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Finding Doppelgängers in Scopus: how to build scientists control groups using sosia

Author

Listed:
  • Michael E. Rose

    (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition)

  • Stefano H. Baruffaldi

    (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
    Politecnico di Milano)

Abstract

The construction of control groups of scientists is often a daunting effort. This paper presents sosia, an open-source Python-based software designed to efficiently query the Scopus database via RESTful API. sosia searches for researchers with publication profiles similar to a given researcher up to a given year based on all main standard bibliometric indicators. The user can choose flexibly a set of parameters to restrict the search to more or less narrow boundaries upfront and obtain additional similarity indicators to select a subset of authors after the search. Advanced settings also allow narrowing the search to a list of affiliations and to minimize the possible errors arising from ambiguous author profiles. One basic search can be set up in a few command lines and the average time of computation goes between 60 and 300 minutes. We discuss the functioning, characteristics, limitations and possible extension of the software.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael E. Rose & Stefano H. Baruffaldi, 2025. "Finding Doppelgängers in Scopus: how to build scientists control groups using sosia," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(5), pages 3013-3028, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:130:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s11192-025-05298-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-025-05298-y
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    Keywords

    Statistical doftware; Control group; Diff-in-diff; Scopus;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C00 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - General
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics

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