What is the Scopus Author Identifier?
Last updated on September 11, 2024
Some authors have similar names, or their names can appear differently in various publications. The Scopus Author Identifier distinguishes among similar names by assigning each author in Scopus a unique number and grouping all of the documents written by that author. For example, an author may appear as Lewis, M.; Lewis, M. J.; and Lewis, Michael in different publications, or there may be two authors named John Smith.
Scopus Author Identifier helps you to differentiate authors with common last names, like Smith or Lee, by returning a list of possible author matches with their affiliations and subject areas of interest.
For example, if your search returned two authors named Ayre, G., you can refer to the affiliation or subject areas of interest for those authors to ensure that you select the appropriate Ayre, G. for your search.
Scopus Author Identifier also helps you find authors who have been cited differently. When grouping author names under a unique author identifier number, Scopus takes into consideration last name variations, all possible combinations of first and last names, and the author name with and without initials.
As a result, searches for a specific author include a preferred name and variants of the preferred name. For example, searches for Ayre, G returns documents where the author is cited as Ayre, Gareth and Ayre, G.
You can find the Scopus Author Identifier below the author name, next to the affiliation details.
To determine which author names should be grouped together under a single identifier number, the Scopus Author Identifier uses an algorithm that matches author names based on their:
- Affiliation
- Subject area
- City and country
- Source title
- Dates of publication
- Citations
- Co-authors
- Select 'Advanced search'. The Scopus Advanced search form opens. Learn more about how to use Advanced search.
- From the Scopus Advanced search form, select 'AU-ID' from the code selection box. The code is entered within the search entry form as AU-ID().
- Enter the author identifier within the code parenthesis. For example:
- For an author publication set: AU-ID(123456789)
- For a publication set for an author name variant: AU-ID(“Ramesh”123456789)
Select 'Search'.
Your author search result opens. View more information about how to interpret these results.
If you have issues with your author profile, please see How do I use the Author Feedback Wizard? which can be used to request changes or updates to the information on the Scopus Author details page.
Although the Scopus algorithm creates unique profiles, sometimes there are issues such as:
- Multiple profiles for a single author
- Articles need to be added/removed from an author profile
- The spelling of a name is incorrect
- The affiliation is out of date or incorrect
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