Using Scopus's CiteScore for assessing the quality of computer science conferences

Abstract

Publication, hiring, promotion, tenure, and funding decisions in computer science often depend on an accurate assessment of the quality of conferences. This study reviews relevant literature and tests Scopus's CiteScore database and method for evaluating the quality of 395 conferences in the field. The study identifies 154 conferences that match the CiteScore ranges of the top quartile journals. These 154 conferences make up 30% of all 515 top quartile publication venues in computer science, confirming the notion that publishing in conference proceedings - especially top rated ones - are as important and influential as publishing in top journals. The CiteScore method as implemented here shows that it is highly effective as a benchmark to evaluate and compare publication venues in computer science. Scopus, however, needs to enhance several of its indexing practices before the CiteScore database and method can become standard tools for conference quality assessment. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.