ProQuest acquires IBSS

London School of Economics’ classic social sciences database joins ProQuest family

Press release: 15 January 2010

ANN ARBOR, Mich., January 14, 2010 - ProQuest, an information technology firm supporting global research, has acquired the London School of Economics’ classic International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS). Established in 1951, IBSS is the foremost Abstracting and Indexing database for social science and interdisciplinary research, currently holding more than 2.5 million bibliographic references to journal articles as well as to books, reviews and chapters. IBSS also expands by more than 120,000 new additions each year.

“As the information world becomes more complex, the role of accurate, comprehensive A&I – the guideposts to content – becomes more essential,” said Marty Kahn, ProQuest CEO.

“IBSS is a natural fit for ProQuest because of its authoritative A&I that directs researchers to the best, most credible content in their field.”

ProQuest has a well established relationship with IBSS, distributing its content as part of ProQuest’s vast support of academic research in social studies. IBSS is valued by researchers for its broad coverage of international material, with records in more than 100 languages from as many countries. As part of the ProQuest family, IBSS will continue its aggressive growth and expand full-text links, making it even more efficient for researchers. Further, as ProQuest migrates its content to a groundbreaking, unified platform, IBSS will be cross-searchable with the breadth of the library’s ProQuest content.

IBSS was compiled until 1989 at the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, under the auspices of the International Committee for Social Science Information and Documentation (ICSSD), a UNESCO-affiliated NGO. In 1989 it moved to the Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science and for several years it has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. In addition, print volumes are published annually and will continue to be available from Routledge.

“As our funding for IBSS is coming to an end, the acquisition by ProQuest assures a secure future for this essential research tool,” said Jean Sykes, Chief Information Officer at LSE. ”We're delighted that IBSS has found a home in a company that understands both the content and its users. We feel absolutely confident that this step will increase the access to and usefulness of IBSS.”

The transaction was brokered by Bertoli Mitchell.

To learn more about ProQuest’s ability to propel research and discovery, visit proquest.com.

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