Compared with other material performances, magnetic properties
are more closely related to the electronic structure and sensitive
to the material composition. To date, no unified approach has been
reported to understand the complicated influence of composition on
a material’s magnetic properties. As one of the two most representative
permanent magnetic systems, Sm-Co-based materials have been developed
in terms of composition design mainly by empirical exploration. Taking
advantage of a unique home-built Materials Genome Initiative database
of Sm-Co systems, this work reports a data-driven material development
that aims at high saturation magnetization, along with excellent comprehensive
magnetic performance. A novel method using a unified “indicator”
capable of precisely evaluating effects of doping elements on saturation
magnetization was developed, and the priority of possible elements
was predicted by extending the screening of elements to the periodic
table, from which some elements that have never been tried in magnetic
materials are discovered. By this approach, a top level of saturation
magnetization was achieved in a series of prepared stoichiometric
Sm-Co-based alloys, which also have high coercivity and high remanence
in the same system. The strategy proposed here will be applicable
on doping element selections for a large variety of material property
modulations.