When the scientist finishes writing and designing their scientific article, they begin to think which journal is best suited for their material. This entails a long search for a suitable publication that will maximally elaborate on the idea of research for readers, cause a resonance and the possibility of a considerable number of citations of the article among the colleagues.
A high-quality international journal will certainly be included in one of the scientometric databases, and possibly in two at once. A scientist should learn about the capabilities of these bibliographic platforms. Using the example of the largest databases in the world, Scopus and Web of Science, we will try to cover this topic.
Journals
Every year the databases include new journals in their lists, which undergo competitive selection by performing all requirements of the database. Let's take a look at how many journals are included in Scopus and Web of Science, and what subject areas they relate to.
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Scopus |
Web of Science |
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over 24000 journals |
over 34 000 journals |
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The databases index journals in different subject areas: |
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life sciences humanities social natural sciences |
natural sciences technical sciences social sciences humanities art |
Admittedly, finding the journal that fits your article best can be difficult sometimes. Scholars often approach scientific publication consulting companies that can offer a good journal for publication. They are guided by extensive experience in this area and a developed list of partner journals.
Every year, both databases verify their journals to meet all the requirements, and if the journal exhibits strange behaviour (excessive publication activity or vice versa, the journal does not publish anything, there is no peer review procedure, the publication period is very fast), then it is removed from the lists. This is done by special Committees that work in Scopus and Web of Science.
In Scopus, the process of exclusion occurs more often (up to 3 times a year), in Web of Science (~1 time a year). We recently wrote that Scopus has already excluded 14 journals from its list this year. Evidently, both platforms make sure that the process of selection and verification of journals, and accordingly the content, takes place constantly and at a high-quality level.Scopus indexes many humanities journals, which helps scholars to successfully publish their articles on this subject area there. Web of Science also has journals on the humanities and arts, which are indexed in The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI). But! This index is included in the elite of the Web of Science Core Collection and it is extremely difficult to get published in these journals
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Scopus indexes many humanities journals, which helps scholars to successfully publish their articles on this subject area there. Web of Science also has journals on the humanities and arts, which are indexed in The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI). But! This index is included in the elite of the Web of Science Core Collection and it is extremely difficult to get published in these journals |
Scientific content
All articles that claim to be published in journals that are included in Scopus and/or Web of Science should be of interest not only to domestic scientists, but also to colleagues from other countries. Indexing cutting-edge, new ideas on a global scale is the challenge these databases have for themselves. For them, the quality, originality and applicability of research are very important, which will interest the foreign scientific community.
We must admit the fact that getting into journals that are part of the Web of Science is much harder, and it will be a longer process than in case of Scopus. Selection and peer review stages in WoS are more difficult, invited peer reviewers are more scrupulous.
| If a scientist does intend to get a publication in the Web of Science, they must exercise patience. Typically, the publication process in WoS can last a year or more, while in Scopus – 9 months or more |
Peer review
Each database makes sure that the material that enters the journals undergoes mandatory expert control in the form of peer review. Thus, this guarantees the scientist that if they refer to information that is published in these journals, they are dealing with verified and reliable data, which can be safely referred to.
| Peer review in journals indexed by Scopus or Web of Science is a mandatory obligation that each journal must perform, inviting experts in different subject areas to verify and evaluate scientific articles |
Scientometric indicator of a scientist
Scopus and Web of Science allows to demonstrate the success of a scientist in their scientific article thanks to the Hirsch index. This indicator was proposed in 2005 by the American physicist Jorge Hirsch. It determines the scale of the researcher's contribution to their subject area and compares the work of scientists, shows which articles are cited more, and which scientist is more interesting in ideas and results.
| Hirsch index helps analyse and improve your materials |
To date, it is Scopus and Web of Science that are considered the largest databases in the world. Getting published in the journals that are included in them open up the opportunity for scientists to receive funding, grants, implement their ideas and share them with other researchers, gaining authority among colleagues.
If you decide to actively develop your scientific activity, but do not know where to start, or you need help in finding the best journal for your article, contact our specialists, and they will answer all your questions.
Our company, Scientific Publications – Publ.Science, has a unique experience in the scientific and publishing field and by turning to us, you gather the support of specialists with many years of experience. We guarantee the publication of your article in a high-quality international journal with indexing in the Scopus and/or Web of Science database.
As a reminder, we have recently made a post about the basic requirements for the layout of a scientific article in Scopus.
