C Indicator Crosswalk Across Databases

This appendix maps common bibliometric indicators to the data sources and tools that support them. Use it to choose the right source for your analysis.

C.1 Publication-level indicators

Indicator OpenAlex Web of Science Scopus Dimensions Chapter
Citation count Y Y Y Y 9–10
Field-normalised citations (MNCS) Compute CNCI (built-in) FWCI (built-in) FCR (built-in) 13
PP(top 10%) Compute Compute Compute Compute 10
Open access status Y Y Y Y 27
Funding acknowledgements Y (partial) Y Y Y 30
Abstract text Y Y Y Y 21–25
References list Y Y Y Y 16
Author affiliations Y Y Y Y 12–13

C.2 Author-level indicators

Indicator OpenAlex Web of Science Scopus Dimensions Chapter
h-index Compute Y Y Compute 10, 12
Publication count Y Y Y Y 12
ORCID integration Y Y Y Y 12
Co-author network Compute Compute Compute Compute 15

C.3 Journal-level indicators

Indicator OpenAlex Web of Science Scopus Chapter
Journal Impact Factor Y 11
CiteScore Y 11
SNIP Y 11
SJR Y 11
Article volume Y Y Y 11
Citation distribution Compute Compute Compute 11

C.4 Institution-level indicators

Indicator OpenAlex Leiden Ranking Web of Science Scopus Chapter
Publication counts (full/fractional) Compute Y Compute Compute 13
MNCS / FWCI Compute Y CNCI FWCI 13
PP(top 10%) Compute Y Compute Compute 13
Collaboration rates Compute Y Compute Compute 15
Subject profile Y Y Y Y 19

C.5 Network indicators

Indicator Data needed Source Chapter
Co-authorship strength Author pairs per paper Any 15
Bibliographic coupling Reference lists OpenAlex, WoS, Scopus 16
Co-citation Citing documents OpenAlex, WoS, Scopus 16
Keyword co-occurrence Keywords/topics Any 17
Betweenness centrality Network graph Computed 15
Community structure Network graph Computed 18

C.6 Notes

  • “Y” = available directly from the data source.
  • “Compute” = the raw data is available but the indicator must be calculated.
  • “—” = not available from that source.
  • OpenAlex is the only fully free and open source in this table. Web of Science and Scopus require institutional subscriptions. Dimensions offers a free tier with limited functionality.
  • Field normalisation always requires reference values. When a source does not provide them natively, you can compute them from the full corpus using the method in Chapter 13.
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