Turkish higher education council adopts Scopus
Elsevier and the Council of Higher Education of Türkiye (Yükseköğretim Kurulu, YÖK) have announced that YÖK will adopt Scopus as its official database for monitoring and evaluating research publications, effective from 2026.
Under the new framework, Scopus will replace the index previously used in Türkiye’s national academic performance assessments. The partners say the move marks a shift toward a more comprehensive, transparent, and internationally aligned approach to research evaluation, supporting YÖK’s broader ambition to strengthen the global visibility and competitiveness of Turkish higher education.
The decision is said to reflect YÖK’s commitment to assessing research performance against internationally recognised benchmarks. Scopus is the exclusive source of bibliometric data for the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and related analyses, and has been used by the QS World University Rankings for its research indicators for more than a decade.
Commenting on the change, Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar, President of YÖK, said: “Enhancing the national and international competitiveness of our universities is one of the most important missions of the Council of Higher Education. In particular, it is gratifying to see our research universities rise in global rankings. As of 2026, Scopus will be used in monitoring and evaluation processes.”
Floortje Flippo, Regional Vice President, RI & Engineering Solutions Sales, at Elsevier, added: “We are honored that YÖK has selected Scopus to support its national research evaluation framework. This decision underscores the trust placed in Scopus’s high-quality data and analytics to help institutions understand research performance and identify opportunities for improvement. We look forward to working alongside Türkiye’s higher education community to support their ambitions on the global stage.”