Science magazine Scientific American now offers readers access to its complete archive through a combined e-commerce and consumer site that offers an improved customer experience and new multiplatform subscription packages. The Scientific American "All Access" subscription provides access to the magazine's full archive, more than 160 years of historic medical and technological advancements and scientific discoveries, back to the inaugural issue in August 1845.
The Scientific American archive contains over 150,000 articles and reveals a wealth of treasure from the magazine's history. In that history, 151 Nobel Prize–winning scientists have written 245 articles. Gems include original reports of major inventions, such as Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone in 1876 and Thomas Edison's invention of the incandescent lightbulb in 1879. Some other highlights are the 1950 article "On the Generalized Theory of Gravitation," by Albert Einstein, and policy pieces such as the 1990 essay "A New Initiative to Save the Planet," by Al Gore.
New subscription offerings include a digital subscription to Scientific American Mind, which comes with one-year access to the magazine's archive as well as single-issue sales. All the digital subscriptions are multiplatform: articles can be viewed via tablets, Web browsers and PDF readers.
Scientific American worked with Blue River Interactive Group and ten24 Digital Solutions to build a custom tailored site that would best suit the needs of the consumer. Blue River is the lead development team for the open source CMS Mura and ten24 is the lead development team for Slatwall eCommerce, also an open source application.
Scientific American's site offers an improved search function. A full service "My Accounts" area allows users to view their transactions and view all of their subscriptions, from products to newsletters. The full Scientific American archive became available to institutional customers on nature.com in 2011.
