Scopus, ORCID, Research Fish, Google Scholar, MathSciNet, and zbMATH

Scopus

Scopus is a system run by the publisher Elsevier which enables you to create a unique identity as an author so that you can say which papers belong to you, and which do not. This is particularly useful if you share a name with a number of other academic authors. 

You create an identity by going to Scopus and registering using your Oxford single-sign-on details. 

Once you are registered, you can add articles to your profile. The Scopus system groups articles together which it thinks belong to the same author -- look for the link to "View potential author matches". Once you have found a group which belongs to you, use the option to "Request to merge with author" to add them to your list. 

Subsequently, Scopus will usually correctly identify you as the author of new articles, but if it doesn't then you can again request a merge. 
 


ORCID

ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor ID) is another unique author identifier system. 

To create an ORCID account, or to connect an existing ORCID account with the university, simply follow the instructions here

The easiest way to populate your ORCID database is to link it to your Scopus ID so that any Scopus updates will automatically move across. Linking Scopus to ORCID is easy: just follow the instructions given here

You should also link your ORCID to your Symplectic account by following the instructions here.

To make your ORCID information publicly visible, click on Account Settings at the top of the main ORCID page, and then edit the Visibility Preferences to set Everyone as the default.  Back on the main page it is also possible to control the visibility item by item by clicking on the coloured visibility icon to change between Everyone, Trusted Parties and Only Me.

The benefit of having an ORCID account is that it ties into Symplectic which is used to maintain REF data, and also ties into ResearchFish which is used by EPSRC for research outcomes. It will also be used by the Bodleian to uniquely identify individuals in ORA, the Oxford Research Archive.

This old blog post discusses JISC funding for the adoption of ORCID by a large consortium of UK universities. It seems that ORCID has been chosen to be the basis for a lot of UK academic research output administration. The reason to maintain a Scopus profile in addition is that Scopus is more important internationally, and its tools are better for maintaining the profile details. 
 


ResearchFish

ResearchFish is the system used to report research "outcomes" to EPSRC. 

When entering data on articles, the simplest thing is to provide the DOI information -- then the system will fill in everything else automatically. 

Entering other information (such as follow-on research funding) into ResearchFish is optional. The main point of ResearchFish is to provide EPSRC with information to help them determine the impact of the research they have funded, to assist them in securing additional funding from the government. It might also influence how much they spend on mathematics research compared to other areas. 
 


Google Scholar

Google Scholar is an essential research tool which is used by most people. However, there are a few aspects which some people may not be aware of. 

Creating and updating your own profile

After creating a Google account (if you don't already have one -- remember you don't have to use Gmail if you don't want to) follow these detailed instructions to create your Google Scholar Profile. 

The advantage of having a profile is that you can manage it, declare which papers belong to you, and which don't, check on your citations and who is citing your work, and get helpful suggestions from Google Scholar of articles you might like to read. 

Generally, the only management your profile requires is to deal with duplicates, either to merge two records (for example an arXiv pre-print and the final published article) or to declare which of several versions is the definitive final version (although Google Scholar usually does this successfully on its own). 
 

Adding Oxford University library access

While logged into your Google account, go to Google Scholar and click on Settings at the top. 

On the left hand side, click on Library Links, and specify University of Oxford as a library source. This will give you access (via your Oxford single-sign-on if you are outside the Oxford network) to papers for which Oxford has an electronic subscription. It will show up as "Find it @ Oxford" on the right-hand-side of articles you are searching for. 
 

Creating your own Google Scholar library

While logged into your Google account, go to Google Scholar and click on My Library at the top. 

Initially this makes a library consisting of the articles in your Google profile. However, you can also create collections with "labels", and add any papers you find in Google Scholar to these groups by clicking on the "Save" link under the article, with a second click on it allowing you to edit the labels associated with the article. Thus, you can build up labelled collections of papers on various topics of interest, gathered together so that later you can access them, and download the original papers. 

Since these are stored as part of your Google Scholar profile, they will be accessible on any and all devices you use. 

Importing information from Google Scholar to your ORCID profile

ORCID does not yet have a mechanism to automatically update your ORCID profile from Google Scholar. However, you can exchange information between the systems via BibTeX. To do so, go to your Google Scholar profile, select all of your papers with the tickbox under your profile picture, then 'Export > BibTeX > Export all my articles'. To import this file in ORCID, follow these instructions.
 


MathSciNet and zbMATH

MathSciNet and zbMATH are bibliographic databases for mathematics. You can find lists of publications by a given author, citation metrics, and co-authorship graphs. Many papers also have been reviewed by third parties, offering an independent perspective on the work. 

Both databases tend to be more conservative with citation counts than Google Scholar, sometimes by an order of magnitude. 

MathSciNet requires a subscription (which the university possesses), while zbMATH has recently been made fully accessible for free. 

Please contact us with feedback and comments about this page. Last updated on 02 Apr 2022 21:54.