ProQuest, part of Cambridge Information Group, has renewed its exclusive aggregation agreement with Elsevier to make medical journal, The Lancet, available to subscribers of ProQuest’s popular health sciences databases. The journal is being made available in full-text. In addition, the full text of two further essential journals - The Lancet Infectious Diseases and The Lancet Neurology - will also be aggregated only through ProQuest.

  Wiley-Blackwell, the STM and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., has announced a new partnership with the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Under the deal, Wiley-Blackwell will publish the Society’s journals Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, commencing 2010.

  Academic publisher SAGE has announced the further growth of its medical publishing programme with the acquisition of Diabetes and Vascular Disease Research (DVDR) from Sherborne Gibbs Limited. The journal is the official journal of the International Society of Diabetes and Vascular Disease Research, and will be published by SAGE from April 2009.

  Electronic research databases provider EBSCO Publishing, a division of EBSCO Industries, Inc., has announced the acquisition of NISC, Inc. NISC publishes a full range of bibliographic, abstract, and full-text databases. The addition of NISC databases to EBSCOhost will enable the company to offer a richer collection of databases to better serve researchers.

  Swets Gateway, the special publisher services division of Swets, and the Royal Society have recently signed an agreement to market and disseminate The Royal Society’s journals in the Asia Pacific region. Swets Gateway will, on behalf of the publisher, serve as its sales and marketing representative in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Brunei.

  Web-based information services provider Knovel has announced partnerships with five new publishers. Knovel content is sourced from more than 50 international publishers and professional societies. These new partnerships contribute significantly to Knovel’s 30 percent growth in content over the past year, including new topic areas for Sustainable Energy and Development.

  Oxford Journals, a division of Oxford University Press (OUP), has announced the launch of an innovative, open access journal, DATABASE: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation. David Landsman will serve as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.

  Medical information provider Wolters Kluwer Health (WK Health) has launched ProVation Order Sets, powered by UpToDate Decision Support, an innovative order set development solution that combines ProVation Medical's technology platform with UpToDate's premier clinical decision support content. ProVation Order Sets streamlines the delivery of standardised care for improved patient safety, outcomes, clinician performance and regulatory compliance.

  Academic and professional literature publisher Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. has announced the launch of a new title International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management (IJCCSM). A quarterly publication, IJCCSM will be available in print and online formats. The journal publishes papers dealing with policy-making on climate change; methodological approaches to coping with its resulting problems; and results of projects and case studies that address the environmental, social and political aspects of climate change.

  Academic publisher SAGE and STM publisher Hindawi have announced the further expansion of their joint publishing collaboration, SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research. Five new titles are now live on the SAGE-Hindawi platform. These include Journal of Nucleic Acids; Stem Cells International; Journal of Amino Acids; International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease; and the International Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

  Serials Solutions, a business unit of ProQuest has announced enhancements to Serials Solutions 360 Resource Manager Consortium Edition that increase resource sharing efficiency for consortium and library groups and improvements that provide superior performance across all Serials Solutions 360 services. The new functionality for 360 Resource Manager Consortium Edition offers greater support for more types of library groups and hybrid consortia by providing sophisticated inheritance of shared resources.

  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and 32 partner institutions will launch the World Digital Library, a web site that features unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world, at UNESCO Headquarters on April 21. The site will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs. It will provide unrestricted public access, free of charge, to this material.

  Informa Business Information has teamed up with Virgin Atlantic’s Director of Sales and Marketing and a Harvard business professor to launch a white paper highlighting the benefits of sustained marketing and advertising spend during the current economic downturn. Informa Business Information provides publications, events and online services for the scientific, professional and commercial business communities.

  US-based journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), has announced plans to launch a new journal on research in translational medicine, which uses insights from basic biology to improve medical care. The journal, Science Translational Medicine, is slated for launch in fall 2009. Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Senior Fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Health Program and former Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has accepted the position of Chief Scientific Advisor for the journal.

  Health information provider MEDai, Inc., part of STM publisher Elsevier, has announced the launch of Pinpoint Review, its new patient-specific early-warning system for hospitals. Pinpoint Review generates predictions for acute-care patients, focusing on the likelihood of a patient developing a complication, like decubitus ulcers, acquiring a hospital-acquired infection or being readmitted. In addition to the predictions, Pinpoint Review provides a list of triggers behind each prediction, allowing caregivers to understand the "why" and more effectively generate a plan of action.

  Clinical information products and services provider Epocrates, Inc. has announced that in the nine months since the launch of Epocrates software for the iPhone platform, more than 10 percent of physicians in the US States are already actively using it to improve patient care. The Epocrates Rx drug and formulary guide continues to rank as the #1 free medical application downloaded in the Apple App store. Physicians and other healthcare professionals primarily use the application to access critical drug information such as dosing, adverse reactions and interactions to ensure safe prescribing and treatment.

  The Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ) of Lund University Libraries and the e-Depot of the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) have announced the launch of an initiative to secure the long-term preservation of OA journals. Under the initiative, DOAJ and KB will carry out a pilot project aimed at setting up a workflow for processing OA journals listed with DOAJ. A limited number of OA journals will be subject to long-term preservation. These activities will be scaled up shortly and long-term archiving of the journals listed in the DOAJ at KB’s e-Depot will become an integral part of the service provided by the DOAJ.

  A recently released report delivers a set of recommendations aiming to ensure best practice at UK higher education institutions (HEIs) in relation to the payment of open access (OA) publication fees. The report was released by Universities UK (UUK) and the Research Information Network (RIN), with the working group including representatives from universities, research funders, publishers and research authors. Its recommendations identify actions each of these groups can take in order to ensure that the funding of OA publishing is handled in a coordinated way.

  The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Working Group on Special Collections, formed in 2007, has released a discussion report that identifies key issues in the management and exposure of special collections material in the 21st century. The report includes overviews of and recommendations in three areas - collecting carefully, with regard to costs, and ethical and legal concerns; ensuring discovery and access; and the challenge of born-digital collections. It highlights the need for research library leadership to support actions that will increase the visibility and use of special collections and promote both existing and developing best practices in the stewardship of special collections.

  The UK’s Royal Society has embarked on an 11-month enquiry into the role that science will play in equipping the nation to meet the economic, social and environmental challenges of the next 50 years. The study, titled ‘The Fruits of Curiosity: science, innovation and future sources of wealth’, will look beyond the current 10-Year Investment Framework to assess the long-term direction of UK research policy and investment.

  Derk Haank, CEO, Springer Science + Business Media, has confirmed that the company is not for sale. Speaking at the recently held UK Serials Group conference, he did, however, reveal that Springer's private equity owners, Candover and Cinven, were in discussions with a third partner to raise additional funding. Haank nevertheless emphasised that the third party would be in addition to - and not instead of - co-owners Candover and Cinven.

  Electronic clinical information resource UpToDate, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, has announced that it is providing low and middle income countries (LMICs) with access to its evidence-based, physician-authored medical information resource. It had launched a two-year programme earlier this year with Brigham and Women’s Global Health Equity Residency Program to explore the impact of UpToDate in LMICs. UpToDate is providing free access to medical content as well as necessary training for three participating sites in Africa.

  Dr. Madeleine Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the American Chemical Society (ACS), recently told a House Appropriations subcommittee that it is critical for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to have stable, predictable levels of funding. This would ensure the continued health and vitality of the US' research enterprise, she emphasised. Continuity of funding is just as important as the level of funding, she pointed out, adding that irregular funding undermines long-term research investments and creates real disincentives to young people considering careers in science and technology.

  STM publisher Elsevier has announced that it is offering a suite of tools designed to improve healthcare quality through enhanced clinical decision-making and problem solving at the point of care. The suite ranges from evidence-based medicine (EBM) offering brief, mid-length and full-length answers to clinical inquiries, to online training and drug decision support, and advanced predictive analytics. The tools, projected to streamline clinical workflow as they improve outcomes and enhance patient care quality, are being demonstrated at Elsevier’s booth (no. 3644) at the ongoing HIMSS conference in Chicago.

  The Radiological Society of North America has decided not to increase 2010 subscription prices for their two leading medical journals, Radiology and RadioGraphics, in light of the current economic climate. This move is an effort to aid libraries facing shrinking funds and to support libraries commitment to facilitating access to scholarship and research.

  Healthcare publisher Expert Reviews Ltd has announced that its journal Expert Review of Pharmaceconomics & Outcomes Research has been selected for coverage in MEDLINE. Also accepted for inclusion in MEDLINE was Future Cardiology, part of the Future series published by Future Medicine Ltd, a sister imprint of Expert Reviews, which also operates under the Future Science Group banner.

  The third edition of blogspeak is now online. Featured are Steven Sieck (Science Publishers Stepping Up Online Community Initiatives); Charlie Rapple (If we invented the scholarly journal today, what would it look like?"); Morgan Langille (Is PLOS One the future of scientific publishing?); Kheskett (EndNote & HubMed); and John Timmer (Social search doesn't pan out for Jimmy Wales, Wikia Search). A service of Knowledgespeak.com, Blogspeak includes blog posts relevant to the publishing industry, particularly STM publishing. Subscribers are invited to participate in the latest edition of blogspeak at http://www.knowledgespeak.com/
Blog/ Blog_ Index_More.asp?MID=1#41.

  Academic and professional literature publisher Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. has announced that it is exhibiting at the ongoing American Association of Community Colleges Conference, Phoenix Convention Centre, Arizona. Delegates are invited to meet Emerald representative at stand #527, to find out more about Emerald Management First, an online library of resources for practicing and aspiring business managers.

  The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishing (ALPSP), the international trade association for scholarly and professional publishers, has announced a 24 hour residential workshop that will look at all aspects of the society/publisher relationship. The workshop, scheduled for July 9-10, will provide delegates with an understanding of the mechanics of outsourcing publications to a commercial publisher and successfully managing the relationship once it is established.

  The International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) has announced that the ICSTI 2009 Public Conference: Managing Data for Science will be held from June 9-10, 2009, at Library and Archives Canada, in Ottawa. The conference will address how sharing research data is essential for effective collaboration and examine how researchers, librarians and publishers can work together to create structures for managing and communicating scientific data. For registration and more information, visit www.icsti2009.org.

  STM publisher Elsevier and Brain Mapping Foundation have announced plans to co-host the 6th Annual World Congress for Brain Mapping and Image Guided Therapy, scheduled for August 26-29, 2009 at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. The event is designed as a multi-disciplinary forum to facilitate cross-disciplinary dissemination of technological and medical advances and scientific discovery among physicians, scientists, biotechnologists, engineers, policy makers and healthcare executives.

  STM publisher Elsevier has announced the Asia and Pacific (APAC) availability of illumin8, a Web-based natural language processing solution designed to help corporate research professionals answer complex R&D questions with greater speed and effectiveness. illumin8 extracts key relationships across the breadth of Elsevier’s premium scientific content, millions of patents and 8 billion web pages and fuses them into an organised view.

  Information management company Infotrieve, Inc. has announced an addition to the management team as well as new roles for two team members. Glen Hock has joined Infotrieve as the Vice President, Document Delivery Solutions. Donna Pouliot and Lynn Schlesinger have been appointed Vice President, Sales, and Vice President, Marketing & Communications, respectively.

  ProQuest, part of Cambridge Information Group, has named Bowker President and CEO, Annie Callanan, as Chief Operating Officer. In her new role, Callanan will report to ProQuest CEO Marty Kahn and will manage the day-to-day operations for ProQuest’s publishing, marketing, customer care and content operations. She will also continue to have overall responsibility for Bowker.

  Non-profit scientific publisher Institute of Physics Publishing (IOP) has announced the appointment of Dr Nicola Gulley as Editorial Director. Over the past 10 years, Gulley has worked both as a Group Publisher and a Senior Publisher for a number of IOP’s major journal titles and a range of business to business magazines and websites.