Safari Books Online’s Safari To Go Apps for iOS and Android Now Available

July 30, 2012

Safari To Go Apps Make it Easy for Subscribers to Access Their Learning Library on the Go!

Safari® Books Online (www.safaribooksonline.com), the on-demand digital learning library for technology, digital media and business professionals, today announced their next generation Safari To Go apps which are free apps designed specifically for Apple and Android phone and tablet users.

The new apps are more than “mobile-ready” versions of Safari Books Online – they allow users to consume and manage content, navigating in a familiar and comfortable environment, from their mobile device of choice. The Safari To Go apps make learning on the go convenient and easy by giving users the ability to pick up where they left off from any Safari Books Online reading platform. This means that a user can access Safari Books Online, begin a reading session from a PC and easily pick up where they left off from their iPhone, iPad, Android phone or Android tablet device.

The Safari To Go apps can be downloaded from the Apple App store and from Google Play for Android device owners.

Safari To Go iOS and Android apps provide the following:

Offline Bookbag capacity increased to allow the download of 3 books for reading without an Internet connection
Synched Recent Views, Bookmarks & Folders across all devices used to access Safari Books Online
3G & 4G optimized for faster load times and smaller data overhead
Adaptive Bitrate Streaming for optimal video playback based on available bandwidth
Updated User Interface making navigation of folders, content and searches a breeze
New “Browse” encourages discovery of books & videos across a broad range of categories and interests
Grouped Bookmarks by title create better organization of key materials
Smart Lists allow for saving of a search and following new titles that match the search results (which automatically update as new titles are added to the library)

“We’re really excited to unveil the long awaited iPhone, Android phone and Android Tablet Apps in addition to a re-designed iPad app,” said Bill Levien, Mobile Product Manager, Safari Books Online. “We wanted users to be able to quickly find the content they care about when they only have a precious few moments to get in some reading. We also wanted to create a comfortable reading experience for those marathon reading sessions and ensure synchronization between devices to allow users to quickly pick up where they left off, regardless of which of their devices is being used to access Safari Books Online.”

Appointment of Linda S. Sanford as a non-executive director

July 30, 2012

Reed Elsevier announced today the appointment of Linda S. Sanford as a member of the Supervisory Board of Reed Elsevier NV (RENV) with effect from 4 December 2012, subject to shareholder approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting of RENV to be held later in the year, and as a non-executive director of Reed Elsevier PLC from the same date. She will also be appointed a non-executive director of Reed Elsevier Group plc.

A US citizen with a strong technology background, Ms Sanford is currently the Senior Vice President, Enterprise Transformation, IBM Corporation – a provider of information technology (IT) products and services worldwide – for whom she has worked since 1975. Ms Sanford has been a non-executive director of ITT Corporation – a New York Stock Exchange listed company leading in the manufacture of highly engineered components and customised solutions for the energy infrastructure, electronics, aerospace and transportation industries – since 1998. She is also a member of several educational and non-profit boards.

Anthony Habgood, Chairman, said:

“I would like to welcome Linda to Reed Elsevier. With over 35 years’ service as a global executive in technology businesses and in particular with her experience in leveraging technology to achieve business transformation, she will be a valuable addition to our Boards. Linda’s appointment is part of Reed Elsevier’s ongoing succession process and I look forward to her joining us later this year.”

There are no additional Directorships to disclose in respect of paragraph 9.6.13R (1) and no details to disclose in respect of paragraph 9.6.13R (2) to (6) of the Listing Rules.

Thomson Reuters – Intellectual Property & Science division to host SciELO database on the Web of Knowledge platform

July 30, 2012

The Intellectual Property & Science division of Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced it has partnered with Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) to host the SciELO database on Web of Knowledge^SM, the world’s most powerful search and discovery platform.

This partnership will help bring greater visibility and improved access to research from emerging economies, particularly Latin America, the Caribbean, South Africa, and developed Latin-language areas including Spain and Portugal. The SciELO database will be integrated into Web of Knowledge, enabling researchers to review and analyze relevant regional content alongside top-tier international literature.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with SciELO. This will not only enhance the reach of the important research taking place in Spanish-speaking developing countries, but it will also bring new depth to our own data,” said Keith MacGregor, executive vice president at Thomson Reuters. “Researchers around the world will gain new insights into the impact of the works emanating from these regions.”

Currently, SciELO publishes about 40 thousand new articles every year from over 900 open access journals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Venezuela. The addition of SciELO to Web of Knowledge will follow a similar model to that of the Chinese Science Citation Database, which has been hosted on Web of Knowledge since 2008. Both databases are part of Thomson Reuters, to spotlight regionally relevant scholarly literature and identify influential authors and research within rapidly developing research centers.

“Supported by the Brazilian fund agency São Paulo Research Foundation, (FAPESP) since its inception in 1998, SciELO is one of the earliest initiatives to provide open access to the scientific literature. The agreement with Web of Knowledge opens new horizons in SCIELO’s mission to enhance the visibility of the science done in Latin America, Spain and Portugal,” said Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, scientific director of FAPESP.

“It’s our mission to overcome the distribution and dissemination barriers that scientific journals from developing countries face by increasing the accessibility of locally generated scientific information,” said Abel Packer, SciELO Coordinator. “Giving research in Latin America and other developing areas increased prominence within Web of Knowledge means that the contributions of our researchers will be a more visible part of the global scientific discourse.”

Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge provides access to the world’s largest citation databases, covering over 100 years of research in more than 24,000 of the highest impact journals from around the world, as well as thousands of academic conference proceedings and scholarly books. For more information about Web of Knowledge, please visit: http://wokinfo.com/.

JISC and Wellcome Trust to support universities with new open access demands

July 30, 2012

The recent Finch report said that universities will have to be increasingly efficient in the way they pay for open access publishing in the form of article processing charges (APCs).

Responding to the recommendation, new work funded by JISC and the Wellcome Trust on behalf of the Open Access Implementation Group (OAIG) will look at how we can help universities manage the charges efficiently and also what role an intermediary might play in making the process work smoothly.

The new study will build on the OAIG’s earlier findings:

Firstly, research by JISC Collections on behalf of the OAIG has shown that many hybrid journal publishers, research institutions and funders have not yet developed efficient back office systems to manage open access payments. This can sometimes lead to lengthy delays and other administrative problems.
Secondly, OAIG members and publishers have together highlighted the potential role for suitable intermediaries in providing support and services. These intermediaries could help avoid ‘doubling up’ of back-office systems and make it easier to reconcile data for both publishers and funders.

Neil Jacobs, programme director at JISC, said: “This work will be an important step forward in helping universities and other research organisations prepare for open access publishing. We envisage that an intermediary role might help publishers, funders and research organisations by reducing transaction costs, speeding up payment of APCs and ensuring an efficient and competitive market in Gold OA.”

The deadline for proposals – which should be sent to David Carr – is 5pm on 31 July 2012 and we will be able to share more after the work has been completed in the Autumn.

Increased Impact Factors for Maney’s Materials Science and Engineering titles

July 30, 2012

Following the release of the 2011 Journal of Citation Reports (JCR) from Thomson Reuters, a compilation of bibliometric data for journals indexed in Science Citation Index, Maney Publishing is pleased to announce impressive progress across its materials science and engineering list.

Maney’s materials science and engineering collection achieved an average increase in impact factor of 13% and also increased total citations, indicating the high quality and continuing relevance of the content; many journals have citation half-lives in excess of 10 years. These data confirm the established position of Maney’s journals within the materials science and engineering discipline.

Highlights from the 2011 report include:

International Materials Reviews
IMR now has an impact factor of 6.96, an increase of 21% relative to 2010, and now ranks 15th out of 231 in the list of all multidisciplinary materials journals.

Science and Technology of Welding and Joining:
With an impact factor of 1.73, STWJ is the premier journal devoted to welding and joining and now ranks 6th out of 75 in the list of all metallurgy and metallurgical engineering journals.

Surface Engineering:
Increasing to 0.93, Surface Engineering displays a notable improvement in impact factor.

Transactions of the Institute of Metal Finishing:
The journal now ranks 15th out of 75 and is in the top quartile of the metallurgy and metallurgical engineering category.

Professor Philip Withers, the UK Editor of IMR, comments: ‘The improved position of International Materials Reviews reflects the focus of the Editorial Board on identifying and commissioning authors capable of providing seminal assessments on important topics in materials science. I am pleased to note that in attracting more than 60 citations per paper these reviews also stand the test of time (with a citation half-life of over 10 years).’

Mark Hull, Publishing Manager, Materials Science, comments: ‘These developments are a testament to the commitment of Maney’s editors and referees, supported by our partner societies, to enhance the quality of published contributions and coverage of current research. Their efforts have been assisted by significant investment in online submission and publishing systems to improve decision times for authors and provide readers with early access to this important research.’

SAGE, the Royal Society and World Scientific panel discussion at the Beijing International Book Fair

July 30, 2012

SAGE, The Royal Society and World Scientific will be presenting a panel discussion on ‘Publishing models, quality, citations and usage’ at the 19th Beijing International Book Fair on the 30 August 2012.

The panel, chaired by Paul Evans, Managing Director of SAGE, Asia Pacific; Phil Hurst, Head of Publishing, the Royal Society; and Rebecca Fu, China Country Manager of World Scientific, will address the issue of publishing models, quality citation and usage in depth, placing these issues in the framework of how each individual international publisher is working to address China’s specific research needs in a global context. Present during the discussion will also be special guest, Professor Xiang Anquan editor in chief of Science Press, China’s largest STM publisher.

The panel is aimed at librarians, academics and those with an interest in the provision of publications and opportunities for getting published globally. Panelists will explore the debate on open access globally as well as discussing the potential scenarios that may affect China specifically. In addition, the speakers will focus, in depth, on the challenge of finding high quality academic research as research output continues to dramatically increase, as well as debating two key areas of measurement, usage and citations, which need careful management to ensure the best value for all.

The panel discussion is being held in conjunction with the Beijing International Book Fair, the four day event which seeks to highlight the future publishing services in China and the relevant offerings and approaches for each of these professional participants: librarians, academics and publishers. Attended by over 12,000 delegates, The Beijing International Book Fair illustrates how China plans to contribute to the growth of the global publishing research process and will continue to do so in the future.

Entry to the panel discussion is by invitation only. Please contact: Saiying Peng at SAGE Publications in Beijing, China.

Lippincott’s Nursing Procedures and Skills Expands to Include Oncology

July 30, 2012

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, announced today that it has expanded Lippincott’s Nursing Procedures and Skills (LNPS) to include oncology, a new category for the popular nursing reference. A total of 50 of the most critical oncology-specific nursing procedures are included, with the first 25 available immediately and the balance to be incorporated by October. Documenting 1,300 evidence-based patient procedures, Lippincott’s Nursing Procedures and Skills is one of the most widely deployed web-based nursing references in use in hospitals and other healthcare institutions.

“The addition of Oncology to Lippincott’s Nursing Procedures and Skills helps us round out our coverage so that we now provide comprehensive evidence-based procedures for every major nursing department in acute care,” said Carolyn Dalton, Senior Digital Product Manager, Wolters Kluwer Health, Professional & Education. “We’ve become the preferred choice of nurses because they can get to the procedure they seek quickly and know that it is both current and easy-to-follow with professional video and visuals to help them maintain a high standard of quality-of-care.”

Lippincott’s Nursing Procedures and Skills gives nurses accurate, step-by-step guidance for 1,300 evidence-based procedures. Most procedures are accompanied by video clips and/or high-quality visuals that aid in understanding. The online resource provides skills checklists and competency tests for each procedure to help facilities verify staff competence. Each procedure undergoes a thorough annual review process to ensure the most up-to-date clinical information is provided. Facilities can customize and add procedures to meet their specific needs.

Some of the notable new oncology-specific procedures include anemia management, cardiovascular toxicity management, hypercalcemia emergency care, and six types of chemotherapy administration including intramuscular, intraperitoneal, intrathecal, intravesicular, oral and subcutaneous. In addition to the new oncology-specific procedures, numerous general procedures have been incorporated into the Oncology category to further broaden its scope. The new Oncology section joins categories such as medical-surgical, critical care, emergency, pediatric, and perioperative to make Lippincott’s Nursing Procedures and Skills the most comprehensive nursing procedural references in the industry.

The newly enhanced Lippincott’s Nursing Procedures and Skills is available immediately to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The product is accessible from any Internet-enabled device including PCs and mobile devices such as the iPad and Android tablet. Existing customers will automatically receive the new content, updates and enhancements as part of their subscription but may have to contact Wolters Kluwer Health Technical Support to initiate some of the optional features. To learn more or to purchase, visit www.LWWNursingSolutions.com, or call 800-326-1685, option 2.

Kno Inc. Delivers Exciting New Platform for Elsevier’s Pageburst Digital Books

July 30, 2012

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced that Kno Inc. will provide its newest platform option for one of Elsevier’s lines of digital books. Pageburst, which encompasses Elsevier’s nursing and health professions books in a digital format, will now offer even more flexibility and user-friendly learning features through the addition of the new Kno platform.

“This collaboration will provide students with a more interactive and feature-rich learning environment,” said David Straus, Vice President, Products for Kno. “Our innovative ebook platform and Elsevier’s respected, comprehensive educational content will enable an enhanced learning experience for students and a better teaching experience for instructors.”

Elsevier digital books on Pageburst go beyond typical ebook platforms by offering an abundance of interactive study features that are designed for the way students learn. The Kno platform for Pageburst will mirror the look of a traditional print textbook and will give students and educators direct access to all-new dynamic and interactive learning tools.

“Other platforms I’ve reviewed distract me from learning because they don’t work smoothly,” said Dr. Monty Gross, Professor of Nursing at James Madison University. “Kno enables me to quickly import and organize my readings by course. Highlighting text and making a note is also very easy. Overall, Kno is a great learning tool because you don’t notice it when you use it; the focus is on the material not the technology.”

Now with Elsevier’s Pageburst digital titles being on the Kno platform it will give nursing and health science students even more freedom in how they study — enabling them to access their course material anywhere and at any time throughout their education and professional careers.

“As digital textbook sales continue to grow, the education methods for nursing and health science students should involve more advanced technology,” said Tom Wilhelm, Vice President, e-Solutions, Elsevier Nursing and Health Professions. “Students will have access to even more invaluable information presented in an interactive, even entertaining, fashion. Teachers will benefit by having better interaction opportunities with students through a medium that takes advantage of the best technology available.”

Loss of Bookstores Doesn’t Translate Into E-Book Growth

July 25, 2012

Media forecast and research firm Simba Information has released the fourth edition of Trends in Trade Book Retailing, which compiles data from multiple sources to confirm what Simba anticipated in the third edition: that the loss of bookstores would not translate into growth of e-books in 2011.

“It may go against common sense, but the loss of hundreds of physical bookstores and several million square feet of book retailing space in 2011 actually negatively affected the expansion of e-book usage,” said Michael Norris, senior analyst of Simba Information’s Trade Books Group, commenting on the report. “The publishing industry can either continue to watch its business get smaller through this unsustainable pattern or find ways to allow in-person discovery of content work in favor of the physical stores that are paying for that discovery to be available.”

Data from Simba shows that most consumers continue to buy print books, and the discovery of e-books is still very much interconnected with that of physical content. The report also indicates that the more retail channels consumers have access to, the more likely they are to be book buyers and leisure book readers. However, with physical bookstores still ‘subsidizing’ the online channel by acting as a showroom for content, the industry must think of creative ways to build a sustainable system.

“Imagine a future that allows bookstore browsers to wave their Smartphone, tablet or another device near a physical book when they want to buy the e-book version immediately. That idea can move even further as the consumer who buys the physical book can allow friends or strangers to do the same when the book has long left the store, giving the bookstore credit for the sale,” said Norris. “A system like that would allow bookstores to cash in on their value, give publishers an incentive to invest more in the physical product, and maybe also prevent the industry from consolidating too much power with too few retailers.”

Trends in Trade Book Retailing 2012 details the interconnected worlds of print and e-book retailing through profiles of each of the three major channels of book retailer: bookstore, online and ‘other.’ Key demographic details and trends unique to each are provided, including gender, age, household income, education level, purchasing habits and more. Five-year trend data is also new to this edition, as is exclusive data showing to what extent e-book consumers have bought digital content from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple’s iBookstore, and other e-book sources. It is available at:http://www.simbainformation.com/redirect.asp?progid=83930&productid=6903769.

BioMed Central launches new online reprint ordering service

July 24, 2012

BioMed Central is pleased to announce the launch of a new online reprint ordering service, provided by EzReprint, a part of Yurchak Printing, Inc, based in the USA.

Reprints are produced from the final typeset article PDF. To place an order, from the full text version of the article or its abstract, select the “Order reprints” option in the Tools list in the right-hand navigation, and you will be taken directly to an order form where between 25 and 500 reprints can be purchased.

EzReprint’s system is easy to use, offers high quality copies of both color and black only reprints, plus a number of payment options to suit your needs.

The EzReprint service is available for both open access and subscription based articles. Of course, any open access article can be reproduced on a normal desktop printer, but this service is a simple alternative for those who require multiple copies of high quality reprints. Orders for higher quantities (500+ copies) will be processed by BioMed Central’s reprints department and enquiries can be forwarded via the “Commercial Orders and Higher Quantities” link on the EzReprint order page, or by email to reprints@biomedcentral.com. We ask organizations who want to distribute reprints for commercial purposes to contact us. Our commercial rates are competitive with other publishers, and the income we receive from reprint orders helps to support our Waiver Fund.

For articles at provisional PDF stage, users can register their interest in placing an order, and receive an alert with the final typeset PDF is available.

For further information about reproduction of content from BioMed Central’s journals, please visit our Reprints & permissions page.

JISC Collections hold the key for RSC digital expansion

July 24, 2012

The Royal Society of Chemistry has signed a three-year agreement with JISC Collections for the latest deal expanding access to the RSC’s international journals portfolio.

The NESLi2 journals offer with JISC Collections for 2013, a membership organisation established by the UK Higher and Further Education funding councils to support the procurement of digital content for education and research in the UK, includes an option to buy the increasingly popular RSC Gold package.

RSC Gold, a premium collection of international journals, databases and magazines offering online access to all published material, has now been purchased by almost 50 UK institutes.

The second option available under the new deal for those institutes with less comprehensive chemical sciences requirements is to ‘pick and choose’ individual journals.

Dan Dyer, RSC Head of Sales, EMEAI, said: “The successful conclusion of our agreement with JISC Collections allows the RSC to open more content to our UK customers. In combination with our recently announced Gold for Gold OA pilot scheme in the UK this agreement puts the Royal Society of Chemistry at the forefront of scientific research provision.”

Lorraine Estelle, Chief Executive of JISC, said: “We are delighted to have been able to conclude an agreement that encourages and enables our members to access more chemical sciences content from the Royal Society of Chemistry. We are especially pleased that the RSC took into account the difficult financial climate we face and from the outset adopted a pragmatic and constructive approach to the negotiation”.

NPG expands Linked Data Platform to over a quarter billion triples

July 24, 2012

As part of its wider commitment to open science, Nature Publishing Group’s (NPG) Linked Data Platform now hosts more than 270 million Resource Description Framework (RDF) statements. It has been expanded more than ten times, in a growing number of datasets. These datasets have been created under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which permits maximal use/reuse of this data. The data is now being updated in real-time and new triples are being dynamically added to the datasets as articles are published on nature.com.

Available at http://data.nature.com, the platform now contains bibliographic metadata for all NPG titles, including Scientific American back to 1845, and NPG’s academic journals published on behalf of our society partners. NPG’s Linked Data Platform now includes citation metadata for all published article references. The NPG subject ontology is also significantly expanded.

The new release expands the platform to include additional RDF statements of bibliographic, citation, data citation and ontology metadata, which are organised into 12 datasets – an increase from the 8 datasets previously available. Full snapshots of this data release are now available for download, either by individual dataset or as a complete package, for registered users athttp://developers.nature.com.

“We are delighted to be expanding upon and enhancing our linked data services,” said Jason Wilde, Business Development Director, NPG. “Our Linked Data Platform was warmly welcomed when we launched in April, and by introducing further metadata we hope to continue enriching the semantic web. We invite feedback from the community to help us improve our metadata descriptions and to keep our growing platform focused on best practices for linking data.”

The platform was built in collaboration with information and publishing solutions specialist TSO (The Stationery Office). “NPG’s selection of TSO to deliver its linked data demonstrates we are at the forefront of Linked Data solutions,” said Peter Camilleri, TSO’s Business Development Director. “We are pleased to work with one of the world’s most innovative science publishers in this area, and are glad our expertise in the field of RDF extraction and triple stores is proving beneficial to the science community. The robust OpenUp® linked data platform has proven perfect for NPG’s needs.”

NPG’s platform allows for easy querying, exploration and extraction of data and relationships about articles, contributors, citations, publications, and subjects. Users can run web-standard SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL) queries to obtain and manipulate data stored as RDF. The platform uses standard vocabularies such as Dublin Core, FOAF, PRISM, BIBO and OWL, and the data is integrated with existing public datasets including CrossRef and PubMed. The platform originally launched in April 2012.

More information about NPG’s Linked Data Platform is available athttp://developers.nature.com/docs. The datasets are all registered on the Data Hub athttp://thedatahub.org/group/npg. Sample queries can be found at http://data.nature.com/query.