Elsevier Announces MathJax Now Available on ScienceDirect

AMSTERDAM, April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

New feature supports researchers in displaying and reading high-quality, fully-scalable mathematical symbols and equations online

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical products and services, today announces the incorporation of MathJax into research papers published online on ScienceDirect. Developed through a collaboration of industry associations, MathJax is a new technology for high-quality, crisp display of mathematical symbols and equations on the web.

With the inclusion of MathJax, ScienceDirect can now display high-resolution, fully scalable symbols and equations seamlessly with the surrounding text, improving the readability and interpretation of authors' research. With this development readers have the ability to magnify equations within an article for closer look, as well as copy and save equations for further research.

"Displaying mathematics and science online is challenging because of limited and inconsistent browser support for web standards such as MathML," said Peter Krautzberger, MathJax Manager. "MathJax leverages existing web technology such as cascading style sheets and web fonts to provide reliable, clear and accessible rendering. The integration of MathJax within ScienceDirect is a big boost for mathematical and scientific content as it is now displayed natively and accessibly in all articles published in Elsevier journals."

There are no further requirements for authors, editors and reviewers to benefit from MathJax. As part of the typesetting process, Elsevier converts mathematical symbols and equations included in submitted manuscripts into MathML, the World Wide Web Consortium standard for mathematics on the web. MathJax has the capability of displaying the generated MathML, ensuring that past and future articles published online on ScienceDirect can benefit from the enhanced display.

"Technology enhancements such as MathJax on ScienceDirect support our ongoing efforts to improve the ease-of-use of the research we publish and integrate user-friendly solutions," says Laura Hassink, Senior Vice President Physical Sciences at Elsevier. "We believe this feature will greatly benefit authors, researchers and the mathematics community as a whole."

The initiative to develop MathJax as a feature was launched in 2009 by the American Mathematical Society, Design Science, Inc., and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Elsevier was one of its first supporters making a commitment to support researchers who want to display and read mathematics on the web. Employing MathJax into research papers published online on ScienceDirect further extends this commitment by enhancing the usability and readability of Elsevier's content to benefit researchers for the long-term.

For more information or to discover the additional benefits of MathJax and learn how to activate MathJax on ScienceDirect go to: http://www.elsevier.com/physical-sciences/mathematics/mathjax 

About MathJax

MathJax was initiated in 2009 by the American Mathematical Society (AMS), Design Science and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) with the aim of developing a universal, robust, and easy-to-use solution to display mathematics on the web. MathJax's open source JavaScript library provides high-quality display on all browsers and platforms without the need for readers to install plugins or fonts. Using MathJax also enables copy&paste of equations and is compatible with accessibility tools for vision and learning disabilities. The MathJax Consortium is supported by numerous sponsors. For more information, go to http://www.mathjax.org

About ScienceDirect

ScienceDirect is a world premier full-text scientific database offering journal articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and 11,000 books. The platform offers search and retrieval functionalities that enable users to work effectively in the knowledge discovery process. ScienceDirect aims to revolutionize the traditional format of the academic paper; interactive elements, enhanced online-readability, alerting services, and linking options to external datasets help researchers to build insights at the article level. ScienceDirect now has more than 10 million users; its wide reach makes it an ideal place for scientists to publish and disseminate their research findings.

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 ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's 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 provider of professional information solutions. The group employs more than 30,000 people, including more than 15,000 in North America. Reed Elsevier Group plc is owned equally by two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. Their shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL.

Media contact

Evalyne Wanjiru
Elsevier
+31-20-485-2098
e.wanjiru@elsevier.com