The primary feature in last Sunday’s Scopus release is the new “Analyze results” tool previewed in my last post. This builds directly on the “Export refine” functionality launched last May. “Export refine” enabled much of the same analysis, but required a user to manipulate raw data in a CSV file. By adding this directly into Scopus, “Analyze results” expands the reach of this functionality to less advanced users.
“Analyze results” is also a descendant of the Documents section of the Author Evaluator launched in August 2010. Essentially “Analyze results” expands the ability of the Author Evaluator from visualizing information about a single author’s publications to visualizing aggregate publication information on any arbitrary set of results. Thus, the power of “Analyze results” is proportionate to the care and complexity of the query being examined.
Worth noting is that, “Analyze results” is different from the existing “View Citation Overview” function in that it evaluates quantity rather than quality. Another difference is that “Analyze results” examines the whole set of results, while “View Citation Overview” looks only at a selected subset of results. However, there are links within “Analyze Results” to the appropriate quality analysis tools in Scopus including the Journal Analyzer and Author Evaluator.
I am most excited about the “Source Title” tab of “Analyze Results” because it takes analysis one step deeper than a simple “Export refine”. Furthermore, I believe the link to “Compare Source Titles in Journal Analyzer” is the true killer feature of “Analyze Results” as it will enable a user to compare journals on both subject matter and quality. An example of this is described in both the training desk video and my previous post.
Please feel free to share feedback or comments on “Analyze results” or other enhancements from this release.
