Re: Scopus John McDonald 21 Sep 2005 17:46 UTC
Thanks Warren, I think everyone on the list looks forward to your published research results from the rigorous study. In fact, I can't wait to read the published results of any study that Elsevier has undertaken (look for them, aside from TULIP, they don't exist). I told Rick privately that I have no interest in researching Scopus but wanted to raise the point of the inherent conflict of interest in a primary journal publisher producing a comprehensive scientific search engine. I am suspicious of them because they have given us many reasons through the years to be suspicious of them. All librarians should be constructively critical of all publishers, not just Elsevier. John -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Warren Holder Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 9:01 AM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: [SERIALST] Scopus Rick Anderson writes; There's no need to sit idly by and be suspicious -- check out Scopus' results and see what you think. Better yet, do a rigorous study and publish it. The resulting article would be interesting and useful. To this statement I say amen. I really wish that there could be a little more rigor brought to the many accusations being floated about newer e-resouces such as Scopus and Google Scholar. There is going to be another session at the European ICOLC meeting taking place in Poznan, Poland at the end of September where speakers will compare and contrast Google Scholar, Scopus and Web Of Science. While I have no problem with this, I did suggest that I would prefer to hear from a researcher who either has or would be prepared to actually use the e-resouces for some research and then report on their results. We will see what happens. It was this sort of " rigorous study " that Scopus did at my university. The University of Toronto Library ( presently, the 3rd ranked ARL) was a development partner with Scopus for the last - give or take - 3 years. This initiative was new to us but we were very interested in their User Centred Design approach. We really liked the idea of going to the faculty, staff and students of the university to find out what they thought, after all, that is why we are here. To serve the information wants and needs of those same individuals.It was a lot of work but we believe worth it in the end. The Scopus folk kept coming over either in person or virtually to talk to end-users that we helped identify. They spoke to young researchers just getting started up to senior faculty with more than a million in research funding. They spoke with masters students through PhDs in all disciplines ( with a tendency to more in the sciences ). They spoke and had focus groups with general librarians and subject specialist librarians. They started with no pre-conceived agenda but simply went to where the researchers did their work and watched them. They asked some questions and then went away and came back with what they thought they heard to get their findings validated. Obviously I am not the expert on this process and I am not in any way attempting to present every step but I thought it might be useful for some of you who may have no idea what went on " behind the scenes ". This whole process continues to this day. Follow up phone calls and on-site interviews Webcasts and e-mails etc. So I think you can imagine some of my wonderment when I see some of the listserv postings and hear some librarians' comments concerning Scopus and the fact that it is an Elsevier product and de facto can have no validity.. Unless you are saying that Elsevier was able to hoodwink all of our researchers plus the researchers at the other ??? development partners throughout the world, then I wish they would be more judicious in their choice of comments or better still take Rick up on his suggestion. Take care, Warren -- Warren Holder Electronic Resources Co-ordinator University of Toronto Libraries 130 St. George Street Toronto, Ontario CANADA M5S 1A5 Tel: 416 978 2286 Fax: 416 978 1668 warren.holder@utoronto.ca www.library.utoronto.ca/its/warren.html