Elsevier Adds New Functionality to its SciVal Strata Performance Evaluation Tool

AMSTERDAM, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Enhanced functionality essential to selecting and assessing a researcher's most impactful papers

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, has added a new enhancement to SciVal Strata, a web-based performance evaluation tool that allows users to conduct highly customized performance assessments of research teams and individual researchers. The new functionality provides the capacity for objective assessment of a specific selection of a researcher's work in addition to their complete publication output. This option is critical when selecting the most impactful papers to be submitted for various government or institutional assessments. In addition the enhanced functionality will prove useful to individuals applying for grants and showing funders the impact of the research they supported.

SciVal Strata is a flexible benchmarking tool providing multi-tier analysis of team and researcher performance such as productivity, citation history, and collaboration activity. The added functionality was developed in global collaboration with users and with Elsevier's online community of research administrators.

The new functionality to SciVal Strata will help administrators and researchers:

• Apply for funding by demonstrating the value of research carried out to the supporting funding source.  
• Secure tenure in the U.S. through the evaluation of four hand-selected papers.
• Submit four papers per researcher for the UKs Research Excellence Framework national assessment exercise
• Assess researchers based upon a selection of their work connected to a specific institution.

"At Elsevier we are in the business of enhancing the scientific research processes," said Niels Weertman, Vice President, SciVal, at Elsevier.  "Scientific research is about helping to solve some of the world's most pressing problems; our comprehensive range of resources and tools allow our customers to be more productive and increase the quality and value of their work, rather than spending time on paperwork. The new SciVal Strata functionality will help researchers and administrators fulfill requirements set by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and other national guidelines. It is part of our mission and commitment to the scientific community to support their vital work."

About the Elsevier SciVal Suite

Elsevier's SciVal® suite of services supports academic and government leadership in evaluating, establishing and executing research strategies that optimize the performance of existing assets and maximize investments to enhance near and long-term productivity. SciVal tools leverage Scopus® data, Elsevier's trusted source of bibliometric data, to offer innovative yet authoritative solutions. Current suite offerings include: SciVal Spotlight, a strategic tool that generates unique institutional and country maps of existing and emerging research strengths based on an interdisciplinary perspective of current performance; SciVal Funding, an online solution that provides targeted recommendations on grants to pursue based on pre-populated research profiles and historical awards; SciVal Strata, a web-based research performance tool that offers users the flexibility to construct relevant contextual data to evaluate research teams or individual researchers, using a range of indicators based on Scopus data; SciVal Experts, a semantic technology-based application that enables researchers to identify and locate sources of expertise at an individual or departmental level within and across institutions.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider 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 and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, 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
Catherine Gold
Elsevier
+1-212-462-1965
c.gold@elsevier.com