Ovid Consortia Deal with the University Grants Commission Extends Electronic Access to Universities Across India


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Ovid Consortia Deal with the University Grants Commission Extends Electronic Access to Universities Across India

Agreement Underlines Ovid's Commitment to SilverPlatter Platform and the Academic Market

Sydney, Australia, February 2, 2004— Ovid Technologies today announced the launch of a new program that will eventually grant all universities in India access to vital academic research.

In an agreement with the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India, Ovid will provide universities across the country with electronic access to BIOSIS Biological Abstracts®, the world’s premier research tool in life sciences. The agreement was brokered by Informatics, Ovid Technologies’ distributor in India. It will provide all UGC-Infonet Consortium members with local access to Biological Abstracts using ERL (Electronic Reference Library) networking technology, available on Ovid’s SilverPlatter platform. Additionally, the content will be hosted at INFLIBNET for parallel access by Universities. Funded by the UGC, the program’s first phase will cover 50 universities. Eventually, the consortium will include all universities in India.

"The UGC program is another example of Ovid's commitment to providing the academic community with the broadest possible access to scholarly information," said Terry Macmanus, Ovid Sales Director, Asia Pacific. "The SilverPlatter platform was chosen because it is the only solution in the marketplace that can provide powerful linking capabilities both locally and online".

"This landmark agreement is the first of its kind in India and will be instrumental in meeting the growing demand for academic literature through our universities," said Professor Arun Nigavekar, Chairman of the UGC.

In 2001, Professor Nigavekar was the first to discuss the possibility of a consortium of universities to obtain access to electronic journals and research databases. Detailed discussions with the faculties and library professionals of various universities followed during which time three databases were identified as key resources: BIOSIS Biological Abstracts®, INSPEC® and MathSci®. The effort was announced by the Prime Minister of India, and the INFONET network was activated by the Minister for Human Resource Development in December 2002.

"SilverPlatter has been a very well used platform in India for over 10 years and users are already familiar with the software," said N. V. Satyanarayana, CEO & Managing Director of Informatics. "Now these users can access Biological Abstracts going back to 1969 from 50 Universities across India which could also link them to full text articles from over 500 science journals to which the UGC subscribes on behalf of Infonet members."

About UGC-Infonet Consortium
Through its INFLIBNET Centre, the UGC-Infonet consortium benefits its members by providing electronic access to research journals, abstracts, review publications and databases. It covers all areas of learning: science and technology, as well as social sciences and humanities. Founded in 2001, the UGC-Infonet currently has a membership of 50 universities across India with plans to extend the scheme to colleges, as well as distant and continuing education sectors.

About Ovid Technologies
Ovid Technologies (www.ovid.com) is a medical information solutions provider focused on offering the combination of content, tools and services that makes research smarter, faster and more effective. Ovid energizes the thinking of researchers and clinicians by developing the individualized experience each customer needs. It supports Ovid Online and SilverPlatter Online customers, and provides a local solution for customers requiring offline access.

Ovid is used by the world’s leading colleges and universities; medical schools; academic research libraries and library consortia; hospitals and healthcare systems; pharmaceutical, engineering and biotechnology companies; and HMOs and clinical practices. Ovid is an operating company of Wolters Kluwer Health (WKHealth), a division of Wolters Kluwer, NV, a multinational information services company with annual sales of more than €3.9 billion and 20,000 employees.

About Informatics
Founded in 1980, Informatics pioneered electronic information business in India. It was the first to introduce and market online & CD-ROM databases in the country during the late 1980s. Today, Informatics focuses on electronic information, including: Marketing and Distribution of Information; Products, Systems and Services; Compilation, Consolidation and Conversion of information, and; Electronic Publishing. Informatics works with a range of media including CD-ROM, the Internet and print.