UK Research Community Gets Extended Access to ScienceDirect

AMSTERDAM, October 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- Access to Elsevier's Leading Online STM Information Platform Secured 
for Four More Years

Elsevier, a leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical (STM)
information and the National e-Journals Initiative 2 (NESLi2) have agreed to
a four-year license for ScienceDirect, which contains over a quarter of the
world's STM information.

Key to the agreement is the high usage of ScienceDirect in the UK.

NESLi2 is a product of the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee
(JISC). Lorraine Estelle, CEO at JISC-Collections said: "We are very pleased
with the four-year agreement with ScienceDirect. This will create a lot of
stability and predictability for the 140 NESLi2 members. Experience
demonstrates that the usage of ScienceDirect has always been very high,
that's why we are confident that this contract will contribute to the
scientific ambitions we have in the UK."

Under the agreement, most of the NESLi2 members will continue to have
access to the ScienceDirect Freedom Collection, which contains approximately
1,900 journals - almost the entire ScienceDirect journals portfolio.

"This NESLi2-ScienceDirect agreement is of very high importance for
Elsevier," said Roy Jakobs, Managing Director for Academic & Government
markets. "We are pleased that extended access to our Freedom Collection,
which includes an increasing number of backfiles, will support the very
active and highly qualified UK scientific community. Increasing research
productivity through access to the world's highest quality information is our
ultimate joint goal."

The NESLi2-ScienceDirect agreement was signed at a ceremony in London on
22 October.

About NESLi2

NESLi2 is the UK's national initiative for the licensing of electronic
journals on behalf of the higher and further education and research
communities, 2003-2006. NESLi2 is a product of the JISC and underwritten by
the Higher Education Funding Council for England on behalf of the Funding
Bodies.

NESLi2 follows the three-year Pilot Site Licence Initiative (1995-1997)
and the original NESLI (1998-2001), which introduced the concept of a
Managing Agent and piloted the use of a model licence for use in negotiating
agreements with publishers. During 2002 and 2003 the JISC undertook the
Journals Activity and NESLi2 was implemented for 2004 licensing agreements.

About JISC

The Joint Information Systems Committee's (
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus.aspx) activities support education and research
by promoting innovation in new technologies and by the central support of ICT
services.

About ScienceDirect

Over a quarter of the world's full text scientific, technical and medical
(STM) articles - managed by renowned editors, written by respected authors
and read by researchers from around the globe - are available in one place:
ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com).

Elsevier's extensive and unique full-text collection covers authoritative
titles from the core scientific literature including high impact factor
titles such as THE LANCET, Cell and Tetrahedron. Over eight million articles
are available online, including Articles in Press which offer rapid access to
recently accepted manuscripts. The critical mass of information available on
ScienceDirect is unsurpassed. Coverage includes over 2,000 journals published
by Elsevier and dynamic linking to journals from approximately 2,000 STM
publishers through CrossRef. An expanding program of online major reference
works, handbooks, book series and e-Books in all fields of science seamlessly
interlinks with primary research referenced in journal articles.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and 
medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the 
global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 
offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per 
year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, 
such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult 
(http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/),
bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of
Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading
publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical,
legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides
high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing
emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker
symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and
ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Media Contact

    Juliette Goetzee
    Head of Marketing
    ScienceDirect
    +31-(0)-20-485-2893
    j.goetzee@elsevier.com