Skip to Main Content

Scopus LibGuide: Scopus AI

What is Scopus AI?

Scopus AI is an AI-driven research tool that uses the Scopus peer-reviewed research repository to help users understand and navigate unfamiliar academic content. Scopus AI generates summaries based on Scopus abstracts with references to help decipher complex content, facilitate deeper exploration, and provide academic insights.

Built in close collaboration with the academic community, it provides a unique window into humanity's accumulated knowledge through Scopus, the world's largest multidisciplinary and trusted abstract and citation database. 

Useful terms

How to get started with Scopus AI?

  1. From the Scopus homepage page, select the 'Scopus AI' tab.
  2. Enter your query in the field.
  3. Press 'Enter' or select the search icon.
  4. From the result page, you can:
  • View a cited document: Select a numbered citation from the summary to open a side-panel showing the referenced document.
  • Show all references: Select 'Show references' to show all of the references in the side-panel. From the side-panel you show the abstract, and select the document, author(s), or publication. The information opens in a new tab.
  • Show a visualization of the result: Select 'Visualize it' to visually map the search results, providing a comprehensive visual explanation that allows simple navigation of complex relationships.
  • Copy the result: Select the copy icon to the copy the summary and its references to your clipboard.
  • Explore relevant related queries: Select any of the Go deeper links to gain further insights.

Summary with Scopus references

Save time with a quick summary for topics of interest. Scopus AI gives you a concise and trustworthy summary with academic references for each search.

Continue your search: Expanded Summary

The expanded Summary feature increases the number of perspectives on a given user query providing a more comprehensive and in-depth response.

screenshot of Expanded summary

Uncover Topic Experts

See who the experts are in your field.  Rapidly identify the leading authors based on your query alongside explanations of their relevant expertise. the feature highlights a researcher’s credentials in a given field based on his/her publication rate, impact, the recency of their contributions, and the position of their name on assigned papers.

Our responsible AI principles

1.    We consider the real-world impact of our solutions on people.
2.    We take action to prevent the creation or reinforcement of unfair bias.
3.    We can explain how our solutions work.
4.    We create accountability through human oversight.
5.    We respect privacy and champion robust data governance.

Emerging themes: Identify new & trending research opportunities

Emerging themes is a new feature that identifies and categorizes established, rising, and novel themes based on Scopus AI user queries. 

It uses a new proprietary algorithm that rapidly scans Scopus documents from the last two years and clusters them by topic. This process effectively pinpoints “white space” that you can target for publications, collaborations, and funding opportunities. 

For each identified theme, Emerging themes provides a mini-summary, references, and suggested research hypotheses. 

This feature will be valuable to a range of researchers helping them stay ahead of the curve and identify novel research areas.  

Early-Career Researchers: Rapid field orientation, inspiration for novel research ideas and efficient literature review process  

Seasoned Academics: Staying current with field developments, identifying cross-disciplinary opportunities and efficient grant proposal preparation  

Librarians: Enhanced support for researchers, improved resource curation and demonstration of evolving value in the digital age

Strengthen your AI literacy skills

Gain a deeper understanding of generative AI (GenAI) with Library Connect Academy’s GenAI Literacy Program, a self-paced professional development course for librarians.   

In three courses, you will learn: 

  • Key GenAI tools and underlying technologies 
  • Core benefits and limitations for librarians, students and faculty 
  • Best practices for using GenAI tools 
  • Top considerations for choosing GenAI tools

Library Connect Academy GenAI Literacy Program for Librarians

Get started

How does it work?

Natural language queries

You can ask questions about a subject in a natural, conversational manner. When you enter your query, you can use natural language and frame it however you’d like.

As this question is being analyzed, it will go through the Scopus AI vector search, which interprets the intent and meaning of the query. Then it will look at the last five years of Scopus abstracts to find the ones that best answer the question. Then the Large Language Model, using very strict prompt engineering, generates a response that is based on trusted Scopus knowledge, with references so you know where everything is sourced from.

Utilising the Concept Map

With Scopus AI’s Concept Map, you can visualize links between research concepts, discover connections between topics and discover untapped frontiers to explore. The tool visually maps search results, offering a comprehensive overview that allows researchers to navigate complex relationships easily. The visualization takes the keywords of the abstracts and provides a bird’s-eye view of the topic space. It shows how concepts fit together, and allows you to explore new vocabulary associated with a particular subject.

Discover Foundational Papers

Rapidly pinpoint seminal works, navigating academic progress and impact with precision and ease. Foundational Papers identifies these key papers, effectively the source from which the ideas discussed in the Summary originate, using Scopus’ citation graph technology.

Dive deeper with suggested follow-ups

Scopus AI offers relevant queries for further exploration, leading to hidden insights in various research fields.

The “Go deeper” feature considers your initial query and will suggest further queries to encourage focus on a specific aspect of a subject, take a new perspective or zoom out to a wider picture.

The “Keyword graph” feature provides a visual overview of the subject area based on your query and the associated keywords with each of our abstract.

Scopus AI Copilot

To address the need to handle specific and complex queries, the product team developed new features called Copilot. Copilot uses both keyword and vector search tools, employing more and varied types of search technology to better process specialized queries and provide more specific responses.  

Here's how Copilot works:

  • Copilot looks at the content of your query and decides whether to run a vector search and/or keyword search   
  • It then ensures complex queries are broken down into their component parts and are optimized for the search channels it has chosen to use; for example, for the keyword search it adds Boolean operators   
  • In doing so, it considers more abstracts than the previous search   

As a result of this process, Copilot can break down more complex queries into their individual components and optimize each element for either vector or keyword search. This means users can pose more complicated or multifaceted questions, and Copilot will be able to sift through the different aspects to produce the best possible results.   

Support of non-English queries  

We realize exploring a new topic area can be difficult enough if English is your first language. But if English isn’t your native language, delving into new subjects can be even more challenging. To address this issue, Copilot also includes an intelligent language layer, which can take a query in a non-English language and translate it into English, which is the language many researchers say they prefer to work in.   

Copilot improves Scopus AI in other ways, including:  

  • Automatic correcting of spelling mistakes to provide the clearest responses possible   
  • Processing of longer text queries, including full abstracts  
  • Expanding the number of search results Scopus AI provides - up from 10 in the summary and 20 in the expanded summary to a new upper limit of 30 

In line with Elsevier’s Responsible AI principles, Copilot provides a unique transparency layer that explains exactly how the tool is breaking down and optimizing your query. This is a unique feature among GenAI solutions currently on the market, and another step towards refining Scopus AI. 

Find out more

Visit our infosite to learn more

Learn more about Emerging themesjoin our webinar on November 12, 2024

On-demand webinars