The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), a major U.S. Department of Education-sponsored database for education research, will significantly reduce the number of indexed journals and other information sources beginning April 24, 2025. This change follows a federal directive aimed at reducing overall government spending and reallocating resources under Executive Order 14222.
According to ERIC’s March 2025 announcement, the database will cut its actively cataloged sources by approximately 45%, shrinking its indexed content from around 1,200 to 700 titles. Subject matter was not a factor in determining which sources would be removed, and while no existing ERIC records will be deleted, new content from deselected journals will no longer be added. Editors have been informed of their status, and some have submitted details to public tracking efforts documenting journal removals.
Despite early concerns, the acting director of the Institute of Education Sciences confirmed on April 28 that ERIC’s indexing activities will continue under a revised contract with AEM Corporation. However, the scope of this work remains unclear, and ERIC’s Help Desk will be discontinued.
In response to the uncertainty, independent preservation efforts have created ERICA—a backup archive of over 500,000 ERIC files—available as open-access PDFs through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Meanwhile, Milner Library affirms that its microfilm and microfiche holdings of historical ERIC materials will remain available and unaffected by these changes.
Milner Library will continue monitoring developments and provide updates as more reliable information emerges.
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