NEW YORK, April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier, a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the launch of the "Apps for Science" (http://www.appsforscience.com/) challenge, an international competition challenging software developers to create customized applications that enhance information search and discovery for researchers.
Elsevier is challenging developers in Australia, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States to create fully operational applications for the SciVerse platform. In combination with third party APIs and open data, applications can be created utilizing content APIs which enable integration with Elsevier's full text article database SciVerse ScienceDirect and abstract and citation database SciVerse Scopus.
A panel of judges will evaluate eligible entries. The first prize winner will be awarded a cash prize of $15,000; second place receives $10,000 and third place receives $5,000. The winner of the Popular Choice Award, determined by a public vote, will receive $5,000. In addition, two honorable mentions will each receive an Apple iPad.
The call for entries opens April 7 and the deadline for submissions closes July 31, 2011. Panel and public judging takes place August 15 through September 12, 2011 and the winners will be announced in October 2011. Entrants retain full ownership of the intellectual property of their solutions and may add them to SciVerse Applications as either free or user-paid apps.
"With SciVerse we introduced a powerful platform to enable a new way for search and discovery leveraging applications. 'AppsforScience' is our way of sparking innovation and collaboration among the scientific community and encouraging the development of applications by researchers and developers," explained Rafael Sidi, Vice President, Application Marketplace and Developer Network at Elsevier. "We're impressed with the creativity we have seen during several recent challenges, so I am particularly excited to see the new applications created by the developer community to improve scientists' research experience."
Launched in November 2010, SciVerse Applications ( http://www.applications.sciverse.com/action/userhome) and the Developer Network (http://developer.sciverse.com/) allow the scientific community and developers to build and use applications that enhance the research experience. Through SciVerse Applications, researchers and librarians can collaborate with developers to create new applications and customize their SciVerse search and discovery workflow. The Developer Network features a community for developers and opens up opportunities for developers to gain recognition, prestige and revenue through the contribution of new applications to SciVerse.
To enter and for complete official rules and additional information regarding the Apps for Science Challenge, please visit http://www.appsforscience.com.
About the Elsevier SciVerse Suite
The SciVerse (http://www.sciverse.com) suite of search and discovery offerings provides the global research community access to a constantly expanding universe of content and solutions which can now be accessed in one platform. The suite currently includes SciVerse ScienceDirect ( http://www.sciencedirect.com), the world's largest source of peer-reviewed content containing more than 10 million articles, and SciVerse Scopus (http://www.scopus.com), an abstract and citation database containing 41 million records, 70% with abstracts and nearly 18,000 titles from 5,000 publishers worldwide. The platform also includes SciVerse Hub beta (http://www.hub.sciverse.com), which enables researchers to perform a single search across all of the SciVerse content as well as targeted web content with results ranked by relevancy and without duplication. SciVerse Applications (http://www.applications.sciverse.com) and Developer Network (http://www.developers.sciverse.com) allow the scientific community to build, find and use applications that enhance the SciVerse research experience.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com/) and Cell (http://www.cell.com/), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), SciVerse Scopus (http://www.scopus.com/), Reaxys (http://www.reaxys.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/) and Nursing Consult ( http://www.nursingconsult.com/), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (http://www.scival.com/) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (http://www.medai.com/), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier ( http://www.elsevier.com/) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
Media Contact Sandra Plasse/Jennifer Saunders +1-212-752-8338 splasse@psbpr.com jsaunders@psbpr.com
Elsevier
CONTACT: Media Contact: Sandra Plasse/Jennifer Saunders, +1-212-752-8338,
splasse@psbpr.com , jsaunders@psbpr.com
