27 augustus 2006
Elsevier got me lost somewhere along the road
I actually picked up this news item from Sys-con media Monday last week, but I could not place it yet. On Tuesday it was confirmed by EContent (site was down at this moment of writing). Later another Dutch blog repeated the news as well. So there I was left with a news announcement from Elsevier on changes to Scopus, which I believed were actually taking part in Scirus.
The news or change announcements at Scirus or Scopus did not help out either. It was only at the Elsevier Website that this announcement could be tracked down to.
What changes are on the way then?
I needed some time for reflection.
What Elsevier actually announced was a choice of several repositories at the searchers disponsibility, but that had been available in Scirus, and thus Scopus, for quite some time already. So I am still looking for what is actually changing. What really confuses me is the fact that Scopus is the (costly) bibliographic/journal content, whereas Scirus is the free, excellent scientific, web search engine. The web content from Scirus is getting more important each and every day, but Scopus is really all about peer reviewed journal content. Also a class apart. A press release on added repositories and search functionality within Scopus is actually a change in Scirus and should be marketed as such. Those results are perhaps integrated in Scopus as well, but the changes do take place at Scirus, and come to Scopus as a result of that as well.
So Elsevier has two products. One is a free and an important scientific search engine. The other one will cost you some money but includes the free results from the first one. That first one, has to be improved each and every day to take on the competition with Google Scholar, or the plain vanilla Google. Scopus has a complete different profile and competitors. These two entities should be marketed as such in my opinion. Confusing press releases as the one of last Monday do not really help.
Perhaps the real news was in the fact that Wageningen Yield, the repository from our University/Research Center, will become available to Scirus, and thus Scopus as well. That’s why Mr. krekels was quoted. I think.
Technorati links: scirus; scopus; Elsevier; Way; Wageningen Yield
The news or change announcements at Scirus or Scopus did not help out either. It was only at the Elsevier Website that this announcement could be tracked down to.
What changes are on the way then?
I needed some time for reflection.
What Elsevier actually announced was a choice of several repositories at the searchers disponsibility, but that had been available in Scirus, and thus Scopus, for quite some time already. So I am still looking for what is actually changing. What really confuses me is the fact that Scopus is the (costly) bibliographic/journal content, whereas Scirus is the free, excellent scientific, web search engine. The web content from Scirus is getting more important each and every day, but Scopus is really all about peer reviewed journal content. Also a class apart. A press release on added repositories and search functionality within Scopus is actually a change in Scirus and should be marketed as such. Those results are perhaps integrated in Scopus as well, but the changes do take place at Scirus, and come to Scopus as a result of that as well.
So Elsevier has two products. One is a free and an important scientific search engine. The other one will cost you some money but includes the free results from the first one. That first one, has to be improved each and every day to take on the competition with Google Scholar, or the plain vanilla Google. Scopus has a complete different profile and competitors. These two entities should be marketed as such in my opinion. Confusing press releases as the one of last Monday do not really help.
Perhaps the real news was in the fact that Wageningen Yield, the repository from our University/Research Center, will become available to Scirus, and thus Scopus as well. That’s why Mr. krekels was quoted. I think.
Technorati links: scirus; scopus; Elsevier; Way; Wageningen Yield
