Contact: Michael Miyazaki
(301) 961-6761 or E-mail: mmiyazaki@csa.com

For Immediate Release

Scholarly Tables, Figures & Illustrations Now Searchable

CSA Illustrata Revolutionizing A&I with Deep Indexing

BETHESDA, Maryland (22 December 2006) -- Researchers can now specifically search information presented in tables, figures, charts, and other illustrations within scholarly articles using CSA Illustrata, a resource being introduced by CSA. This information has not been separately searchable and accessible before. The process of indexing this type of content is called Deep Indexing.

"We identified the need for Deep Indexing a long time ago. In fact, as early as 2000, we have been on record suggesting this will be the next evolution of secondary publishing," said Matt Dunie, president of CSA.

"When researchers look for information or publications that have concepts and data presented primarily through tables, figures, maps, and other media objects, neither traditional article-level indexing nor full-text-level search and retrieval yield suitable results. By indexing and categorizing the variables defined in tables, figures, and content presented in maps, photos and charts, researchers can significantly enhance the precision and recall in their search process."

Using CSA Illustrata, researchers can specifically search information presented in tables, figures, charts, and other illustrations within articles. Researchers can then view the full object, including all caption and label text. Results can be easily saved or imported and used for presentations, lectures, or research.

CSA has been working on the development of CSA Illustrata for 24 months. Development included extensive end-user and library research that validate many use-cases for Deep Indexing. Some of the end-user research is available on the CSA Illustrata Web site: info.csa.com/csaillustrata.

"CSA Illustrata is a direct result of CSA's commitment to create information services that take full advantage of technology to aid researchers in their quest for discovery," said Dunie. "It represents a dramatic step forward in searching, giving researchers a powerful tool that provides precision, efficiency, and relevance in the discovery process."

In the market research that has been done for CSA Illustrata, researchers were enthusiastic about its capacity to provide faster and more efficient searching with smaller, more precise results sets. In addition, researchers anticipated CSA Illustrata's usefulness for locating and retrieving data of particular types, such as tables, graphs, figures, maps, and photographs. This was seen as beneficial for preparing lectures, talks, and presentations. Moreover, researchers identified the utility of CSA Illustrata for making comparisons between their own work and the work of others; comparing the work of multiple other researchers for a variety of purposes; and putting their work into the context of research in a specific discipline.

CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences is the first database available through the service; initially it will provide access to nearly one million illustrations, charts, graphs, maps, and other figures from more than 665 journals. CSA is planning to release additional databases focused on the social sciences, technology, and arts/humanities. In addition, CSA is enriching its traditional A&I databases with content related to tables and figures.

Blackwell Publishing is CSA's development partner for CSA Illustrata. The service features content from Blackwell Publishing and a wide range of other scholarly publishers.

Additional information about CSA Illustrata and the concept and research behind Deep Indexing is available at info.csa.com/csaillustrata.

Named as an EContent "Top 100" company for every year since the list's debut in 2001, CSA serves as a guide to researchers to facilitate their effectiveness by enabling and expediting discovery, aiding the management and organization of quality information, and providing tools to assist in its subsequent dissemination. CSA specializes in publishing and distributing in print and electronically 100 bibliographic and full-text databases and journals in four primary editorial areas: natural sciences, social sciences, arts & humanities, and technology. MultiSearch, Ulrich's, COS Funding Opportunities, Community of Scholars, and PapersInvited are also available through CSA. A privately held company, CSA is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, with offices throughout the U.S. as well as in such locations as Australia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Researchers in more than 4,400 institutions in 80 countries use CSA's information resources. CSA has been a leader in publishing and an innovator in the information field for over 35 years. www.csa.com

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For further information, contact Michael Miyazaki, Marketing Manager, CSA (Tel. +1 301 961 6761 / E-mail: mmiyazaki@csa.com).

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