An affordable way to read scientific articles launched today on Nature Publishing Group (NPG) journals, as NPG and Labtiva opened to the public a pilot of the ReadCube Access program for inexpensive single-click purchases and two-day rentals.

The program helps researchers, doctors, journalists, and the wider public who do not already hold subscriptions gain access to articles in high-impact scientific journals, including Nature and the Nature research journals.

“No one I know has complete access to all the academic literature needed—not even fellow researchers at Harvard,” says Siniša Hrvatin, a biology Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University.

This realization led Hrvatin and his fellow alumnus Robert McGrath to found Labtiva, a software company focused on helping scientists discover, organize, and read peer-reviewed literature.

“We wanted to make research in all journals readily accessible, which meant finding a practical way to reduce the price,” says McGrath. “ReadCube Access evolved as a way to read those articles immediately and inexpensively.”

Articles read by clicking the ReadCube Access icon on nature.com pages cost between $5 and $11, compared to the $32 pay-per-view fee. A 48-hour rental costs between $3 and $5.

“We are committed to continued innovation and experimentation with new channels and pricing models. Our goal as a scientific publisher is to sustainably bring affordable access to high quality scientific literature to the widest possible audience,” says Steven Inchcoombe, Managing Director of NPG. “ReadCube Access coexists alongside our existing HTML full-text, PDF and app access options. We will be interested to see the uptake of this convenient format and price: whether by scientists on the go or checking for relevance; or by those in industry, patients and science-interested citizens.”

Purchased articles open in the ReadCube app, which works on PCs, Macs, and within any desktop web browser. The app makes PDFs interactive with annotation tools, clickable citations, compatibility with common reference managers, simultaneous download of supplemental data, and links to subsequent citations and online discussions of the article. An article accessed through ReadCube Access may not be printed or shared, but can be read offline.

At this time, the ReadCube Access button is present on articles in Nature and 18 Nature research journals. Articles in all NPG journals are available at the same discount using the ReadCube desktop app.

Hrvatin and McGrath say more publishers, both in the natural sciences and humanities, plan to adopt ReadCube Access.

“These publishers want to reach non-subscribers without jeopardizing existing academic relationships,” says Hrvatin. “We are working together with publishers to customize pay-per-article options including pricing, printing or sharing to their individual needs and the needs of their readers.”

Research institutions, like individuals, can use ReadCube Access to supplement subscription holdings. In a trial program underway at the University of Utah, researchers can access articles from more than 50 NPG journals that were previously not fully accessible. Payments are deducted from a central fund, managed by the library.

For more information, visit www.readcube.com/Access.

Utica College has chosen eBooks on EBSCOhost® from EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) to grow its e-book collection. The college was looking to expand its electronic collection and although they looked at other e-book vendors, the site’s familiarity and positive experience with EBSCOhost databases as well the benefits of EBSCO’s Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) Program convinced Utica College that eBooks on EBSCOhost was the right fit.

Utica College has been an EBSCOhost customer for many years so when looking to enhance its eBook collection, Jan Malcheski, coordinator of electronic resources at Utica College, says librarians believed that an easy transition to something familiar was an important factor. “We use and like EBSCOhost databases for our most heavily used courses of study — a familiar platform for our students was a key factor in a very competitive field.”

Functionality is another important factor when choosing an e-book platform. Creating an e-book experience that is easy to use and efficient was a priority for EBSCO when developing the interface. A dedicated landing page with Advanced Search Options, Browsing Options and Search History are some of the features that make the search experience successful. Malcheski also credits the functionality of the e-book carousels as a feature that impressed them. “The eBooks on EBSCOhost default interface that scrolls by covers is very attractive and (we think, anecdotally) encourages browsing”.

To help libraries build a collection with guaranteed usage, EBSCO offers a Patron Driven Acquisition program. A title on the PDA list is triggered for purchase when a patron directly accesses the title, guaranteeing that only those titles with significant usage are purchased. According to Malcheski, this was instrumental in Utica College’s decision to purchase eBooks on EBSCOhost. “Offering abundant PDA titles while not incurring any costs until triggered by genuine use is a major ‘selling’ point in budgeting. PDA represents an ideal low-risk investment for use of library resources.”

eBooks on EBSCOhost® offers more than 350,000 e-books and audiobooks that are available for purchase on an individual basis as well as in Subject Sets, Featured Collections and Custom Collections with a growing number of purchase, lease and subscription options as well as patron driven options. eBooks on EBSCOhost represents a deep collection of e-book content that is accessible via a variety of devices. EBSCO proactively acquires new content in critical areas, based on the dynamic needs of libraries. Accessing the EBSCOhost platform for e-books and audiobooks saves librarians training time and adds a well-known search platform to the end user’s experience. Allowing end users to search for e-books and audiobooks along with their EBSCOhost database content improves the discoverability of library collections. Lowering the cost for libraries makes the decision to focus on or add to e-book and audiobook collections easier and more cost-effective.

Swets continues to raise the bar on electronic usage analysis with one point access to 190+ platforms

Earlier today Swets announced an extension in the capability of selection management tool, SwetsWise Selection Support, to now connect with over 190 platforms for automated usage harvesting.  This is the latest update to the leading ROI tool that offers COUNTER compliant reports including price, price per use and impact factor.

“The ability to access 190 platforms through SwetsWise Selection Support provides customers with all-inclusive information on a much larger scale than what competitors are offering in the market today,”stated Debbie Dore, Swets Chief Commercial Officer.   “Swets is proud to provide libraries with technology that provides the most comprehensive information they need to evaluate their collections, make informed decisions, and increase efficiency.” 

The tool is all encompassing; usage can be collected whether you purchase the content from Swets or elsewhere. It can be collected whether or not the platform is SUSHI enabled. And it can be collected from both COUNTER and non-COUNTER platforms. Swets understands that customers want to easily consolidate usage from their collection and the need is not always cut-and-dry. As such, we have worked around the limitations seen with many other tools.

Access to over 190 platforms eliminates the need for time consuming manual collection and affords libraries the time and resources to focus on a more complete evaluation of their collections.

ProQuest is boosting the visibility of e-books in library collections by providing for the full text of an additional 400,000 e-books to be discovered and accessed as part of a broad search of library holdings. The initiative to improve e-book visibility began in early 2011 when Serials Solutions pioneered indexing of the contents of the HathiTrust collection in its Summon® discovery service. Just months later, ProQuest debuted the first full-text indexing of ebrary’s popular collection of e-books. Now, ProQuest expands that effort with virtually every title in ebrary’s collection richly indexed in the Summon service and discoverable from the “front door” of the library.

“Our 2011 Global Student E-book Survey identified discovery as an area of the e-book experience that could be substantially improved,” said Kurt Sanford, ProQuest CEO. “More than 47 percent of respondents reported that they aren’t using e-books because they don’t know where to find them. With all of ebrary’s titles indexed within Summon, researchers and faculty can now more efficiently discover them, enabling the library to earn more value from its e-book collection.”

The Summon service searches more full text than any other discovery service, exposing researchers to content in collections that might otherwise remain buried. Summon searches across all of a library’s ebrary products, encompassing titles acquired through subscription, patron driven acquisition, short-term loan, and perpetual archive models. As a result, strategic acquisition can occur within the ebrary platform but can start from the library’s point of discovery, dramatically streamlining ordering and precisely tuning the library’s holdings to users’ needs.

“ProQuest is committed to pioneering technology and business models that empower libraries to get more from their content investments and deliver the best research experience for their users,” said Mr. Sanford. “Combining the expertise across the ProQuest enterprise with deep understanding of our customers needs, we intend to continually remove obstacles between people and information, advancing knowledge around the world.”

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) has recently launched its Registry (http://orcid.org), where researchers can differentiate themselves by creating a unique personal identifier.

The ORCID Registry has been engineered by Semantico. The technical solution uses an API-driven service-oriented architecture, and is being developed using an agile, iterative process.

Interoperability is critical, so the system has been designed to enhance the scientific discovery process and improve the efficiency of research funding and collaboration within the research community. Thomson Reuters has provided ORCID with a perpetual license and royalty free use of ResearcherID source code giving ORCID the critical technology to create its system.

The system as launched provides a switchboard for linking with other existing researcher identifier systems. Elsevier is providing a way for researchers to link their Scopus Author IDs to ORCID and synchronize their publication information between the two systems. Thomson Reuters’ ResearcherID® will link to ORCID and allow researchers to synchronize their publication information. In addition to manuscript tracking systems and vendors including Nature Publishing Group, Hindawi Publishing Corportation, Copernicus, Aries, Scholar One, and eJournal Press, several research information system providers have integrated ORCID identifiers, including AVEDAS, figshare, KNODE, Faculty of 1000, and ImpactStory. Through its affiliate ORCID EU, ORCID is working with DataCite to link ORCID identifiers with research datasets.

“ORCID addresses a problem shared by individuals and organizations across the research community: reliably connecting research with researchers,” said Laure Haak, Executive Director of the non-profit ORCID organization. “But ORCID is more than a Registry, it is a community effort to embed these identifiers in research workflows. ORCID iDs will be as important as the DOI; every researcher funder, publisher, and research organization, will engage with the system over time.”

“We are very pleased to see this project go live” said Richard Padley, Managing Director of Semantico. “Semantico has an excellent track record in building software for the scholarly community, and this major project will further cement Semantico’s reputation as an expert in the scholarly publishing sector.”