Scopus, an abstract and citation database of research information and web sources, has announced its new Author Identifier. The Scopus Author Identifier automatically distinguishes between authors with the same name and matches variations of author names.
The Scopus Author Identifier analyzes all the variants of the author's name and utilizes additional data elements associated with the article such as affiliation, publication history, source title, subject area, and co-authors. The sophisticated algorithms behind the Author Identifier are able to match author names with 99% accuracy and assign a unique identifier number to all authors who have published articles covered by Scopus. This has been achieved for 95% of records. Records with insufficient data to match with 99% confidence are not grouped until new data confirming the match is added to Scopus. Additionally, a feedback link on the Author Details page allows authors to check their details and tell Scopus if information needs to be adjusted.
Scopus has assigned an Author Details page to each author giving users an overview of data associated with that author. Individual authors' papers are grouped together for convenient viewing and the system also allows the researcher to make connections between people by viewing their co-authors and their co-authors' articles. The user can also generate an instant overview of an author's citations from the Author Page using the Scopus Citation Tracker. The Author Identifier also supports the exclusion of self- citations on the Citation Tracker.