ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 29, 2007 - ProQuest CSA and Elsevier have signed an agreement to make tables, figures, and other illustrations from a premium selection of Elsevier's natural science journals available through CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences. The first database of the CSA Illustrata family, CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences provides access to more than one million records from notable scholarly journals. CSA Illustrata is a web-based solution providing access to indexed tables, figures, and other objects found in scholarly research literature. CSA Illustrata provides greater precision, efficiency, and relevance in researching graphical content.

 "For many researchers in the natural sciences, the first step in writing a research paper is to assemble all the illustrations and images, and then write the text to explain what is contained in the data presented in them," said Matt Dunie, president of ProQuest CSA. "We are pleased that illustrations from Elsevier, one of the world's preeminent scientific publishers, will be available to researchers within CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences" 

Key Elsevier natural science journals include: Deep-Sea Research Part I, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, FEBS Letters, Toxicology, and Virology.  These titles will be cross-searchable in CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences with more than 1,100 peer-reviewed journals from notable publishers including Blackwell Publishing (ProQuest CSA's development partner), Taylor & Francis, Oxford University Press, BioOne, and Walter de Gruyter. 

CSA Illustrata is the first digital resource specifically dedicated to data presented in tables, figures, charts, illustrations, and their captions, revealing results that are more defined than traditional article-level indexing and full-text-level searching.  CSA Illustrata uses Deep Indexing, the granular indexing and categorizing of data presented in tables, figures, maps, photos and charts, allowing researchers to significantly enhance the precision and recall in their search process.  Researchers can view the full object, including all caption and label text.    Objects can be easily saved or imported with their citations to be used in presentations, lectures, or research.  In addition, CSA Illustrata provides instant linking from the retrieved illustration to the full-text of the article in which it appears.

The first release of CSA Illustrata focuses on Natural Sciences and provides access to more than one million records.  Forthcoming CSA Illustrata releases are planed in other key research areas.  Additional information about CSA Illustrata as well as the concept and research behind Deep Indexing is available at info.csa.com/csaillustrata. 

About ProQuest

About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.

More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.

For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.