Preferences: Scopus
Preference settings for the Scopus data source
NOTE: This dialog box was restricted from Publish or Perish 6.36 to prevent abuse. Communication with this data source uses preset defaults for most settings from this release onward.
This dialog box appears when you choose the Tools > Preferences command from the main menu and go to the Scopus tab. It allows you to edit a number of settings that affect the way Publish or Perish deals with queries to Scopus.
Note: The options in this dialog box are intended for users who are familiar with data sources such as Scopus and client-server communication using the HTTP[S] protocol. If you are not, then you are strongly advised to leave these options at their default values unless specifically instructed otherwise.
General
This box contains general options relating to the way Publish or Perish issues queries to Scopus.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Query URL | Enter the URL that Publish or Perish should use to perform Scopus queries. |
| User-Agent string |
Set the HTTP User-Agent string that Publish or Perish uses to identify itself to Scopus. See User-Agent string syntax for details. |
| API key |
Enter the Scopus API key that Publish or Perish should use when submitting queries to the Scopus server. See Scopus API key for information about obtaining a (free) key if you don't have one already. |
| Request key | Click this button to open the Scopus API key dialog box in order to request a Scopus subscription key. |
Request rate limiter
This box contains options that determine how Publish or Perish limits the rate at which requests are sent to Scopus.
Requests are related to queries but are not the same:
- Each query translates to one or more requests for results that are potentially sent to Scopus. Currently, each request returns up to 100 results, so a single query that returns, say, 350 results in all requires 4 individual requests (3 x 100 full + 1 x 50 partial).
- A request may be satisfied from Publish or Perish's own cache, in which case the request is not sent to Scopus (unless you use Lookup Direct).
- If you sent too many requests to Scopus or if the requests follow each other too quickly, Scopus may block further requests.
The request rate limiter options help you to keep the number of requests sent to Scopus down to acceptable levels.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of results per query |
Enter the maximum number of results that Publish or Perish should retrieve for each query. Scopus has no preset limit of its own, but you can set a reasonable maximum if you are only interested in the most relevant results for each query. This also reduces the total number of requests that Publish or Perish sends to Scopus. |
| Maximum request rate <n> requests/minute |
Enter the maximum number of requests per minute that Publish or Perish should send to Scopus. This is a short-term limit and only takes into account the request rate over the past 60 seconds. If this limit is exceeded, then Publish or Perish will delay sending the next request until the request rate has fallen below the maximum that is set here. |
| Use adaptive request rate | Check this box to slow down the request rate when Publish or Perish detects that the request rate approaches certain preset limits; clear this box to keep sending requests at the maximum rate. We recommend that you leave this option checked. |
| Show request rate warnings | Check this box to display warnings when Publish or Perish detects that the request rate approaches certain preset limits; clear this box to suppress those warnings. We recommend that you leave this option checked. |
| Show Yellow warning if rate exceeds <n> requests/hour |
Enter the threshold for "Yellow" query rate warnings. This is a medium-term limit and takes into account the request rate over the past hour. The actual limit is an empirical value based on the Scopus subscription query rates; we recommend setting this option to 1500 or less. This option is used for two purposes:
|
| Show Red warning if rate exceeds <n> requests/hour |
Enter the threshold for "Red" query rate warnings. This is a medium-term limit and takes into account the request rate over the past hour. The actual limit is an empirical value based on the Scopus subscription query rates; we recommend setting this option to 1800 or less. This option is used for two purposes:
|
| Keep cached results for <n> days |
Enter the number of days to keep the query results from queries. The longer this period, the fewer accesses are required to satisfy repeated queries. Any updates in the query results only become visible after the cache period has expired, so you don't want to make this period too long. |
Other options
The following additional options are available in the form of push buttons:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Reset to defaults |
Click this button to reset all fields to their "factory" defaults. This is useful if you have made changes, but decide to start from a known base again. Note: The API key field is not reset by this command. |
| Clear the cache | Click this button to clear the entire results cache. This forces subsequent queries to access Scopus directly, which might be useful after a (suspected) update on Scopus, or if you have reason to believe that the cached results are somehow invalid. |
| Show statistics | Click this button to open the Data provider information dialog box with current statistics and settings for the underlying data provider (i.e., Scopus). |
Copyright © 2022 David Adams. All rights reserved. Page last modified on Thu 2 Jun 2022 11:25
Web master of Harzing.com and developer of the Publish or Perish software, among other things. He holds BSc and MSc degrees in Electrical Engineering, a PhD in Operations Research, and likes to watch academic life from a safe distance.
