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Free access to physics archive for universities
Institute of Physics
24 January 2005
Universities to get free access to UK’s biggest archive of physics research
In a move to open-up access to scientific research, an initiative announced today will provide free access to the UK’s biggest archive of physics research, saving libraries at UK universities £30,000 each.
A special agreement, announced today by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Institute of Physics (IoP), will make the contents of the IoP’s digital journal archive between 1874 and 1998 permanently accessible to higher and further education institutions in the UK. The deal will have a major impact on physics education and research in this country by making some of the most important discoveries of the last 130 years freely available for the first time.
The archive includes over 110,000 articles and over 1.5 million pages of physics research including papers by Sir John Fleming, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, Lord Rayleigh and Sir Edward Appleton.
The archive contains some of the most important breakthroughs in physics. In 1903, Sir Ernest Rutherford set out all the essential features of the physics of radioactivity (for which he won the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1908) in the journal Proceedings of the Physical Society. The archive also contains papers by British Nobel-prizewinning physicist Sir Edward Appleton, whose pioneering work on radio waves made radar possible.
More recent Nobel laureates whose work has appeared in the Institute of Physics Journal Archive include Harry Kroto, Herbert Kroemer, Anthony J Leggett and Vitaly Ginzburg.
The Institute of Physics comprehensively digitized its historic journal archive back to 1874 in 2002. The entire archive now represents some £30,000 worth of material and the agreement between JISC and the IoP means that significant savings can be made by all UK universities.
Jerry Cowhig, Managing Director of the Institute of Physics Publishing said: “The Institute of Physics aims to ensure that every UK scientist who needs to read any paper it has published can do so. This agreement means that more libraries than ever before will be able to afford access to the UK’s biggest archive of physics research”.
Liam Earney, Collections Manager at JISC, said: “This is an important national agreement for the higher education community. It means that universities can get free access to valuable research covering many of the key developments in physics from the last 130 years. JISC is delighted to have worked with the Institute of Physics and colleagues throughout higher education to make this possible.”
Further information
UK higher and further education institutions are able to obtain further information on the Institute of Physics Journal Archive and download a licence agreement by visiting the JISC website here
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