STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, and the Couperin Consortium have come to a new agreement that provides researchers at over 600 public research and higher education institutions in France access to the ScienceDirect Freedom Collection content for five years. ScienceDirect is Elsevier' full-text database of more than 2,200 peer-reviewed journals, 900 serials and 25,000 books.
The Couperin Consortium is a network of research and higher education institutions and other organisations that evaluates, negotiates and arranges the purchase of electronic library resources for its members. The previous access agreement between Elsevier and Couperin encompassed 147 member institutions. With the support of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Couperin worked with Elsevier to extend access to researchers across all public and higher education institutions that fall within the scope of the ministry.
After several months of intensive coordination, Elsevier and Couperin reached an agreement that provides access to over 2,200 Freedom Collection journals on ScienceDirect and is fully based on electronic content. The agreement adds new qualitative advantages for the French researcher community, taking into account several of the requests from the involved French stakeholders.
Over the next five years, Elsevier, Couperin, the Agence Bibliographique de l'Enseignement Supérieur (ABES), and the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research have agreed to have annual meetings about the evolution of Elsevier's content and platform in terms of volume, usage, platform functionality, and changes in the French research landscape.
