The Scopus from RELX - indexing millions of research papers for libraries

Scopus from RELX indexes over 27,000 active serial titles and millions of peer-reviewed articles for academic and corporate libraries worldwide. Anyone holding RELX stock (NYSE: RELX, ISIN GB00B2B0DG97) should know this product.

By Nora Whitfield, ad hoc news Accessories & Components Desk. Reviewed July 08, 2026, 3:25 AM ET. Details in the imprint.

Scopus from RELX is the kind of database you notice the moment a librarian pulls it up on a wide monitor: dense lists of titles, amber-highlighted citation counts, and filters sliding open with a quiet click. One science librarian at a New York university told me that scrolling Scopus on a busy afternoon feels like steering straight through the global research stream.

What Scopus actually offers

Scopus is RELX’s large abstract and citation database, covering more than 27,000 active serial titles from over 7,000 publishers and roughly 90 million records spanning scientific, technical, medical, and social science research. The service is operated by Elsevier, RELX’s scientific publishing arm, and sold primarily as a subscription to universities, research institutes, and corporate R&D teams.

At the core, Scopus indexes peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, trade publications, book series, and patents, then connects them with citation data so users can see who cited whom and how ideas spread across disciplines. For US institutions, it competes directly with Clarivate’s Web of Science and Google Scholar, but unlike a search engine, Scopus is curated with strict inclusion criteria and active content selection committees.

Tools researchers use every day

Spend five minutes watching a PhD student in Boston using Scopus and you see the practical side: quick search for “perovskite solar cells,” then narrowing down by year, subject area, and open access status. The interface lays out results with abstracts, author names, source titles, and citation counts in a clear grid. Color-coded icons indicate document type and access rights, and the right-side pane slides open to show references and related documents.

Beyond simple search, Scopus offers author profiles that bundle publications, h-index metrics, and institutional affiliations, which becomes crucial when departments evaluate tenure cases or grant applications. There are also tools for tracking funding data, analyzing collaboration networks, and exporting citation lists directly into reference managers such as Mendeley and EndNote.

How Scopus is positioned against rivals

Scopus arrived in 2004 with the explicit goal of offering wider coverage than older citation indexes, and RELX has since expanded it across North America, Europe, and Asia. Today, its journal selection includes many regional titles and non-English publications, which resonates with US institutions building global research programs.

Compared with Web of Science, librarians often describe Scopus as broader but slightly less selective, which makes it useful for trend analysis and discovery outside a narrow set of core journals. Meanwhile, free tools like Google Scholar act as a quick entry point but lack the structured metadata and full analytics suite that institutions expect for serious bibliometrics and research evaluation.

Pricing, contracts, and the US angle

For US customers, Scopus is sold mainly on institutional subscriptions rather than individual plans. Pricing depends on factors like organization size, disciplines covered, and whether Scopus is bundled with other Elsevier platforms such as ScienceDirect and SciVal. RELX does not publish standard US list prices; instead, academic libraries negotiate multi-year agreements that can run into six or seven figures annually for large consortia.

James Smith, a digital resources manager at a midwestern university, described Scopus as “one of the big three databases we simply need to keep our faculty happy,” alongside Web of Science and full-text platforms. He notes that usage spikes at the start of each semester as graduate seminars assign literature reviews and students learn to combine Scopus filters with subject headings.

Scopus inside RELX’s business

Scopus sits within RELX’s Scientific, Technical & Medical segment, which focuses on online information and data analytics for researchers and healthcare professionals. In recent years, RELX management, led by CEO Erik Engstrom, has emphasized analytics and decision tools over print journals, and Scopus contributes by providing the data backbone for products like SciVal and research intelligence dashboards.

Scopus also supports RELX’s push into performance-based evaluation, where institutions use citation metrics, collaboration maps, and field-weighted impact scores to guide hiring or funding choices. This has drawn debate about the risks of over-relying on metrics, but it also locks Scopus into the workflow of universities and research agencies, making the product more defensible against substitutes.

Company context and stock angle

RELX is headquartered in London and operates globally across scientific publishing, legal information, and exhibitions. Scopus is one strand of its data-driven portfolio but a strategically important one for maintaining relationships with universities and research funders in the US and abroad. For investors, RELX stock (NYSE: RELX, ISIN GB00B2B0DG97) gives exposure to recurring subscription revenue from Scopus and similar information services rather than one-off print sales.

Key facts on Scopus

• Product: Scopus
• Manufacturer: RELX PLC
• Category: Accessories & components (research database)
• Launch: First introduced in 2004, with ongoing content and feature updates
• MSRP / Price: Institutional subscription pricing, negotiated; not publicly listed
• Availability: Available to universities, research institutes, corporations, and government agencies in the US and worldwide via subscription
• Target audience: Researchers, librarians, research managers, and analysts needing structured citation data and abstract-level discovery
• Standout / USP: Broad, curated coverage of global research outputs with integrated citation analytics and author profiles, designed for institutional use

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