A Comparison of OpenAlex With Scopus and Web of Science for Tracking Scholarly Nursing Literature

Background: Researchers have traditionally used commercial databases such as Scopus and Web of Science to track scholarly literature and ascertain the impact of publications in terms of citations. In recent years, new open data sources, such as OpenAlex, have appeared, which broaden the array of too...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Mezquita, Belén, Martín-Delgado, Leandra, wennberg capellades, laia, Borrego, Ángel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12328/5142
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12328/5142
https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23779608251361012
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bibliometrics
Citation analysis
Databases
Bibliometría
Análisis de citas
Bases de datos
Bibliometria
Anàlisi de cites
Bases de dades
02
Descripción
Sumario:Background: Researchers have traditionally used commercial databases such as Scopus and Web of Science to track scholarly literature and ascertain the impact of publications in terms of citations. In recent years, new open data sources, such as OpenAlex, have appeared, which broaden the array of tools accessible for exploring academic literature. Objective: This study compares the coverage of scholarly nursing literature by OpenAlex, Scopus, and Web of Science in terms of journals, articles, and citations indexed. Methods: A list of nursing journals indexed by OpenAlex, Scopus, and Web of Science was compiled to compare the titles covered in terms of country of publication, publisher, and open access availability. Citations of nursing articles published between 2000 and 2022 in the three sources were also analyzed. Results: OpenAlex indexes nearly all the journals covered by Scopus and Web of Science, plus additional sources from countries outside the Western world. In terms of individual articles, OpenAlex indexes more citations than Scopus and Web of Science. Conclusion: OpenAlex is a comprehensive source for tracking nursing literature. Currently, its main limitation lies in the lack of a user-friendly web interface, as the need to use an API for data retrieval can complicate the search process for end users.