Elsevier Offers Electronic-Only Option for Journal Subscriptions

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

>From the Chronicle Online, of possible interest. The MOderators

---------- Forwarded message ----------
  Monday, January 21, 2002

  Elsevier Offers Electronic-Only Option for Journal
  Subscriptions

  By SCOTT CARLSON

  Elsevier Science announced Friday that it would begin offering
  electronic-only subscriptions for its ScienceDirect package, a
  collection of more than 1,200 journals. Institutions
  previously had to subscribe to paper editions of the journals
  to get access to their electronic versions.

  ScienceDirect's new subscription option, dubbed E-Choice, will
  also extend to 175 journals that are part of the Academic
  Press collection, once owned by the publishing company
  Harcourt General and distributed on that company's IDEAL
  database.

  Elsevier Science's parent corporation, Reed Elsevier, bought
  Harcourt last summer and has since begun merging the
  databases. By May, all of the Academic Press journals will be
  part of the ScienceDirect package.

  Chrysanne Lowe, vice president for account development at
  Elsevier Science, said the new subscription option might let
  libraries save money. She declined to specify the savings but
  said that a library could pay a base amount for an electronic
  subscription, then 25 percent of the paper-subscription price
  for paper copies.

  A library also would benefit from signing a single license for
  both ScienceDirect and Academic Press titles, Ms. Lowe said.
  "One platform is a lot simpler than two, and they have to
  train for only one platform. And the licensing process can be
  cumbersome, and this is one less license that they need to
  negotiate." However, to combine the two databases on one
  platform, existing customers of either database will have to
  sign new licensing agreements that encompass the additional
  Academic Press titles, she added.

  [SNIP]

_________________________________________________________________

This article from The Chronicle is available online at this address:

http://chronicle.com/free/2002/01/2002012102t.htm

If you would like to have complete access to The Chronicle's Web
site, a special subscription offer can be found at:
  http://chronicle.com/4free
_________________________________________________________________

You may visit The Chronicle as follows:

   * via the World-Wide Web, at http://chronicle.com
   * via telnet at chronicle.com

_________________________________________________________________
 Copyright 2002 by The Chronicle of Higher Education