Oxford, September 11, 2014 – Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce that, together with leading experts in the field, it has established the Elsevier Materials Science Council: a discipline-specific initiative to raise the profile and support the efforts of the materials science research community across the globe.
Over the next three years, in close coordination with Elsevier, the Council will undertake a raft of activities to help support the materials science research community.
Its main objectives are three-fold:
- Enhance sharing and communicating of scientific information and data through new technology platforms and pathways
- Helping researchers communicate the importance of materials science to the general public
- Supporting researchers working in difficult conditions or in countries with limited access to scientific information and infrastructure
Professor Subra Suresh, former director of the US National Science Foundation and current president of Carnegie Mellon University, will lead the Council. The team will further consist of internationally recognized academic leaders including Professor Choon Fong Shih, former president of the National University of Singapore and founding president of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia and now consultant to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing; Professor Peter Gudmundson, president of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden; and Professor N. Balakrishnan, former Associate Director of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.
Speaking on behalf of the Elsevier Materials Science Council, Professor Suresh said, "Rapid changes in technology and the increasingly widespread global access to knowledge and information generated by such technology are not only creating new opportunities, but also challenges for research funders, performers, publishers and the general public. With the launch of the Council and in close collaboration with the journals and the community, we hope to facilitate new modes of disseminating scientific data and information that will benefit materials research on a global scale."
With Elsevier as the home of Materials Today and publisher of over 100 leading materials science journals, including Acta Materialia, Acta Biomaterialia, Biomaterials, Carbon, Journal of the European Ceramics Society, Nano Today, Nano Energy, Polymer, and Progress in Materials Science, the Council will also serve to support editors explore new initiatives in the publication and dissemination of scientific information, including Open Access models and innovations in peer review. As the materials science field has increasingly become a hub for interdisciplinary research, including among other disciplines engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and nanoscience, the Council hopes its efforts will also reinforce collaboration at the boundaries of established areas where truly revolutionary breakthroughs will be made.
According to Deborah Logan, Publishing Director for Materials Science at Elsevier, the Council and Elsevier will together to develop ideas which benefit the research community which would otherwise be too difficult to tackle alone. "We want to address the challenges facing the materials science community and generate solutions that will benefit all," explained Logan.
The first Council program will involve highlighting the impact materials science has on society through a series of online lectures that everyone can access and understand. More information on this initiative is available on MaterialsToday.com.
About Materials Today
Materials Today is a community dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience. Supported by Elsevier, we publish high impact peer-reviewed journals, organize academic conferences, broadcast educational webinars and more.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions — among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence, and ClinicalKey — and publishes nearly 2,200 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and over 25,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works.
The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, 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
Stewart Bland
Elsevier
+44 1865 843124
s.bland@elsevier.com