Scopus

Locating Scopus

University of Birmingham users should first go to FindIt@Bham and sign in with their University username and password.

You can Search for Scopus in the  search box, or, click "Database Search" at the top of the screen.

When in Scopus you can search by Documents, Authors or Affiliations.

Overview

Documents include journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, articles in press and data papers. Follow the steps below to learn how to perform a basic document search:

• Enter your search terms into the Search documents box 
  • By default, Scopus will search in the Article title, Abstract and Keywords of documents
• You can specify in which fields to search using the drop-down menu

At this point, you can either continue by (A) adding further search fields to the template, or (B) perform a search line by line and then add these together using the Search History list.

• Method (A) is suitable for general searches.
• Method (B) is recommended for more detailed work such as systematic or other literature reviews.

Search method (A)

• Use the +Add search field option to add additional fields 
• Each new search field is combined using the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT
• To see a complete list of advanced field codes, select Advanced document search

Search method (B)

1. Enter your first line of search and select the blue Search button.
   • This will show the individual search results underneath.
2. Now click on the Search option towards the top of the screen. 
   • This should return you to the search bar, showing the first line of search you entered.
3. 
4. Now remove the wording from that first line, and replace with your second set of search terms.
5. Select the blue Search button under the search line again.
6. Then click on Search towards the top left.
7. Continue if there are more search terms you wish to enter.
8. Once there is more than one line of search in the History, you can combine these by selecting those lines and using Combine Queries.
   • The default connector is the Boolean AND which narrows the search to articles involving terms in both or more lines, not just one
9. Select Show results to perform the combined search and display the results lower down the screen

Further options

See further down this page for Search tips, Refine search results, and Limit your search, as well as how to export or save results.

For a loose phrase search, use double quotation marks.

• “heart attack” will search for documents where heart and attack appear together 

The asterisk is a wildcard.

•  “criminal* insan*” finds criminally insane and criminal insanity. 

For an exact phrase search, enclose the phrase in braces  { }.

• Note: {heart-attack} and {heart attack} return different results, as the first will search for results that contain a hyphen between heart and attack

Search results are displayed in centre screen lower down the page. 

There will be links to open results in FindIt@Bham for subscription and other articles, where available.  View at Publisher may also enable full-text viewing.

From the left-hand menu, you can:

• Search within your results
• Select only open access documents (learn more about the Open Access filter below)
• Use filters to limit or exclude results from your search, including, but not limited to:
  • Access Type
  • Publication Year
  • Keyword
  • Affiliation
  • Author Name
  • Subject Area 

Publication date range

• Under Published from / To: choose from 'All years' or a range of years by using the drop down arrows (the default is 'All years')

Date added to Scopus

• Specify 'Anytime' or within the last 7, 14 or 30 days by using the drop down arrow (the default is 'Anytime')

RIS format: for import into EndNote Online or EndNote Desktop.

Other formats as required.

Saving your search and setting up alerts

Quickly review or edit your search from the top of the page. Registered users can sign in to:

• Save searches
• Set up alerts to be notified when new documents are added to Scopus that match this search