New #preprint 
- Can #OpenAlex compete with #Scopus in bibliometric analysis?
https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.18427
@OpenAlex has broader coverage and shows higher correlation with certain expert assessments.
At the same time, it has issues with metadata completeness and document classification.
Most intriguingly: it turns out that raw #citation counts perform just as well, and in some cases even better, than normalized indicators, which have long been considered the standard in #scientometrics.
arXiv.orgIs OpenAlex Suitable for Research Quality Evaluation and Which Citation Indicator is Best?This article compares (1) citation analysis with OpenAlex and Scopus, testing their citation counts, document type/coverage and subject classifications and (2) three citation-based indicators: raw counts, (field and year) Normalised Citation Scores (NCS) and Normalised Log-transformed Citation Scores (NLCS). Methods (1&2): The indicators calculated from 28.6 million articles were compared through 8,704 correlations on two gold standards for 97,816 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 articles. The primary gold standard is ChatGPT scores, and the secondary is the average REF2021 expert review score for the department submitting the article. Results: (1) OpenAlex provides better citation counts than Scopus and its inclusive document classification/scope does not seem to cause substantial field normalisation problems. The broadest OpenAlex classification scheme provides the best indicators. (2) Counterintuitively, raw citation counts are at least as good as nearly all field normalised indicators, and better for single years, and NCS is better than NLCS. (1&2) There are substantial field differences. Thus, (1) OpenAlex is suitable for citation analysis in most fields and (2) the major citation-based indicators seem to work counterintuitively compared to quality judgements. Field normalisation seems ineffective because more cited fields tend to produce higher quality work, affecting interdisciplinary research or within-field topic differences.
Excited to kick-off a new project tomorrow on Understanding Misinformation and Science in Societal Debates (UnMiSSeD), supported by the European Media and Information Fund (
Read more about the project in our blog post at: 
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