Scopus 20 years of discovery

In the beginning

In 2004, when Elsevier was ready to release Scopus, the research world was buzzing about some big news events:

  • Completion of the Human Genome Project

  • Introduction of the first commercially available GPS navigation systems

  • Development of Blu-ray disc technology

  • Discovery of Sedna, a distant dwarf planet

  • Identification of dark energy

This year, 2024, represents a milestone in Scopus history, marking two decades of innovation to support global research.

Plant growing

As technology advanced, Scopus also evolved by expanding content beyond journals (to books, conference materials, and more). We also enriched and connected data to enhance and expand Scopus use cases.

Scopus will continue to evolve as a premier research solution in the following ways:

  • Investing in new technologies, such as generative AI

  • Employing the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board to ensure research integrity standards

  • Continuing to develop methods to ensure Scopus data is accurate and up to date

  • Expanding Scopus content to provide the most comprehensive abstract & index database available

  • Working with our community to develop an intuitive and easy-to-use product

Staying ahead of the curve is critical for our team. We want to identify emerging trends in the community early on. By addressing these trends before they become significant to the community, we can be well-prepared to support important customer needs effectively.

Yoshiko Kakita

YK

Yoshiko Kakita

Senior Director of Scopus Product Management

20 years of supporting research and innovation

Scopus 20 infographic

Overview of all innovations that were designed to make Scopus a more powerful tool to support research

Download infographic  opens in new tab/window

Content and data expansion

Overall Scopus content has increased over 260% since its introduction, but this is only part of the story. In the past 20 years we have expanded content to include books, conferences and preprints. Scopus gets daily updates to its content from 7000+ of publishers to ensure comprehensive coverage for users. In addition to the quantity of content, our team strives to ensure its quality.

Scopus Content and data expansion

The following types of Scopus content provide a fertile knowledge base for researchers:

  • Journals – 28.3K+ active journals

  • Books – 368K+ book titles

  • Conference materials – 161K conference events

  • Preprints – 2.33+ million preprints

To allow for a deeper user experience, all of this content is enriched by a number of features, including:

  • Author profiles

  • Organization profiles

  • Open Access tagging

  • Funding References

  • SDG data

Meet the team

Since its inception, Scopus has been supported by a team of dedicated product, sales and marketing professionals. Their goal is simple: Work with our community to develop the best possible solution, deliver it to our customers and support users to ensure they benefit from it.

Our team's dedication remains as strong in year 20 as it was at the start. Meet some of our members and discover the driving force behind Scopus.

Scopus Team Members:

Tracy

TC

Tracy Chen

Lead Product Manager for Scopus

Read more about Tracy Chen
Priyanka Kalra

PK

Priyanka Kalra

Product Manager for Scopus.com

Read more about Priyanka Kalra
Bissan Rafe-Duz

BR

Bissan Rafe-Duz

Scopus Product Manager

Read more about Bissan Rafe-Duz
Adrian Raudaschl

AR

Adrian Raudaschl

Scopus AI Principal Product Manager

Read more about Adrian Raudaschl

Looking to the future

The saying The Future is Now can sound cliché, but with Scopus it holds weight. Scopus continues to develop on the leading edge of technology. Our next 20 years of innovation began at the beginning of 2024 when we were first to market with a generative AI product for researcher discovery. In our tradition of innovation, Scopus AI has already evolved and there is more on the way. Take a moment to learn about Scopus AI, the start of our next 20 years of innovation.

Learn more about Scopus AI

Looking to the future

Learn how Scopus can help your organization achieve its goals.

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