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This study presents the first large-scale comparison between OpenAlex and Scopus, based on the journal classification system of Italy\u2019s National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR). Using a data set of 23,304 classified journals, we compare the two databases in terms of coverage, language diversity, journal quality, and overlap. Our results show that OpenAlex indexes a substantially higher proportion of journals (66.9% vs 48.2%), includes more top-tier journals (81.9% vs 68.5%), and offers broader language inclusivity \u2013 particularly for French, Spanish, and German publications. However, unlike Scopus, OpenAlex does not apply editorial quality control mechanisms. We conclude by discussing the trade-offs between coverage and selectivity, and offer practical implications for the use of bibliometric data in SSH research assessment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/01655515251411204","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]],"date-time":"2026-01-24T16:42:02Z","timestamp":1769272922000},"page":"1200-1212","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Beyond traditional metrics: Assessing OpenAlex and Scopus for SSH research evaluation"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"52","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1926-8317","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tindaro","family":"Cicero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering and Science, Universitas Mercatorum, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2448-5220","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Scipione","family":"Sarlo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Agency for the Evaluations of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR), Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/JD-07-2018-0108"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/520429a"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_4_4_2","first-page":"1","article-title":"A criteria-based assessment of the coverage of Scopus and Web of Science","volume":"4","author":"Aksnes DW","year":"2019","unstructured":"Aksnes DW, Sivertsen G. 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