Information Today
Volume17, Number 2 • February 2000
RoweCom Announces Partnership, Linking Agreements

RoweCom, Inc., a provider of business-to-business e-commerce services for managing the acquisition of knowledge resources, has announced a partnership with back-order-fulfillment specialist Absolute Backorder Service, Inc. In separate releases, RoweCom has also announced that Information Quest (IQ), a product recently acquired by RoweCom, has signed linking agreements with Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and five scholarly publishers.
 

Absolute Backorder Service
RoweCom and Absolute Backorder Service, Inc. will integrate their respective services so that, for the first time, RoweCom’s clients will be able to purchase back issues of magazines and journals. According to the announcement, the addition of Absolute’s purchasing, quotation, fulfillment, and appraisal services to the RoweCom service offering will create supplemental revenue streams for RoweCom at little incremental cost. For every back-issue order placed through RoweCom’s kStore, RoweCom will receive a percentage of the gross profit. In addition, Absolute’s client base will have direct access to RoweCom’s kStore and its vast content offering on Absolute’s Web site and through all of its other services and distribution channels.

Both companies will enjoy “preferred provider” status, meaning RoweCom will be the first and default provider of knowledge resources to Absolute’s clients, while Absolute will be the first and default provider of back-order-fulfillment services on RoweCom’s kStore.

“The strategic alliance between Absolute and RoweCom signifies a new era in back-issue fulfillment,” said Glenn Jaeger, president of Absolute. “Combined, our companies will be at the forefront of technology and content, and we will offer unsurpassed service to clients around the world.”

“A two-fold triumph for RoweCom, this partnership provides us with yet another distribution channel and adds a valuable service to our existing offerings,” said Richard Rowe, president and CEO of RoweCom. “Once restricted to purchasing only current subscriptions, our clients can now use their kStores and kLibraries to order a single past issue of interest, or fill in the gaps of their serial collections. We are confident that both corporate and academic clients alike will respond well to this useful service.”
 

IQ, CAS Agreement
The agreement between Information Quest and Chemical Abstracts Service will allow researchers to link from the CAS products and services, including STN International, via the ChemPort connection to the full text of journal articles available in IQ. According to the announcement, IQ is used widely by the academic and professional community, offering consolidated access to an ever-expanding body of electronic scholarly journals through its state-of-the-art online service.

“CAS has the world’s most complete resource of sci-tech information,” said Jan Peterson, Information Quest vice president of publisher relations and content development. “IQ is therefore in an exceptional position to partner with CAS to offer our mutual customers access to this wealth of scientific abstracts, chemical substance records, and scientific literature.”
 

Five Publishers
IQ has signed formal agreements with five publishers that allow access to a number of scholarly journals through the IQ search-and-retrieval system. The publishers include White Horse Press, Portland Press, Royal Geographical Society, Nature Publishing Group, and Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers. The linking agreements make significant contributions to IQ’s content offerings in topics covering medicine, the environment, geography, humanities, and life and social sciences.

Peterson said: “These additions will provide access to some of the most sought-after titles for IQ users. The publishers will provide an invaluable resource for our clients, making a special contribution to the diverse range of journals offered through IQ.”

White Horse Press, a small publisher based in Cambridge, U.K., specializes in academic books and journals on environmental and social issues, and is well known for its journal Environmental Values. The company began publishing in 1992, and has a Web site (http://www.erica.demon.co.uk) that features a complete listing of publications with access to back issues. “We are confident that this agreement will promote the visibility of our specialty journals, and we expect this to translate into new subscriptions,” said White Horse Press partner Andrew Johnson. “IQ is a great opportunity for small firms to display their titles in the global marketplace, and to do so on an even footing with the largest STM publishers.”

Portland Press, Ltd. is the wholly owned publishing subsidiary of The Biochemical Society and offers journal, book-fulfillment, and Internet services. Based in London, it is a not-for-profit publisher of journals and books in the cellular and molecular life sciences with the surplus of sales returned to the scientific community via the activities of The Biochemical Society. Title offerings include The Biochemical Journal, Clinical Science, and Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry. Glyn Jones, managing director, said: “As a publisher of both print and online scientific resources, Portland Press has a responsibility of not only publishing its materials but also broadening its distribution efforts. Our agreement with IQ allows us to increase our readership, and we are confident that this effort will serve to benefit a large population of our audience.” Journal papers may also be accessed through its Web site at http://www.portlandpress.com.

Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical science and is the largest geographical society in Europe (http://www.rgs.org). RGS publishes three scholarly journals, two newsletters, and a magazine, and supports research, education, training, and the wider public understanding and enjoyment of geography. With a membership of approximately 13,000, RGS’s activities include advising governments and other agencies on geographical issues and stimulating and supporting geographical research in the U.K. and overseas. IQ users will gain access to the journal Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. “The Society is pleased to make its publications available through IQ,” said Lorraine Craig, head of research. “As an active member in the wider geographical community, RGS is committed to bringing geographical issues to the forefront through the capabilities of electronic delivery systems such as Information Quest.”

Nature Publishing Group is a division of Macmillan Publishers, Ltd., which publishes internationally known titles that include the 44 titles previously published under the Stockton Press imprint. According to the announcement, the group is well known for its global approach to publishing and its consistency with high standards of peer review. The company’s Web site (http://www.stockton-press.co.uk) features a searchable database of articles, giving readers access to both current and archived journals. Jayne Marks, publishing director, said, “Nature Publishing Group is very pleased to make its specialist journals available through the IQ product, and we feel strongly that this agreement will offer substantial benefits to our readers.”

A division of Swets & Zeitlinger BV, Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers (http://www.szp.swets.nl) is responsible for publishing over 40 English-language scholarly journals. Established with the publication of its first title in 1919, the Netherlands-based publisher offers an array of journals covering topics in education, engineering, humanities, and life sciences. Its latest effort includes the launching of its online Annotated Bibliography for English Studies, proposed to be one of the leading databases available on the topic.

According to the announcement, Information Quest was created in response to the challenges librarians, publishers, and information managers face as they move into a new electronic environment. Recently acquired by RoweCom, Inc., IQ is being offered among a line of electronic information delivery products to serve the needs of researchers.

IQ provides consolidated access to a significant body of scientific, technical, and medical information with up to 50,000 new citations added each week. Individual licenses for IQ can be obtained through its Web site at http://www.eiq.com. Site licenses are available for organizations such as libraries, colleges, and corporations. Rights to view documents online are dependent upon the library’s or individual user’s subscription or licensing agreement with the publisher.

Source: RoweCom, Inc., Cambridge, MA, 888/837-7287; Fax: 617/497-6825; http://www.rowe.com.


Table of Contents Information Today Home Page