h-index in Scopus
In Scopus, the h-index is calculated based on the author’s publications indexed specifically in the Scopus database. It shows how many works have received at least that same number of citations.
In detail
Scopus creates an author profile and on that basis shows key indicators: number of documents, citations, subject areas, Scopus Author ID, and h-index.
The meaning of the h-index here is the same as in other systems: if an author has an h-index of 8, it means the author has at least 8 publications, each cited at least 8 times.
The main difference of Scopus is that
- only documents included in Scopus are counted;
- only citations seen by Scopus are counted;
- the result depends on the correctness of the author profile.
Sometimes authors in Scopus have problems
- some publications are not attached;
- the profile is split into several records;
- other people’s documents appear in the profile;
- the article is in the database but does not appear under the correct author.
Therefore, the h-index in Scopus is useful not only as a metric but also as a signal: if it looks unusual, the author profile itself should be checked.
What is important to remember
The h-index in Scopus is a metric based on Scopus database data itself, so it may differ from other platforms.