One Billionth Article Downloaded on ScienceDirect!

AMSTERDAM, November 15 /PRNewswire/ --     Elsevier (LSE: REL), the largest 
global scientific, technical and medical
publisher, today counted the one-billionth full-text article download on its
electronic journal and book platform, ScienceDirect(R). ScienceDirect started
counting the use of full-text articles in April 1999, when it was launched.



    In its first year, just over 300,000 full text articles were requested
from the site by about 60 customer organisations. Now, in 2006 a record usage
of more than 300 million articles has been achieved, downloaded by nearly 11
million users in 134 countries. The one billionth article download has also
been counted by industry-standard measurements as Elsevier is fully COUNTER
compliant, and was one of the first publishers to be a compliant vendor.



    "This is a milestone both for us and for our customers. With our many
users based throughout academic, government, medical and corporate
organisations and the continuing preference shown by people to dedicatedly
use online resources, it's no surprise that we reached this milestone now. I
think it clearly shows how we have come to rely heavily on electronic
platforms like ScienceDirect as the easiest way to gather information. And I
expect that we will continue to see double-digit growth in usage annually in
the years to come", commented Joep Verheggen, Director of ScienceDirect and
member of the COUNTER Board of Directors. "In addition, librarians and
information specialists in all of our customer institutions will have noticed
that while full-text usage is growing strongly, the relative cost per
full-text article is still falling".



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 7,000 employees in over 70 
offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per 
year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such 
as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult 
(http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/),
bibliographic databases, and online reference works.



    Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of
Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), 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).



About ScienceDirect

    Over a quarter of the world's full text scientific, technical and medical
(STM) articles - managed by renowned editors, written by respected authors
and read by researchers from around the globe - are available in one place:
ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com).



    Elsevier's extensive and unique full-text collection covers authoritative
titles from the core scientific literature including high impact factor
titles such as THE LANCET, Cell and Tetrahedron. Over 7.8 million articles
are available online, including Articles in Press which offer rapid access to
recently accepted manuscripts.



    The critical mass of information available on ScienceDirect is
unsurpassed. Coverage includes over 1,800 journals published by Elsevier and
dynamic linking to journals from approximately 350 STM publishers through
CrossRef. An expanding program of online major reference works and book
series in all fields of science seamlessly interlinks with primary research
referenced in journal articles.



About COUNTER

    Launched in March 2002, COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked
Electronic Resources) is an international collaborative initiative designed
to serve librarians, publishers and intermediaries by standardising the
recording and exchange of online usage statistics.



    COUNTER had its genesis in the UK, with the PALS (Publisher and Librarian
Solutions) group formed by JISC, ALPSP and The Publishers Association.



Media Contact

Brant Emery

ScienceDirect

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