Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board

The Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB) is an international group of scientists, researchers and librarians who represent the major scientific disciplines. Year round, the board members are responsible for reviewing all titles that are suggested to Scopus.

The CSAB is comprised of 17 Subject Chairs, each representing a specific subject field. The Board works with the Scopus team to understand how Scopus is used, what content is relevant for users and what enhancements should be made.

The recommendations of the CSAB directly influence the overall direction of Scopus and the prioritization of new content requests to ensure that Scopus content stays international and relevant.

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Speaking with the Scopus CSAB

Conflict of interest statement of the Scopus CSAB

In making their decisions about approving journals for inclusion in Scopus, the members of the CSAB avoid conflicts of interest such as those that may derive from their own involvement with other journals or their work as consultants. In such cases, the CSAB member will ensure that they take no part in decisions about journals for which they might have a conflict of interest.

Local Boards

In collaboration with Elsevier and with guidance from the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB), Scopus has established 4 local content boards, or Expert Content Selection and Advisory Committees (ECSAC). Currently, local boards are in place in China, Thailand, Russia and South Korea. The relevant CSAB subject chair takes the recommendation and evaluation comments from the local board reviewers into account for their review of the title for Scopus coverage. The goal of the ECSAC is to raise the standard of local titles and ensure that titles published primarily for a local audience, but deserving of international attention, are included in Scopus.

The objectives for the local boards are to:

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  Educate local publishers and editors about Scopus selection criteria

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  Proactively pre-screen local titles and act as a filter for local titles that need to be reviewed

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  Conduct a full review of local titles to improve the acceptance rate of local titles

ECSAC-Thailand

Thailand was the first country to establish its own local board. ECSAC-Thailand comprises 14 Subject Chairs that mirror the CSAB Subject Chair disciplines as well as 13 additional general board members.

Through the support and collaboration with the Scopus CSAB, the ECSAC-Thailand goal is to raise the overall standards and quality of journals published in Thailand.

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ECSAC-Korea

Through the support and collaboration with the Scopus CSAB, the ECSAC-Korea goal is to raise the overall standards and quality of journals published in Korea.

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ECSAC-Russian Federation

The ECSAC-Russian Federation consist of 14 Subject Chairs, who are all subject matter experts covering all major science fields. The Subject Chairs will focus on, in close collaboration with the Scopus CSAB, raising the local journal standard and international visibility of journals published in the Russian Federation.

Scopus China Academic Board

By working closely with Elsevier to evaluate and select Chinese Journals to be submitted for evaluation by the Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB), China's local content board has the goal to raise the overall standard and international visibility of journals published in China.

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Conflict of interest statement

In making their review comments for journals evaluations for inclusion in Scopus, the members of the local boards avoid conflicts of interest such as those that may derive from their own involvement with local journals. In such cases, the local board members will ensure that they take no part in reviewing the journals for which they might have a conflict of interest.

By default, all local journals from relevant regions shall be reviewed by local boards and benefit from all values of the local boards. However, there are cases in which local journals deem it necessary to be reviewed directly by the CSAB, e.g., due to potential conflict of interests.