Searching for “how to create a Scopus Author ID” usually leads to a dead end, because a Scopus Author ID is not something a researcher requests, registers, or fills out a form to obtain. Elsevier’s Scopus database generates it automatically, by algorithm, once a researcher has two or more documents indexed in Scopus — no application, no account setup, no waiting for approval. That single fact changes what “creating” a Scopus Author ID actually means in practice: it means getting indexed, then finding the profile Scopus already built, then checking whether it’s accurate. This guide covers all three steps — how the ID gets generated in the first place, how to search for an existing profile by name, and how to fix it if the algorithm split your work across duplicate profiles or attached the wrong affiliation. For what a Scopus Author ID is and how it differs from a self-registered identifier, see the Scopus Author ID dictionary entry; for the equivalent workflow on Clarivate’s platform, see Web of Science Author Search.
Why You Can’t “Create” a Scopus Author ID the Way You Register an ORCID iD
An ORCID iD is researcher-initiated: you sign up, and the identifier exists from that moment, empty until you populate it. A Scopus Author ID works the opposite way around. Elsevier’s matching algorithm scans the metadata of newly indexed articles — author name variants, affiliation, subject classification, co-author network, citation patterns — and once it finds two or more Scopus-indexed documents it judges to belong to the same person, it generates a numeric Author ID and groups those documents under it. There is no action a researcher takes to trigger this beyond publishing work that gets indexed in Scopus. This also means the process is imperfect: because it runs on article-level signals that change over a career (a name spelled differently, an institution change, a shift into a new subject area), Elsevier’s own documentation acknowledges the algorithm can rarely match all of one person’s documents to a single profile with full accuracy. The practical result, covered in detail below, is that duplicate or split profiles are common, not an edge case.
How to Search for Your Scopus Author ID by Name
Before assuming no profile exists, search for one — most researchers with two or more Scopus-indexed publications already have at least one Author ID whether or not they know it.
- Go to Scopus Author Search. From scopus.com (a subscription is required to browse full results, but the author-search interface and preview are reachable through most institutional library access), select the “Authors” search tab rather than the default document search.
- Enter a last name and first name or initial. Searching a full first name narrows results; searching only an initial returns more candidate profiles to check, which matters if you’re not sure which name form Scopus indexed your work under.
- Add an affiliation to narrow common names. An optional affiliation field is the single most useful filter for a common surname — without it, a search can return dozens of unrelated same-named researchers.
- Review the results table. Each row is a separate Author Record showing document count, current affiliation, subject area, and (where available) an h-index. If your publication output looks split across two or more rows with overlapping subject areas or affiliation history, that’s a duplicate-profile situation, covered below.
- Open the Author Details page. Selecting a result opens that profile’s Author Details page, which lists the Scopus Author ID itself (a numeric string), the document list Scopus has attached to it, and a link to request corrections.
If a search by name and affiliation genuinely returns nothing, the most likely explanation is that you have fewer than two Scopus-indexed documents yet — Scopus does not generate a profile for a single indexed document, and self-archived preprints, non-indexed venues, and purely institutional repository deposits don’t count toward that threshold.
If You Find Multiple Profiles: Requesting a Merge
Split profiles happen often enough that Elsevier built a standing workflow for it rather than treating each case as a one-off support ticket.
- From the Author Search results list, select the checkboxes next to the duplicate profiles that belong to you (verify by document titles and co-authors before selecting — don’t merge on name similarity alone).
- Select “Request to merge authors.”
- The Author Feedback Wizard opens, displaying the combined document list from the selected profiles for review, and prompts you to confirm or select a current affiliation for the merged profile.
- Submit the request. Elsevier reviews merge requests before applying them — they are not automatic or instant, and typically take on the order of a few weeks to process.
Because the change goes through editorial review rather than applying immediately, don’t expect a merged profile to appear the same day you submit the request, and avoid submitting the same merge request repeatedly while waiting.
Correcting a Profile: The Author Feedback Wizard
The same Author Feedback Wizard used for merges also handles narrower corrections to a single profile, reachable from an Author Details page via a “request corrections” or feedback link. It supports:
- Setting a preferred name — choosing which name variant displays, when the algorithm has indexed you under more than one spelling or name order.
- Correcting current affiliation — selecting from a suggested affiliation list or specifying a different one, useful after a job change the algorithm hasn’t caught up with.
- Adding or removing documents — flagging a document that belongs to a different person with the same name (a false match) or pointing to a document that should be attached but isn’t.
As with merges, submitted changes go to Elsevier for review rather than applying instantly, and the profile won’t update until that review completes.
Linking a Scopus Author ID to an ORCID iD
A Scopus Author ID and an ORCID iD serve different purposes and it’s worth being precise about the distinction: the Scopus Author ID is Elsevier-internal and only resolves within Scopus, while an ORCID iD is researcher-registered and works across publishers, funders, and other platforms. They are not the same kind of identifier, but they can be connected — from the Author Details page (or via ORCID’s own profile settings), a researcher can authorize Scopus to push a document list to their ORCID record, and conversely display an ORCID iD on their Scopus profile. Connecting the two doesn’t merge or replace either identifier; it just lets each system reference the other, which is useful context when a profile still shows the wrong affiliation or a split document list pending Elsevier’s review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a Scopus subscription to search for my own Author ID?
Full document-level browsing in Scopus requires an institutional or personal subscription, but many universities provide this through library access. If you don’t have subscription access, Scopus preview pages and Google-indexed Author Details pages sometimes surface enough of a profile to confirm an Author ID exists, though submitting corrections through the Author Feedback Wizard typically still requires being signed in.
How long does a Scopus Author ID merge request take?
Elsevier reviews merge and correction requests manually rather than applying them automatically, and processing commonly takes on the order of a few weeks. There is no published guaranteed turnaround time.
Can two different people end up merged into one Scopus Author ID by mistake?
Yes — because matching is algorithmic and based on name/affiliation/subject-area signals, occasional false-positive merges happen for closely overlapping publication patterns. The same Author Feedback Wizard used to merge duplicates is also used to flag and remove a document that was incorrectly attached to your profile.
Does deleting or hiding a document from my Scopus profile remove it from Scopus entirely?
No. Removing a document from an Author Record only detaches it from that profile’s grouping; it does not delete the underlying indexed record from the Scopus database.
Is a Scopus Author ID the same as a Scopus EID?
No. A Scopus Author ID identifies a researcher profile; an EID (Electronic ID) identifies an individual indexed document. They’re both Scopus-internal identifiers but refer to different things.
For the underlying definition and how a Scopus Author ID compares structurally to a self-registered identifier, see the Scopus Author ID dictionary entry. For platform-level coverage and access-model differences, see Scopus vs Web of Science vs OpenAlex. For the equivalent claiming/disambiguation workflow on a different platform, see Web of Science Author Search and How to Create and Optimize a Google Scholar Profile.
