Elsevier Opens ChemSearch Challenge, Allowing Chemists to Demonstrate How Fast They Can Find Relevant Information

BOSTON, September 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Challenge will run for 12 weeks, with weekly leaderboards and prizes  

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced that the Reaxys ChemSearch Challenge is now live. In the series of 12 weekly online quizzes, chemists can use their preferred chemistry database or search engine to find the information they need to correctly answer research questions. The contest will record chemists' respose times and score accuracy, measuring how quickly chemists can operate and identifying bottlenecks in research.

Scores of entrants have already signed up and are currently facing the first quiz, on September 8^th 2015. New entrants can sign up for the challenge at any time: chemists can register, or tackle quizzes, at http://www.chemistrysearcher.com.  

"Chemists are currently facing an unprecedented deluge of data. As digital channels proliferate, and scientific output doubles every nine years, the ability to integrate, access, filter and understand the relevance of information is critical," said Thibault Géoui, Elsevier's Director of Marketing, Chemistry & biomedical Solutions. "Those old search methods that supported chemists so well in the 20^th century are no longer suitable for this environment, and could even slow the pace of discovery in science. Over the next 12 weeks, we expect the ChemSearch Challenge to help identify and understand the key bottlenecks in search; whether these come from comprehensiveness without understanding, or a lack of a filter to identify truly worthwhile information."

The Challenge runs for 12 weeks. Quizzes are updated weekly, with a leaderboard tracking the best-performing entrants for each quiz and weekly charity donation prizes. Chemists can sign up for the challenge at any time, as well as following the challenge via the #ChemSearch hashtag and sharing results with their peers over social media. For more information, or to register for and follow the ChemSearch Challenge, please visit http://www.chemistrysearcher.com.

About Reaxys 

Reaxys empowers chemistry research and development by providing structure, property and reaction data, experimental procedures and literature. It is designed to support early drug discovery, education, material selection and synthesis planning; its capabilities include data export and integration to enable harmonized analysis of in-house and external data. Reaxys improves R&D productivity by delivering the facts the way chemists need them. For more information about Reaxys, visit elsevier.com/solutions/reaxys.
Reaxys is a trade mark of Reed Elsevier Properties SA, used under license.

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 more than 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com

Media contact
Christopher Capot
Director, Corporate Relations
Elsevier
+1-917-704-5174
c.capot@elsevier.com