News & Announcements 7/19/12

Today’s News:  AGU partners with Wiley; EBSCO enhances medical ebook collection;  Univ. of Missouri Press has a new “digital” plan; Microsoft’s Office 2013 ready for tablets; and Oxford University Press acquires a new journal.

American Geophysical Union and Wiley-Blackwell Announce Publishing Partnership

“The American Geophysical Union, the world’s leading society of Earth and space science, and Wiley-Blackwell, the scientific, medical, technical and scholarly business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE: JWa and JWb), a global provider of content and content-enabled services in research, professional development, and education, announced today that the AGU has selected Wiley-Blackwell as its publishing partner for its portfolio of journals and books. The new partnership will be effective January 2013, subject to completion of a publishing agreement in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding signed last week…”

EBSCO Publishing’s Medical E-book Collection Now Includes Elsevier Health Science Titles

“An agreement between EBSCO Publishing and Elsevier has … enhanced the e-book medical collection available through eBooks on EBSCOhost®. The agreement adds 965 health science titles to EBSCO’s medical e-book collection with over 580 of the titles representing coverage from 2010 to the present…”

 After outcry, University of Missouri presents new plan for press

After enduring two months of criticism over a decision to phase out the University of Missouri Press, university leaders said Monday that they will replace the press with a “re-imagined” digital publishing operation at MU… University officials said the new press will have expanded digital publishing and more opportunities for faculty and student research. It will operate more like a publishing laboratory, with a senior editorial staff mentoring student interns…  The idea presented Monday for a new University Press failed to mollify some who said they still see it as an execution of the 54-year-old book publishing operation. “The assertion from University Hall that it is not killing the press but creating a new, more sustainable model is mere cover for the destruction,” author and MU alum William Least Heat-Moon wrote in a letter to the Columbia Daily Tribune …”

First Look: Microsoft’s new Office 2013 is built for tablet users

According this article from TabTimes.com “On Monday, Microsoft took the wrapping off an updated version of their flagship Office productivity suite at a media event in San Francisco. Dubbed Office 2013, the latest version of Office sports a touch-friendly interface, and promises seamless access to apps and data across desktop computers, as well as tablets…”

But don’t stop here.  It’s more complicated than it sounds.  According to the article “the new version of Office is really several different editions, with different prices, access methods, and even different names…”

Oxford University Press acquires joint ownership of Journal of Surgical Case Reports

“Oxford University Press (OUP) has just announced a major new acquisition that will see the publisher take joint ownership of the Journal of Surgical Case Reports (JSCR).

Editor Julien Al Shakarchi said, “The move to Oxford University Press marks a new exciting chapter for the Journal of Surgical Case Reports… OUP was the natural partner for the journal. The editorial team looks forward to this new exciting partnership and to seeing the title flourish into the premier case report journal.”

OUP is to take a 50 per cent share in the title from January 2013 in a new long-term collaboration which will continue to strengthen OUP’s Medicine collection and its Open Access programme.