AMSTERDAM, January 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier announced today that Scopus Custom Data, the underlying source of Scopus.com, the world's largest abstract and citation database, was chosen by Japan Science and Technology (JST) to conduct citation linkage analysis between scientific articles and patents. JST, as the funding agency for promoting innovation and providing research support to many organizations from industry and academia, selected Scopus Custom Data because it provides wider coverage and clear relations between authors and their affiliations.

According to a paper published by JST in the January edition of Journal of Information Processing and Management , an analysis of research papers cited in patents, shows the linkage between Japan's scientific articles and technology is increasing every year and enabling Japan to maintain its international competitiveness. It has also become clear that research papers written by researchers funded by JST are having greater effects on technology every year; and that JST is playing the political role of promoting the creation of innovation as a funding agency. For details of the published research paper, please refer to the website of Journal of Information Processing and Management http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/johokanri/52/10/52_601/_article/-cha... . The analysis was conducted by using the integrated search system for research papers and patents developed by JST. JST plans to introduce this system at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2010 Annual Meeting, to be held from February 18 to 22, 2010 in San Diego, USA.

Nowadays, there are needs to draw up policies for evidence-based scientific technology and innovation, and to construct systems to measure and evaluate them. JST has also began investigations toward achieving the measurement of scientific technology and innovation; and as part of those investigations, by analyzing the state of funding, research papers and patents, JST is seeing influences that return on investment and science have on technology. We selected Scopus Custom Data as the underlying database for our analysis because it provides citation information, a large amount of data, and clear relations between authors and their affiliations, commented Mari Jibu of JST's Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society.

Attention is being placed on citations in patents as a new index to measure the influence of scientific articles. JST used Scopus data for its analysis on the return on investment of science and technology policies. We are honored to be able to cooperate with JST in this way, and will continue to provide support from now on, added Niels Weertman, Director, Performance Planning and Collaboration Tools for Elsevier.

About Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)

Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) aims to establish Japan as a nation built on the creativity of science and technology and innovation, as a core organization for implementing Japan's science and technology policy in line with the objectives of the Science and Technology Basic Plan. JST's mission is to promote science and technology in Japan by conducting a broad range of activities, including the following:

* Promotion of consistent research and development from basic research to commercialization with particular emphasis on the creation of new technological seeds

* Upgrading the infrastructure for the promotion of science and technology, including dissemination of scientific and technological information

For more information, please visit http://www.jst.go.jp/EN/index.html.

About Scopus.com and Scopus Custom Data

Covering the world's research literature, Scopus.com is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources with smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from 18,000 peer-reviewed journals from more than 5,000 publishers worldwide, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage. In addition, Scopus not only offers users citation information about the articles covered, but also integrates web and patent searches directly from its clean and simple interface. Direct links to full-text articles, library resources and other applications like reference management software, make Scopus quicker, easier and more comprehensive to use than any other literature research tool. For more information about Scopus please visit http://www.info.scopus.com

Scopus Custom Data provides research agencies, institutions and government bodies with customized datasets in XML format for large-scale research performance analysis. Scopus Custom Data extracts Scopus core records in accordance to each customer's individual specifications, such as date range, subject categories and geographic location. The XML data can then be loaded by customers into their proprietary in-house systems, making it possible for them to run their specific search queries and execute their own analytical techniques; providing the analyst with the freedom to formulate their own reports. It empowers them to make well-informed, unbiased resource allocation and policy making decisions.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com) and Cell (http://www.cell.com), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (http://www.scopus.com), Reaxys (http://www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com) and Nursing Consult (http://www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (http://www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (http://www.medai.com), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier ( http://www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (http://www.reedelsevier.com), a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Media Contact: Nami Kanda Elsevier +81-35561-5069 n.kanda@elsevier.com

SOURCE: Elsevier

CONTACT: Media Contact: Nami Kanda, Elsevier, +81-35561-5069,n.kanda@elsevier.com