Metadata fields in Web of Science, Scopus, Dimensions and OpenAlex Databases: An exploratory analysis of the possibilities and ease of doing scientometric analyses

The various multidisciplinary and subject-specific scholarly databases have been the prime source of data for information retrieval and STI-related studies.Traditionally, Web of Science and Scopus have been popular choices of researchers.However, during the last few years, several new scholarly databases have been created, such as Dimensions, OpenAlex etc. Several studies have shown that coverage and data fields provided by these databases decide, to a large extent, the kind and scale of analysis that can be performed using these databases.However, there is a need for an updated study that includes the newer databases and focuses more on the availability of different metadata fields.This work is a step ahead as it provides a detailed comparative analysis of the research metadata fields provided by Web of Science, Scopus, Dimensions and OpenAlex databases.The analysis helps understand the possibilities and ease of scientometric analysis using these databases.Valuable results are obtained, and practical suggestions are provided for scientometric researchers, practitioners, and database managers.