Scopus is launched

Amsterdam, 3 November 20004 - The culmination of the months of intensive feedback and development are on show today, as Scopus is launched to the world at the Science Museum in London, UK. In the 8 months since a pre-release version of Scopus was revealed to universities around the world, 200 institutions and thousands of researchers have been seeing just what a difference this unique tool can make to scientific research.

Consistently positive feedback from everyone who has seen Scopus reflects the development team’s confidence that Scopus delivers on its promise: an effective way to deal with too much information in too little time. “The scientists who’ve put Scopus to the test love it,” says Jaco Zijlstra, Director of Scopus, “we’re very excited that all researchers around the globe now have the potential to share their experience.”

Scopus - covering 14,000 scientific titles plus 167 million scientific web pages, and delivering the largest collection of abstracts ever collected online in one place, going back forty years - is now commercially available for trial and sale to any institution. As to the terms: like everything with Scopus, it’s simple - access to the complete, unabridged database to everyone at an institution. Andrea Schweikert, Scopus Sales Director comments: “Pricing is straightforward and based on an annual subscription model, taking into account specific customer circumstances.”

Already, early deals demonstrate that Scopus has got it right. Development partner universities Toronto and Nevada have shown their confidence in the product by signing up to Scopus even before the launch, as has the University of Newcastle, Australia. Users at other universities with access to Scopus echo this enthusiasm. Hilda Nassar, Director of the Saab Medical Library at the American University of Beirut quotes feedback from one of the AUB scientists: “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day. Give me Scopus and I’ll excel in my research.”

The launch marks a watershed in the way scientists can find the information they need. Scientists now have a truly global collection of the published literature and scientific information on the web at their fingertips. Collaboration with diverse groups of scientists during the building of Scopus’ interface has ensured that this critical mass of information can be searched, evaluated and managed by anyone.

“It’s not about searching, it’s all about finding”, says Eefke Smit, Managing Director for ScienceDirect and Bibliographic Databases, “Scopus doesn’t require you to be a search expert. It lets scientists focus on finding everything relevant: the expected as well as the unexpected. This brings serendipity and discovery into the game. The results – that’s what it’s all about.”

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Scopus background

§ Scopus is Elsevier's highly anticipated, full text-linking abstract and indexing (A&I) database

§ The first fully functioning version of Scopus was released to select libraries for final testing and user trials on 15th March 2004. Full commercial release of Scopus is 3rd November 2004

§ Scopus was conceived solely in response to librarian and user requirements, and is the result of a two year collaboration with librarians and researchers at over 20 of the world’s foremost institutions

§ At the heart of Scopus is the biggest A&I database of scientific literature ever assembled, covering titles from over 4000 STM publishers. Scopus also simultaneously searches the scientific Web using the science-only Internet search engine, Scirus

§ The Scopus user interface offers easy-to-use searching straight from the home page and intuitive browsing tools

§ Users can link to their entitled full-text articles in one click, making ‘dead-links’ a frustration of the past

§ Industry-leading levels of reliability and powerful delivery are coupled with local customer support, customer-specific usage reports which have just been awarded COUNTER-compliant status, as well as on- and off-site training, to make Scopus a complete package for librarians and end-users

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 6,800 employees in 86 offices worldwide publish more than 1,800 journals and 2,200 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect, MD Consult, Scopus, bibliographic databases, online reference works and subject specific portals.

Elsevier is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, 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).