Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice Journals

Background: Authors of bibliometric studies often wait for an arbitrarily prolonged period to allow for complete indexing of documents in the Scopus database after the end of the period to be studied (period-of-interest), thus negatively affecting recency (interval between publication date the date...

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Main Author: Samuel Adeosun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing 2024-11-01
Series:INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy
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Online Access:https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/innovations/article/view/6322
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author Samuel Adeosun
author_facet Samuel Adeosun
author_sort Samuel Adeosun
collection DOAJ
description Background: Authors of bibliometric studies often wait for an arbitrarily prolonged period to allow for complete indexing of documents in the Scopus database after the end of the period to be studied (period-of-interest), thus negatively affecting recency (interval between publication date the date of the latest data reported) in bibliometric studies. Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the indexing delays in Scopus following online publication, to provide evidence-based recommendations for when data collection in Scopus should start after the end of the period-of-interest. Methods: Scopus indexing dates were prospectively collected for documents published in 2022 in 7 major pharmacy practice journals (aim 1). A time-to-event analysis was done on all documents published online from August to October 2022 (aim 2). Median indexing delays and Kaplan-Meier curves of indexing delays were also compared between Scopus and PubMed using Wilcoxon signed-rank and Log-Rank tests, respectively.  Results: All 7 journals (843 documents) and 4 journals (212 documents) were included (aims 1 and 2, respectively). Median indexing delay was significantly longer in Scopus versus PubMed (36 vs. 3 days). The Kaplan-Meier curves were also significantly different; with median survival time of indexing in Scopus and PubMed being 4 and 2 weeks, respectively. Notably, 91% of the subset studied have been indexed in Scopus (versus 97% in PubMed) by 10 weeks after online publication. Conclusion: Scopus indexing delays do not support the arbitrarily prolonged wait for bibliometric data to accumulate. A 10-week wait time provides a reasonable balance between the recency and completeness of published data. This evidence-based recommendation would improve recency without sacrificing data completeness in bibliometric studies.
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spelling doaj-art-f83c78948b7b44e2bc8f3231da0a4e4a2025-02-09T21:38:42ZengUniversity of Minnesota Libraries PublishingINNOVATIONS in Pharmacy2155-04172024-11-0115410.24926/iip.v15i4.6322Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice JournalsSamuel Adeosun0High Point University Background: Authors of bibliometric studies often wait for an arbitrarily prolonged period to allow for complete indexing of documents in the Scopus database after the end of the period to be studied (period-of-interest), thus negatively affecting recency (interval between publication date the date of the latest data reported) in bibliometric studies. Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the indexing delays in Scopus following online publication, to provide evidence-based recommendations for when data collection in Scopus should start after the end of the period-of-interest. Methods: Scopus indexing dates were prospectively collected for documents published in 2022 in 7 major pharmacy practice journals (aim 1). A time-to-event analysis was done on all documents published online from August to October 2022 (aim 2). Median indexing delays and Kaplan-Meier curves of indexing delays were also compared between Scopus and PubMed using Wilcoxon signed-rank and Log-Rank tests, respectively.  Results: All 7 journals (843 documents) and 4 journals (212 documents) were included (aims 1 and 2, respectively). Median indexing delay was significantly longer in Scopus versus PubMed (36 vs. 3 days). The Kaplan-Meier curves were also significantly different; with median survival time of indexing in Scopus and PubMed being 4 and 2 weeks, respectively. Notably, 91% of the subset studied have been indexed in Scopus (versus 97% in PubMed) by 10 weeks after online publication. Conclusion: Scopus indexing delays do not support the arbitrarily prolonged wait for bibliometric data to accumulate. A 10-week wait time provides a reasonable balance between the recency and completeness of published data. This evidence-based recommendation would improve recency without sacrificing data completeness in bibliometric studies. https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/innovations/article/view/6322BibliometricScopusIndexing delayPubMed
spellingShingle Samuel Adeosun
Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice Journals
INNOVATIONS in Pharmacy
Bibliometric
Scopus
Indexing delay
PubMed
title Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice Journals
title_full Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice Journals
title_fullStr Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice Journals
title_full_unstemmed Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice Journals
title_short Scopus Indexing Delays of Articles Published in Major Pharmacy Practice Journals
title_sort scopus indexing delays of articles published in major pharmacy practice journals
topic Bibliometric
Scopus
Indexing delay
PubMed
url https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/innovations/article/view/6322
work_keys_str_mv AT samueladeosun scopusindexingdelaysofarticlespublishedinmajorpharmacypracticejournals