The March 2012 release of Scopus includes a redesigned document details page that enhances usability with improved visual hierarchy and more prominent links. Key updates also feature the replacement of tabbed navigation with links, new citation metrics display, and the introduction of the Lipid Structures application for mining lipid references. Additional UI improvements provide a cleaner appearance and streamlined search history functionality.

1. Scopus March 2012 release overview:
New Document Details Pages, Interoperability with Hub,
Lipid Structures (beta), etc.
Michael Habib, M.S.L.S.
Product Manager, Scopus
habib@elsevier.com

2. OLD The Document Details page in Scopus was in need of a UI overhaul.
Inspired by the redesign of the ScienceDirect Article page and the
Article of the Future, we developed our own prototype and usability
tested which elements to transfer to Scopus.

3. NEW The redesigned page improves usability through creating a clearer visual
hierarchy that makes the most important information easier to scan.
Improved fonts make reading the abstract easier and links to full
text are now more prominent.
NOTE: PubMed IDs now
link to corresponding
records on PubMed

4. Probably the most significant change is the
replacement of the tabs on the results
page, with links.
Web and Patent tabs have been replaced with links that open SciVerse
Hub in a new window to display results. A couple key improvements:
•The links only appear if results are available
•The number of results now displays
•Hub offers additional refine options to help continue one’s search
•Hub collapses different versions of the same document into one result
•Hub has improved relevancy ranking
The More tab is now replaced with a link to View secondary documents.
This works exactly the same as the More tab used to.
NOTE: All links that used to go to the tab’s now open
Hub in a new window:
•Other citing sources links on Document details pages
•Web link on the Author details pages
•Web + Patent links on the Affiliation details pages

5. NEW A host of subtle UI improvements were introduced
throughout Scopus. The most obvious changes are on the
Document search form (Homepage).
As with the Document Details
page redesign, improving the
visual hierarchy was the
primary goal of the updates.
The Search box is now more
prominent and it is clearer that
the Limit to section is in
reference to the search.
Spacing and alignment has been
updated to ensure a cleaner
appearance.
Search history interface has been
streamlined.
Note: Similar updates in alignment
were also made on the Author
search tab

6. OLD
For comparison, here is what the
old one looked like.

7. The Citations section on Author
Details pages now displays both
the number of citing
documents and the total
number of citations received.
Before, the number of citing
documents was the only one
there, which made counts appear
lower than they were.
The total citations count is still
available in the Citation Overview
tool.
Note: Terminology to describe
Citations and Cited by has been
standardized on the Results page
as well.

8. All QuickBib styles have been
updated to the most recent
editions.

9. The Journal Metrics section of the
Source title details page has been
updated.
A brief description of the metrics
is now included. Additionally links
to journalmetrics.com and
SciMago (SJR) and CWTS (SNIP)
sites have been added.

10. The most recent SciVerse Application that has been added as a
default to Scopus is Lipid Structures (beta), which was made
in collaboration with the LIPID MAPS consortium.
Every time a Document details page is loaded, theapp text
mines for mentions of lipids. Once found it converts them
into hyperlinks and creates a summary in the sidebar.

11. Clicking that hyperlink opens the
app in canvas view and displays
information, links, and tools from
the
LIPID MAPS Structures database.
Like the
PANGAEA Related Data app, this
is an excellent example of how
the SciVerse Applications
framework can be used to
support the needs of specific sub-
disciplines.

12. A new SciVerse Application that
is optional to add, is the
Co-Author Explorer by
Keming Labs. This creates a
visualization of co-author
relationships based on recent
publications.

13. Small UI changes were also made throughout
Scopus. For example:
•In the main menu, My alerts and My settings
are now simply Alerts and Settings.
•The visual design of the Settings page has
been updated.
•Document Download Manager icons and links
have removed reference PDFs because it is
only for available PDFs.

14. Scopus March 2012 release overview:
New Document Details Pages, Interoperability with Hub,
Lipid Structures (beta), etc.
Michael Habib, M.S.L.S.
Product Manager, Scopus
habib@elsevier.com