Elsevier Launches Series of Application Development Competitions to Empower Collaboration Amongst Students, Researchers and Developers

ANKARA, Turkey, April 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

First CodeForScience competition to promote access to Elsevier content and support development of custom solutions takes place in Turkey

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, has launched CodeForScience (CFS), a global series of application development competitions for scientists, researchers and developers. The first on-line competition of the series is now underway through Sunday, May 13, 2012, at 23:59 EET, and is co-sponsored by Elsevier and the Middle East Technical University (METU), located in Ankara, Turkey. Winners will be announced on May 26, 2012.

The competition brings together software developers of diverse backgrounds to build applications that increase research productivity and enhance the scientific discovery process. Entries will be evaluated based on originality, usability and added value to researchers in specific domains or to the general research workflow. Submissions will be judged by professors and information management experts from Atilim University, Bogazici University, Hacettepe University, METU, Informascope and Elsevier.

"Knowledge is no longer enough, it should be shared with others in order to improve ourselves," said Professor Kursat Cagiltay, Department of Information Systems, METU. "As researchers, we all benefit from continuous improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of our research activities, which in turn help us to access scholarly research, select quality sources, make meaningful connections with the materials, and increase our research productivity. I believe that CodeForScience will create an opportunity to develop new research solutions. I am already excited about the results of the competition."

CodeForScience Turkey is co-organized by METU and Informascope, a company specializing in providing information services to academic and research centers in Turkey and Central Asia.

"CodeForScience brings students, researchers, and developers together to create solutions that improve researcher efficiency," said Rafael Sidi, Vice President, Application Marketplace and Developer Network, Elsevier.  "Our goal is to increase collaboration with academic institutions and researchers around the world, and we are excited to bring the first CodeForScience to Turkey."    

CodeForScience has evolved from the 24-hour 'hackathons' sponsored by Elsevier in 2011 at universities around the world, to promote app development and collaborative learning. Participants may use their own pre-built code and open source technologies and can create mash-ups with Elsevier content. Participants retain ownership of intellectual property on submitted entries.

Winners of CodeForScience Turkey will be invited to showcase their application at the 'CFS Talk & Awards' event on Saturday, May 26,2012 at METU.  First prize winners will win a prize of 7,000 TL with second prize, third prize and honorable mention also receiving 4,000 TL; 2,000 TL; 1,000 TL, respectively for their efforts.  

Application submissions will be accepted online and competition is open to residents of Turkey.  Participation guidelines are available at http://www.codeforscience.com/turkey. For more information about CodeForScience, please visit:  http://codeforscience.com.  The next CodeForScience will take place in India from May 5-July 29, 2012 with Indian Institute of Science and Institute of Bioinformatics.  

About the Elsevier SciVerse Suite

The SciVerse® 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®, the world's largest source of peer-reviewed content containing more than 10 million articles, and SciVerse Scopus®, an abstract and citation database containing 41 million records, 70% with abstracts and nearly 19,500 titles from 5,000 publishers worldwide. The platform also includes SciVerse Hub 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. Applications and Developer Network allow the scientific community to build, find and use applications that enhance the SciVerse research experience.

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 andCell, 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