Scopus and the Web of Science have been the foundation for research in the science of science even though these traditional databases systematically underrepresent certain disciplines and world regions. In response, new inclusive databases, notably OpenAlex, have emerged. While many studies have begun using OpenAlex as a data source, few critically assess its limitations. This study, conducted in collaboration with the OpenAlex team, addresses this gap by comparing OpenAlex to Scopus across a number of dimensions. The analysis concludes that OpenAlex is a superset of Scopus and can be a reliable alternative for some analyses, particularly at the country level. Despite this, issues of metadata accuracy and completeness show that additional research is needed to fully comprehend and address OpenAlex's limitations. Doing so will be necessary to confidently use OpenAlex across a wider set of analyses, including those that are not at all possible with more constrained databases.

翻译：Scopus和Web of Science一直是科学学研究的基石，尽管这些传统数据库系统性地低估了某些学科和世界区域。为应对这一问题，新的包容性数据库，尤其是OpenAlex，应运而生。尽管许多研究已开始将OpenAlex作为数据源，但鲜有研究对其局限性进行批判性评估。本研究与OpenAlex团队合作，通过从多个维度比较OpenAlex与Scopus，填补了这一空白。分析表明，OpenAlex是Scopus的超集，可成为某些分析（尤其是国家层面分析）的可靠替代方案。尽管如此，元数据的准确性和完整性问题表明，仍需进一步研究以充分理解和解决OpenAlex的局限性。为解决这些问题，才能更广泛地运用OpenAlex进行分析，包括那些使用更受限数据库完全无法实现的分析。