How do I find Open Access documents and journals in Scopus?
Last updated on August 15, 2024
You can locate Open Access (OA) journals and/or articles by conducting a Document search, Advanced search, or using the Scopus Sources feature. Any search result providing documents or sources that are considered OA, indicate they are Open Access below the title.
Open Access refers to journals and articles in which all peer reviewed scholarly articles are online and available without restrictions.
Open Access (OA) filters are available in Scopus and Scopus API to provide greater clarity and a breakdown of the type of Open Access per document. There are currently ~17 million articles in Scopus using this Open Access classification system and Scopus is planning to expand its definition of Open Access to include those available in open repositories.
How do I find and filter Open Access documents?
- Perform a Document search. The Document search results page opens.
- From the Refine results panel, select the desired Open Access filter:
- All Open Access: All documents that fall within any of the Scopus Open Access filters.
- Gold: Documents are in journals which only publish open access.
- Hybrid Gold: Documents are in journals which provide authors the choice of publishing open access.
- Bronze: Bronze status is assigned to a document if there is another (publisher-specific) license other than a Creative Commons license (such as Elsevier’s publisher license for Open Archive), or no license at all.
- Green: Documents may be available as gold or other free-to-read forms on the publisher platform.
- Select 'Limit to'. The Document search results list updates and the Open Access indicator appears below each Open Access title.
Where are the Open Access definitions derived from?
The Scopus source for OA documents is Unpaywall, a database run by Impactstory (a non-profit organization) which harvest Open Access content from over 50,000 publishers and repositories.
Which Open Access filters are supported in Scopus?
Scopus Filter |
Information label |
Definition |
Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
Gold |
Gold (Open access-only journal) |
Published version with Creative Commons license, available on publisher platform. Documents are in journals which only publish open access. |
|
Hybrid Gold |
Gold (hybrid journal) |
Published version with Creative Commons license, available on publisher platform. Documents are in journals which provide authors the choice of publishing open access. |
|
Bronze |
Other free-to-read at Publisher |
Published version of record or manuscript accepted for publication, for which the publisher has chosen to provide temporary or permanent free access. Bronze status is assigned to a document if there is another (publisher-specific) license other than a Creative Commons license (e.g. Elsevier’s publisher license for Open Archive), or no license at all. |
|
Green |
Free-to-read at Repository |
Published version or manuscript accepted for publication, available at repository. Documents may also be available gold or other free-to-read on the publisher platform. |
Any article with a version available in a repository identified by Unpaywall |
Where can I find the Open Access indicators and filters?
You can filter results on the Documents Results page filter panel. You can filter by all Open Access documents or by each of the OA tags: gold, hybrid gold, green and bronze.
From the Scopus Advanced search, the OA filters are found under the Document field code section. The values, in combination with the OA field code, allow users to build queries using the OA filters.
The Advanced search page also allows you to search for Green Final and Green Accepted OA documents if there is a need for a more granular view of Green OA documents. Green Final and Green Accepted OA filters are not available on the Document search results page filter panel.
Open Access values |
Description |
|---|---|
all |
All Open Access documents |
publisherfullgold |
Gold Open Access |
publisherhybridgold |
Hybrid Gold Open Access |
publisherfree2read |
Bronze Open Access |
repository |
All Green Open Access All Green Open Access is a combination of Green Final and Green Accepted documents. |
repositoryvor |
Green Final Open Access |
repositoryam |
Green Accepted Open Access |
Advanced Search queries with OA filter examples
You can search Gold Open Access articles only and add a Boolean operator to search for other field codes like ABS or TITLE-ABS-KEY():
- Entering (OA(publisherfullgold) OR OA(publisherhybridgold)) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY(heart) returns documents with Heart that are Gold Open Access only
- Entering TITLE-ABS-KEY(heart) AND NOT OA(ALL) returns documents with Heart that exclude Open Access documents
Why am I seeing more documents per OA filter than the total document results count?
An Open Access document in Scopus can be tagged with more than one OA status as an article can be available in different OA versions (such as Gold and Green). In the OA filter facet, there is a count for Gold and Green for the same document.
Note: There is not duplicate counting for publisher-enabled OA documents (Gold, Hybrid-Gold, and Bronze categories).
How often is the Open Access information updated in Scopus?
Scopus receives weekly updates from Unpaywall for the documents indexed in Scopus.
Are the Open Access filters available via the Scopus APIs?
Users can use the same search queries and OA values, as explained on the Advanced Search page, with the Scopus document search and retrieval APIs.
How can I identify which document is an Open Access document in Scopus?
On the Scopus Document details page there is an Open Access label to indicate that a document is OA after the document title.
On the Scopus document search result pages there is an Open Access label below the document title for each separate title if a document is OA.
Can I search for the status of the Creative Commons license of a document in Scopus?
No, Creative Commons (CC) license information is not searchable via Scopus.
Open Access (OA) in Scopus is represented at the journal/source level. Out of the +21,000 active journals indexed in Scopus, approximately 4,065 (and increasing) are registered as OA journals. Open Access refers to journals and articles in which all peer reviewed scholarly articles are online and available without restrictions.
Open Access journals are indicated in orange text as Open Access on any results list where they are available, the Scopus Sources page, or on a Source details page.
How do I find and filter Open Access journals?
- From the Sources page, enter a source title, ISSN, or publisher name using the drop-down list.
- Select 'Find sources'. The Sources list updates to reflect the entered search criteria.
- From the Filter refine list, select 'Display only Open Access journals'.
- Select 'Apply'. The Source listing updates and the Open Access indicator appears next to each Open Access title.
Where are Open Access for journals definitions derived from?
In Scopus, journals are registered as being Open Access only if they are registered as Gold OA or Subsidized OA at one or both of the following:
- Directory of Open Access Journals: https://doaj.org/
- Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources: http://road.issn.org/
View of the OA journal types is included in the OA journal list, when registered at the Directory of Open Access Journals, and/or the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources.
Journal types included in OA journal list | Definition |
|---|---|
Gold OA & Gold OA (waived) Journals/Articles | Journals and articles in which all peer reviewed scholarly articles are available online without restrictions and for which an Article Processing Charge (APC) has been paid. |
Subsidized Journals | Journals which do not charge an APC and are subsidized by other means (such as university, government, agency, corporate sponsorship, print subscriptions, and advertising). |
These journal types are excluded from the OA journal list:
Journal types excluded from OA journal list | Definition |
|---|---|
Hybrid OA journals | Subscription-based journals that offer an APC-based OA option. |
Delayed hybrid OA journals | Subscription-based journals which provide free online access upon the expiry of an embargo period following the initial article publication date. |
Subscription journals | Journals which cover publication costs through access tolls such a subscription cost. |
Scopus updates the OA journal list portion of the Scopus Title list (http://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus/content#content-policy-and-selection) once a year at the end of May, which may lead to minor and temporary discrepancies in the OA journal status.
See All Science Journal Classification Codes (ASJC) to review all ASJC codes used for Scopus sources.
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