AMSTERDAM, May 18, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier and Universities Australia (UA) have reached a three-year agreement that will provide researchers in 39 Australian universities with access to Scopus, the company's flagship product and the world's largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.

The agreement further strengthens the relationship between Elsevier and UA, who together presented the inaugural Scopus Young Researcher of the Year Awards earlier this year. Hosted at the Parliament House of Australia, awards were presented to dedicated researchers under age 40 in various fields.

We are proud to expand access to Scopus, a key solution for scholars to address their day-to-day challenges and improve productivity. This allows Australia to continue to position itself to contribute with an increasing proportion of leading research and innovation in a global market, said Dr. Glenn Withers, Chief Executive Officer of Universities Australia.

Australia's national commitment to increasing research excellence is admirable. Elsevier is proud to extend our partnership with Universities Australia and excited that the organization has decided to make Scopus available to each of its 39 member institutions. We will continue to work alongside Universities Australia to proactively support and uncover innovative solutions for Australia's research community, added YS Chi, Chief Executive Officer of Elsevier Science Technology.

Built in collaboration with scientists and librarians from around the world and launched commercially in 2004, Scopus has since been endorsed and adopted by researchers in the world's top universities as well as international research assessment agencies.

Scopus is an indispensable, multi-disciplinary databases underpinning research and research performance analysis in Australian universities. CAUL welcomes their wide availability arising from these negotiations, said Ms Cathrine Harboe-Ree, President of the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and University Librarian of Monash University.

About Universities Australia (UA)

Universities Australia (UA) is the industry peak body representing the university sector, established on 22 May 2007. Universities Australia represents Australia's 39 universities in the public interest, both nationally and internationally. Members of Universities Australia are the universities, represented by their Chief Executive Officer - the Vice-Chancellor. Universities Australia strives to advance and promote the benefits of Australian Universities to the nation and support Australian Universities in the performance of their roles. http://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au

About Scopus

Covering the world's research literature, Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality Web sources with smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research. Scopus was designed and developed with over 500 users and librarians internationally. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from over 15,000 peer-reviewed journals from 4,000 publishers worldwide, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage. In addition, Scopus not only offers users citation information about the articles covered, but also directly integrates Web and patent searches. Direct links to full-text articles, library resources and other applications like reference management software, make Scopus quicker, easier and more comprehensive to use than any other literature research tool. For more information about Scopus please visit http://www.info.scopus.com.

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).

Name: Sandra Plasse/Jennifer Saunders Phone: +1-212-752-8338 E-mail: splasse@psbpr.com, jsaunders@psbpr.com

SOURCE: Elsevier SOURCE: Universities Australia (UA)

CONTACT: Name: Sandra Plasse/Jennifer Saunders, Phone: +1-212-752-8338,E-mail: splasse@psbpr.com, jsaunders@psbpr.com