Google expands online bookstore to Canada

November 2, 2011

Google expanded its online bookstore to Canada on Tuesday, offering hundreds of thousands of electronic books for sale and millions of others for free.

Google said it was partnering with a number of Canadian publishers for the launch including McClelland & Stewart, Douglas & McIntyre, House of Anansi and Dundurn, and retailers such as Campus eBookstore and McNally Robinson.

Google launched its eBookstore in the United States in December 2010 and expanded to Britain last month.

Digital books sold through Google can be read on the Sony Reader, the Nook from Barnes & Noble and other dedicated e-book readers but not on the popular Kindle from Amazon.

They can also be read on a variety of other devices including personal computers and Apple and Android tablets.

Google said the Canadian catalog includes hundreds of thousands of books for purchase and two million free books in the public domain.

Publishing Services a Major Growth Area for Academic Libraries

November 2, 2011

Publishing services provided by libraries are expanding and professionalizing, suggests a new report released for comment today by SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, on behalf of a team of researchers from the libraries of Purdue University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Utah. The report is the result of a year-long study of library publishing services made possible by a collaborative planning grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), with additional support from Berkeley Electronic Press and Microsoft Research. It is available at http://wp.sparc.arl.org/lps.

The research included a survey distributed to deans and directors at all 223 institutions that are part of the Association of Research Libraries, the Oberlin Group, and University Libraries Group, supervised by consultant October Ivins; three detailed sustainability case studies of library publishing programs at Purdue, Georgia Tech, and Utah by consultant Raym Crow; three consultative workshops involving over 120 leaders in the library publishing community; and a literature review. Together, these sources paint a picture of the state of library publishing services in the US and Canada that is unique in breadth and depth of coverage.

Key findings of the project include:

Approximately half (55%) of all respondents to the survey indicated having or developing library publishing services. Interest in such services varied by institution size, with over three-quarters of ARLs being interested, compared to 30% of Oberlin Group institutions. Most libraries with existing programs anticipated increasing the program’s scale or scope in the next year.
About three-quarters of the programs publish between one and six journals, the majority of which are only distributed electronically and are less than three-years old. About half of the programs publish conference proceedings, technical reports, or monographs; most often electronically, but with some print-on-demand distribution.
The vast majority of library publishing programs (almost 90%) were launched in order to contribute to change in the scholarly publishing system, supplemented by a variety of other mission-related motivations. The prevalence of mission-driven rationale aligns with the funding sources reported for library publishing programs, including library budget reallocations (97%), temporary funding from the institution (67%), and grant support (57%). However, many respondents expect a greater percentage of future publishing program funding to come from service fees, product revenue, charge-backs, royalties, and other program-generated income.
Almost two-thirds of the programs collaborate with one or more other campus units—including departmental faculty, university press, and campus computing—and two-thirds collaborate with individuals or organizations outside of the institution. Over half of the respondents expect collaborations to increase in the next year.
About half of responding institutions centralize management of their publishing activities within one library unit. The number of staff allocated to publishing activities is modest—averaging 2.4 FTE for ARLs and 0.9 FTE for Oberlin Group institutions—with older programs typically being larger. Staff dedicated exclusively to publishing service programs are relatively rare, with responsibility for such services typically fragmented across multiple staff members.
The perceived relevance of publishing services to the library’s mission, and the integration of such services into the library’s budget, helps explain the relative lack of emphasis on sustainability planning. Few institutions (15%) have a documented sustainability plan for their publishing services, and only a fifth have evaluated the value or effectiveness of their publishing services.
The most prevalent journal publishing platforms reported were Open Journal Systems (57%), DSpace (36%), and Berkeley Electronic Press’s Digital Commons (25%).

According to respondents, the three resources most needed for planning or operating a library-based publishing service are guides to business issues, information on publishing platforms, and examples of policy and process documents.

The report includes a series of recommendations for future development of library publishing services based on the survey, workshops, case studies, and literature review. These are centered around developing best practices, collaborating to create community-based resources, and formalizing skills and training.

The report is open for comment through the end of the year. A final version will be issued in early 2012.

Cambridge University Press Launches University Publishing Online

November 1, 2011

Cambridge University Press’s new integrated eBook and digital content offering, University Publishing Online, launched today (31 October).

University Publishing Online, at www.universitypublishingonline.org, provides aggregated content from the Mathematical Association of America (based in Washington D.C.), Liverpool University Press, Foundation Books (based in India), and Cambridge University Press. Access to content from Edinburgh University Press and Nottingham University Press will be available from early 2012.

University Publishing Online provides libraries with eBooks and related database products from a variety of academic publishers worldwide.

Building on the established, highly successful Cambridge Books Online platform, users have immediate access to over 13,000 front and backlist titles, accessible through quick, powerful search and browse functionality. University Publishing Online allows users to search within the available content of all four presses, maximising results and offering access to research materials of the highest standard.

Users are able to search across all University Publishing Online content or limit their search to selected publishers. The search facility also encompasses Cambridge Journals Online (Cambridge’s extensive journals platform), providing users with access to hundreds of the latest academic, research-rich publications. Institutions are able to make collection or title-by-title purchases from a single publisher or mix-and-match across all of the publishers on the platform.

UPO contains comprehensive library support tools, and it is compliant with all major industry standards and initiatives. Functionality on the site includes hyperlinked references and personalisation features, as well as enhanced discoverability tools. Two functionality upgrades will take place every year, ensuring the site is consistently developing according to its users’ needs.

Two purchasing plans for University Publishing Online are available, each involving unlimited-user concurrent access and minimal digital rights management (DRM). Customers are able to buy content once and then own continuing access, or subscribe annually with a subscribe-to-buy facility. Annual subscription will be available from January 2012.

Dr Andrew Brown, Director of Academic Publishing at Cambridge University Press, said: “I believe that the launch of University Publishing Online is great news for our customers, as it will bring even more flexibility of access to quality academic content from a range of different publishers. Our mission at Cambridge University Press has always been to advance learning, knowledge and research worldwide, and, with the ease of access and the quality of its content, UPO will ensure that this mission continues.”

“We would like to take this opportunity to invite other prestigious publishers to join us, and we look forward to adding even more quality academic content in the future.”

To view UPO, go to www.universitypublishingonline.org

HarperCollins Publishers to Acquire Thomas Nelson

November 1, 2011

HarperCollins Publishers today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Thomas Nelson, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of the calendar year, is subject to regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions.

Thomas Nelson is one of the leading trade publishers in the United States. The Company provides multiple forms of inspirational content including: books, Bibles, e-books, journals, audio, video, curriculum and digital applications available for download on “smart” electronic devices. It has published some of the bestselling books in the industry, including the current #1 bestseller Heaven Is For Real, and the books of many popular authors, such as Billy Graham, Max Lucado, and Dave Ramsey.

“Founded in 1798 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Thomas Nelson shares a long and rich heritage with both New York’s Harper Brothers and Scotland’s William Collins & Sons. It is thus with great pleasure that I look forward to welcoming Thomas Nelson to the HarperCollins family,” said Brian Murray, President and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide. “HarperCollins’ global print and digital publishing platform, which includes e-book distribution into more than 175 markets, Print-on-Demand, Digital-to-Print at Retail, and worldwide marketing reach, provides an opportunity to further expand the readership of Thomas Nelson’s distinguished authors.”

“Additionally, Thomas Nelson adds further balance to our existing publishing programs. Its broad inspirational appeal is a good complement to Zondervan, which will continue to publish books consistent with its mission,” added Murray.

“We are excited to be joining HarperCollins Publishers,” said Mark Schoenwald, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson. “We believe this transaction represents an attractive strategic fit for our company. With HarperCollins’ resources and capabilities to draw on, we will capitalize on the many opportunities in this rapidly changing world of publishing.”

BQF Journals signs Open Access agreement with Max Planck Society

October 31, 2011

Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals (BQFJ) and the German Max Planck Society (MPS) announced today that they have signed an agreement whereby open access publication fees for BQFJ journals articles will be paid directly out of a fund supporting researchers from the Max Planck Institutes. The prestigious agreement bolsters the publishing company’s growth and the visibility of its journals platform, QScience.com .

The Max Planck Society, is one of the world’s leading research organizations whose researchers have an international reputation for scientific excellence. Since its inception in 1948, the MPS has seen 17 Nobel Laureates rise from its ranks. In 2003, MPS was the co-initiator of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities and since then has demonstrated consistently strong leadership in the promotion of open access to research results.? Article-Processing-Charges for all articles where the corresponding author is affiliated with a Max Planck Institute will now be covered by a central fund.

BQFJ publishes a multi-disciplinary portfolio of open access journals titles through the QScience.com site, and this MPS partnership is a major milestone for the burgeoning journals platform, which will be a year old in December. The support from MPS shows great confidence in BQFJ’s potential and development while recognizing it as one of the most dynamic publishers of high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarly content.

Arend Koester, Managing Director of BQFJ said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with MPS in this way and are welcoming submissions from highly-esteemed MPS researchers. We encourage them to publish with us and to promote open access to research literature more broadly. We are working together to develop new and innovative ways to collaborate with MPS authors, progressively making the submission and publishing process as seamless as possible.”

Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals applies the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0) to all published articles. Under the CC license, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles from BQFJ journals, so long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. Thus, the contents of all open access BQFJ journals are freely accessible by the reader, worldwide via the internet

The BQFJ website, QScience.com, provides immediate, worldwide and free access to the full text of its peer-reviewed research articles and offers the so-called gold road to open access for all of its journal articles.

Taylor & Francis Group widens Open Access offerings

October 31, 2011

Taylor & Francis Group is marking Open Access week by announcing a range of new Open Access journals and an enhancement of their current Open Access programme for 2012. These initiatives will encompass publications from across the range of science, social and behavioral sciences and humanities subjects.

What’s changing? Taylor & Francis’ current iOpenAccess option will be renamed for 2012 as Taylor & Francis Open Select, and will continue to give authors and their sponsors the option of making their articles available on Open Acess to all for a publication fee. This initiative has been running since 2006 and currently encompasses 500 titles from across Taylor & Francis Group’s extensive portfolio.

In addition, three cutting-edge titles currently available on a subscription basis will be converted to full Open Access for 2012. The digital archives of these titles will also be made Open Access. These titles – Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews, Journal of Biological Dynamics, Smart and Nano Materials – publish significant research in their fields and have author communities with a strong interest in publishing research in an Open Access model.

And what’s new? Taylor & Francis will also be launching Taylor & Francis Open. This initiative will cover all our fully Open Access titles. One important part of this initiative is a new series of fully Open Access titles from 2012 in major subject areas. These titles will offer rapid online publication of methodologically sound research which will be subject to rigorous peer review. The journals will have affordable article publication fees, with discounts or fee waivers for emergent countries. The initiative will also involve collaboration with leading journals within T&F’s existing portfolio, along with support from learned societies and internationally acclaimed editors, ensuring the quality of these titles.

Commenting on this initiative, Professor Nick Quirke, Editor of the journals Molecular Simulation and Journal of Experimental Nanoscience, stated, “The new open access suite of journals being offered in Taylor & Francis Open will allow universal access to high quality academic literature, opening it up to all of the scientific community to benefit from the research.”

Details of these titles, their supporting journals and their editors will be released in the coming weeks, so watch this space for more information.

In addition to these broad-spectrum titles, Taylor & Francis will also:

* launch Journal of Organic Semiconductors on a full Open Access basis for 2012;

* launch a major new financial economics title on a full Open Access basis for 2012;

* announce in the next month a publishing partnership with an established major health and social care full Open Access title;

* continue our publishing partnership with Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, an established fully Open Access journal currently published under the Routledge imprint in cooperation with the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Dr David Green, Global Journals Publishing Director, sums up Taylor & Francis’ new approaches to Open Access, “Taylor & Francis is committed to producing high-calibre journals that showcase quality global research. We believe that this content should be widely disseminated and are now exploring various Open Access business models to enable universal access in ways that are sustainable and meet the needs of the research communities we serve. We feel the time is right to increase the scope of our Open Access offerings to sit alongside the cost-effective subscription and licensing options we offer to libraries. Over the past three years society journals have been partnering with Taylor & Francis Group at the rate of more than one per week, and, if required, we are now able to offer a potential partner a range of Open Access business models where there is real author demand and we can ensure viability and sustainability”.

Future Science Group launches new series of eBook collections

October 29, 2011

The Future Science Group (FSG) has launched a new series of eBook collections under the Future Medicine imprint. FSG publishes more than fifty journal titles, including the Expert Review series. In the first instance, fifty eBooks are being released onto the market through late 2011 and in the first quarter of 2012, covering topical issues in clinical and biomedical sciences.

The eBook series includes an oncology collection of more than 20 titles, featuring a sub-collection on targeted therapies that addresses clinically important disease areas such as lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers. Other collection topics include Immunology, Cardiology, Neurology, Infectious Diseases, and Respiratory Medicine. Each eBook is edited by a key opinion leader, with contributions from renowned scientists and clinicians from around the globe.

The first titles in this new initiative are now available on the Future Medicine website athttp://www.futuremedicine.com/series/books. Titles include, “Advances in Neuroendocrine Tumor Management”, “Human Papillomavirus Vaccines”, and “Primary Care Management of Community-Acquired Pneumonia”. Titles are available for purchase either as the whole eBook or on a chapter-by-chapter basis.

Editorial Director Elisa Manzotti said, “This is a logical progression for FSG; we have a highly skilled and experienced editorial team, with particular strengths in review publishing. We are particularly delighted to have the support of so many top opinion leaders in putting this list together.”

Significant expansion of the list is planned through 2012, drawing on strengths of FSG in clinical medicine and areas such as pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, nanomedicine and stem cell science. Commenting on the program’s strategic value, Elisa Manzotti said, “We have already established a community science website with the launch of the Bioanalysis Zone, and the launch of eBook programs under each of the Future Medicine, Future Science and Expert Reviews imprints constitutes another key element of our overall digital strategy.”

For full details and to request a trial for your institution please contactinfo@futuremedicine.com or visit www.futuremedicine.com

Thomson Reuters launches intelligence solution for pharmaceutical industry

October 29, 2011

Thomson Reuters today announced the launch of Thomson Reuters Cortellis^TM, the next generation solution for the life sciences industry that brings together the company’s best-in-class drug research and development data and the latest information management technology, to transform the way pharma and biotech professionals access and use data across the entire drug research and development life cycle.

The technology will enable companies to access data hosted within Cortellis and merge it with their own data, or with public data sources. A key element of the technology is that it will widen access to Thomson Reuters data, allowing customers access through an API (application programming interface), and a Software Development Toolkit, enabling customers to build tailored applications that meet the specific needs of their end-users.

Designed to meet the competitive intelligence needs of pharma and biotech companies of all sizes, Cortellis includes Thomson Reuters trusted competitive intelligence content, now combined with powerful new tools to support more detailed analysis of the drug pipeline and licensing opportunities.

The solution offers up-to-the-minute information on the global drug pipeline, as well as deal information, patent filings, plus breaking industry news and conference coverage, integrated with TIBCO Spotfire^® visualization and analysis tools, including a pipeline competition matrix and a pipeline funnel charting tool.

“The launch of Cortellis is a major event for both Thomson Reuters and the life sciences industry,” said Jon Brett-Harris, executive vice president at Thomson Reuters. “The way in which the industry wants to use and interact with our information is changing and we have responded to this demand, creating an innovative solution to facilitate this. We are confident Cortellis will exceed the expectations of our clients, offering them the prospect of faster, more informed decisions than was previously possible.”

Thomson Reuters Cortellis delivers impressive search speeds and more relevant results due to an all new search engine and a highly intuitive user interface with new indexing and ontologies. The new search engine allows for rapid free-text searching, making it possible for users to search across the solution’s entire drug data without the need to design complex search strategies. The Cortellis solution is also compatible with mobile devices, including smartphones and tablet devices, providing a more interactive user experience, and the freedom to search and stay informed while on the go.

To learn more about Cortellis, please visit: cortellis.thomsonreuters.com

Sage Launches Clinical Pharmacology In Drug Development

October 29, 2011

SAGE and the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) announce the launch of Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development (CPDD), a new peer-reviewed journal focused on publishing research findings from drug development studies. This is the ACCP’s second scholarly journal having published The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, a world renowned title that has been published for more than 50 years.

“We are very excited about the launch of CPDD, which should provide a source to publish results from late preclinical and early clinical drug development studies,” said Michael J. Fossler, Jr., Pharm.D., Ph.D., ACCP President. “ACCP is happy to continue its relationship with SAGE on this new journal, and we are confident that CPDD will quickly become the primary source for publication of articles in this important area within clinical pharmacology”.

As required by law, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently begun to require the entry of clinical trials in a public registry prior to subject enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication of the trial results. In addition, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are being encouraged to publish all clinical trial results. CPDD should facilitate compliance with these requirements, and expand the availability of vitally important information on new drugs and biologics in development. With the information available, centers like the Pennsylvania IOP rehabs can research changes in treatments for patients facing addiction issues to check whether the new drug helps to speed up the recovery process or not.

Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development encourages the submission of original research papers. Acceptance is determined by scientific rigor and technical soundness rather than perceived importance of the presented results; negative study results are explicitly not summarily rejected.

Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development is an online-only journal that will only be available in print form for purchase by request. The new journal will be available free of charge to ACCP members.

“Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development is a great new venture for the ACCP and we’re excited to be a part of it,” said Bob Howard, Executive Director, US Journals. “Having been the ACCP’s publishing partner for its flagship title since 1999, The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, we are confident it will be as successful and a benefit to ACCP members, the pharmacology community, and all who have an interest in drug development.”

Smartphones and Tablets Drive Nearly 5 Percent of Digital Traffic in EU5

October 28, 2011

comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of the mobile and connected device landscape across five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). The data shows cross-platform digital media consumption on the rise in the region, buoyed by the growth in adoption of smartphones, tablets and other non-computer web-enabled devices, collectively termed “connected devices”. In August 2011, these devices drove 4.6 percent of total digital traffic in the EU5, fuelled primarily by the use of smartphones.

“While we have seen the increasing adoption of smartphones in the EU5 contribute to the rapid growth of mobile media consumption, we are also beginning to see tablets and other connected devices play an increasing role,” said Jeremy Copp, comScore vice president for Mobile in Europe. “With more options available for consuming digital media on the go than ever before, many users now access online content from multiple platforms throughout the day. This media fragmentation has made it more important than ever for advertisers and publishers to take a holistic view of audience measurement to effectively reach their audiences.”

Apple iOS Surpasses Symbian in Share of Mobile Phones and Connected Devices in Use
In the three month average period ending in August 2011, 91.4 million mobile subscribers across the EU5 reported using smartphones, up 46 percent from last year. Although Symbian continues to have the largest share of the smartphone market, its audience among all mobile and connected devices in current use was recently surpassed by the Apple iOS audience. The iOS platform (including iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches) currently accounts for 30.5 percent of all mobile and connected devices in use in the EU5 (excluding feature phones and e-readers), driven by the popularity of the iPad and iPod Touch. Symbian ranks second, accounting for 28.7 percent of all devices in use, followed by the Google Android platform at 23.5 percent.

OS Market Share by Audience Installed Base 3 Month Average Ending August 2011 Total EU5 (DE, FR, IT, ES and UK) Mobile Subscribers, Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
Device Platforms	Share (%) of Devices in Use
Apple iOS	30.5%
Symbian	28.7%
Google Android	23.5%
RIM	8.1%
Microsoft	5.5%
Other Platforms	3.7%

A closer look at the composition of devices in use for each platform reveals interesting differences. Symbian’s share of the market is driven exclusively by Symbian smartphones, whereas nearly half of the iOS share is driven by iPads and iPod Touches in use. Meanwhile, tablets account for only 16 percent of the Android platform share.

Apple iOS Drives More Than 60 Percent of Non-Computer Traffic
An analysis of platform market share, as determined by internet traffic coming from browser-based page views, shows the iOS platform driving more than 60 percent of all connected device traffic to significantly lead other platforms. Despite comprising less than a quarter of iOS devices in use, iPads fuelled this strong position accounting for 43 percent of all iOS traffic.

Following iOS, Android ranked second in delivering non-computer traffic with a 20.9 percent share. RIM accounted for 8.5 percent, while Symbian accounted for just 2.7 percent, indicating that Symbian smartphone users were less likely on average to consume digital media on their mobile devices.

OS Market Share by Non-Computer Digital Traffic (Browser-Based Page Views) August 2011 Total EU5 (DE, FR, IT, ES and UK) Source: comScore Device Essentials
Device Platforms	Share (%) of Non-Computer Traffic
Apple iOS	61.1%
Google Android	20.9%
RIM	8.5%
Symbian	2.7%
Other Platforms	6.9%

August 2011 EU5 Mobile Benchmark Data
The table below shows comScore’s August 2011 mobile benchmark data, including a review of mobile consumption behaviours and device penetration for the five EU countries under measurement. These benchmarks are published by comScore to provide the most up-to-date snapshot of the mobile industry. Further information on these benchmarks, and other data included above, can be provided upon request.

Mobile Benchmark Data for the EU5 Market 3 Month Avg. Ending August 2011 Total EU5 (DE, FR, IT, ES and UK), Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens
	Reach (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	EU5	UK	France	Germany	Italy	Spain
Sent Text Message	82.4%	90.5%	83.3%	79.1%	79.4%	79.3%
Used Application (excl. pre-installed)	33.5%	43.7%	30.9%	29.8%	29.8%	33.6%
Used Browser	34.0%	45.9%	34.6%	27.8%	29.4%	33.0%
Listened to Music	25.8%	25.4%	23.8%	25.8%	23.6%	32.1%
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog	22.6%	34.3%	21.1%	16.8%	20.0%	21.6%
Accessed News	17.8%	25.4%	16.6%	15.1%	16.4%	14.9%
Played Games	26.3%	33.3%	15.9%	25.2%	30.0%	27.6%
Used Smartphone	38.9%	45.6%	35.3%	32.2%	39.5%	44.5%

Highwire Press Partners With Temis To Semantically Enrich Publishers’ Content

October 27, 2011

HighWire Press, the industry leader in the provision of high quality hosting and web publishing platforms to scholarly publishers around the world and TEMIS, leading provider of Semantic Content Enrichment solutions for the Enterprise, announced today they entered into a strategic technology and business partnership. Under the agreement, HighWire will integrate the full suite of Luxid® software within its ePublishing Platform to provide automated content annotation, enrichment and linking to its customers. “The best platform for scholarly publishing just got better”, said HighWire’s Managing Director Tom Rump.

End users have become much more sophisticated in their online information requirements and are demanding easier and more efficient ways of locating the most relevant information. Furthermore, publishers need to strengthen and differentiate their value proposition in order to increase customer satisfaction and retention. They are looking for ways to increase the value derived from their content by creating innovative online products targeted at specific professional audiences. Semantic content enrichment has become the strategic means to achieve these objectives.

“Stanford’s HighWire leads the industry in discoverability, leveraging its long relationship with Google”, said HighWire’s Founding Director, John Sack. “This new partnership allows us to increase discoverability inside the platform with richer metadata and outside the platform by connecting to the semantic web. The broad discipline coverage and the complete suite of customization tools offered by Luxid® give HighWire’s publishers the opportunity to access the full scope of the industry’s most advanced semantic toolset. Also, while Luxid® can effectively tag content using taxonomies, it also performs advanced semantic analysis to identify the new discoveries happening on the cutting edge of research, those that our publishers value the most.”

Managing Director, Tom Rump continued, “Luxid® marries well with our new tools for rapid product presentation and content aggregation. They’ll enable publishers using HighWire’s open platform to quickly develop new products and deliver them to market, whether on the web or mobile. It allows us to advance the intellectual and commercial interests of scholarly publishers, by having content reach its full potential and its full audience.”

“HighWire’s open and scalable platform is perfectly poised to fully leverage our semantic content enrichment solution”, said TEMIS’ CEO, Eric Brégand. “The market-leading Luxid® Content Enrichment Platform provides significantly deeper insights into content than taxonomy-only solutions can. By combining it with Highwire’s ePublishing solution, we are extending to the larger STM publishing community the full power of semantics and the highest standards of user experience.”

Royal Society journal archive made permanently free to access

October 26, 2011

The Royal Society has today announced that its world-famous historical journal archive – which includes the first ever peer-reviewed scientific journal – has been made permanently free to access online.

Over 8000 historical scientific papers are accessible via a fully searchable online archive, with papers published more than 70 years ago now becoming freely available.

The Royal Society is the world’s oldest scientific publisher, with the first edition of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society appearing in 1665. Henry Oldenburg – Secretary of the Royal Society and first Editor of the publication – ensured that it was “licensed by the council of the society, being first reviewed by some of the members of the same”, thus making it the first ever peer-reviewed journal.

Philosophical Transactions had to overcome early setbacks including plague, the Great Fire of London and even the imprisonment of Oldenburg, but against the odds the publication survived to the present day. Its foundation would eventually be recognised as one of the most pivotal moments of the scientific revolution.

Professor Uta Frith FRS, Chair of the Royal Society library committee, said: “I’m delighted that the Royal Society is continuing to increase access to its wonderful resources by opening up its publishing archives. The release of these papers opens a fascinating window on the history of scientific progress over the last few centuries and will be of interest to anybody who wants to understand how science has evolved since the days of the Royal Society’s foundation.”

Treasures in the archive include Isaac Newton’s first published scientific paper, geological work by a young Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Franklin’s celebrated account of his electrical kite experiment. And nestling amongst these illustrious papers, readers willing to delve a little deeper into the archive may find some undiscovered gems from the dawn of the scientific revolution – including accounts of monstrous calves, grisly tales of students being struck by lightning, and early experiments on to how to cool drinks “without the Help of Snow, Ice, Haile, Wind or Niter, and That at Any Time of the Year.”

Henry Oldenburg writes in his introduction to the first edition: “…it is therefore thought fit to employ the Press, as the most proper way to gratify those, whose…delight in the advancement of Learning and profitable Discoveries, doth entitle them to the knowledge of what this Kingdom, or other parts of the World, do, from time to time, afford…”, going on to state that potential contributors are: “…invited and encouraged to search, try, and find out new things, impart their knowledge to one another, and contribute what they can to the Grand design of improving natural knowledge, and perfecting all Philosophical Arts, and Sciences.”

Thomas Huxley FRS wrote in 1870: “If all the books in the world, except the Philosophical Transactions, were to be destroyed, it is safe to say that the foundations of physical science would remain unshaken, and that the vast intellectual progress of the last two centuries would be largely, though incompletely, recorded.”

The move is being made as part of the Royal Society’s ongoing commitment to open access in scientific publishing. Opening of the archive is being timed to coincide with Open Access Week, and also comes soon after the Royal Society announced its first ever fully open access journal, Open Biology.