Web of Science to be Replaced by Scopus on July 1
The transition from Web of Science to Scopus, announced in the library’s Spring newsletter, will be complete as of July 1, 2008. As of that date, the University of Missouri libraries will no longer provide access to Web of Science.
Earlier this year, the libraries of the University of Missouri system decided to acquire the Elsevier database Scopus as an alternative to the much more costly Web of Science. This transition will provide Missouri S&T researchers with access to a larger set of citation information, as Scopus’s coverage greatly exceeds that of Web of Science.
Like Web of Science, Scopus offers citation searching and tracking, demonstrating the influence of research articles and the relationships between current research and past work in a field. Cited references are available for articles from 1996 onward. Users are able to view all citations an article has received publications covered by Scopus and in many cases can view the citing articles by following links. Scopus also has features allowing users to track citations in patents and on select scientific websites.
An added benefit of the switch to Scopus for the UM System is the substantial cost savings for the system. The savings will be applied to funding other materials of value to researchers at the four campuses. The purchase of ScienceDirect, for example, will be financed using these funds.
Scopus does not address the arts and humanities. For these disciplines, the system libraries will provide access to OCLC’s AH Search, which uses the same information found in Web of Science’s Arts and Humanities Citation Index. AH Search covers an additional decade of research, with coverage beginning in 1980.
If you have questions or concerns about these new resources, please feel free to contact the Reference Desk at library@mst.edu.