Some researchers might find that there are multiple profiles on Scopus for a single author. It might be caused by:
1. Name Variations
- Scopus creates author IDs based on how your name appears in publications.
- If your papers list your name differently (e.g., “J. M. Smith,” “John M. Smith,” or “John Smith”), Scopus may think these are separate authors.
- Even small differences (middle initials, hyphens, diacritics, or order of given/family names) can trigger separate profiles.
2. Different Institutional Affliations
- If you’ve published under different universities or institutions, Scopus may sometimes assume those belong to different authors.
- Each new affiliation or email domain (e.g., @hsu.edu.hk vs. @hku.hk) could result in a separate profile.
3. Changes in Research Fields or Journals
- Scopus algorithms sometimes separate author records if publications appear in very different disciplines, assuming they are different individuals.
4. Publisher Data or Indexing Errors
- Sometimes, the metadata provided by journals to Scopus is incomplete or inconsistent (e.g., missing ORCID, wrong email, or formatting errors), which might cause the system to split your records.
5. Name Similarity with Another Researcher
- Some names, especially for Chinese names with initials, would sometimes be very similar. Scopus may mistakenly mix your work with someone else’s or create new IDs to try to avoid that mix-up.
