Scholar Identification Systems: Scopus Author Identifier

The Scopus system assigns Author Identifiers to each author as a means of differentiating between authors, especially authors with similar names, and grouping publications by a single author together. It can be used to search the Scopus database if your institution subscribes (if an Author Identifier is known, the database can be searched by entering an author's identifier).

There are advantages to the Scopus Author Identifier and Profile system:

• Already assigned (if your name hasn’t changed).
• Provides metrics on your publications.

There may be disadvantages to Scopus Author Identifiers & Profiles:

• Commercial – provided by Elsevier.
• Automatic - cannot opt out or make information private (anyone can view it).
• Only contains information on items indexed by Scopus.
• Authors who have changed their names or institutions may have to merge their records.
• Doesn’t index everything (book chapters, book reviews, conference presentations).
• Can’t be updated.
• Why does Elsevier have the right to decide which of your work does & doesn’t matter?