Reed Elsevier has acquired the Beilstein Database, a prominent database covering the organic chemistry field. The deal further cements the relationship between Elsevier and the database. Elsevier has played an integral role in the production and marketing of the database since 1998. Nearly 5 million compounds have been added or updated by Elsevier during that time.

The Beilstein Database's records date back to 1771. The overall database contains more than 9.8 million compounds, 10 million reactions and 320 million experimental data on chemical properties. The database also includes more than 900,000 original author abstracts from 1980 to the present.

This acquisition really just finalizes a partnership that has apparently well served both Elsevier and the Beilstein Database's former owner, the Beilstein-Institut, for nearly a decade. Look for Elsevier to bolster the contents and functionality of the database even further as the STM publishing giant utilizes resources it already has in the chemical field. Currently, the company's Crossfire and DiscoverGate interfaces allow customers to link between Scopus (Elsevier's abstract and indexing database) and the chemical reactions and compounds housed in the Beilstein Database. The connection among Elsevier's scientific properties will undoubtedly grow as the publisher continues to respond to a user base now accustomed to tools that are seamlessly integrated into the workflow.

R.R. Bowker last week launched a business intelligence tool for its publishing industry clients. PubTrack Consumer will serve as a source of marketing information publishers have always struggled to find. The new product provides data on consumer book purchases as well as demographic and behavior profiles of the purchasers.

PubTrack Consumer's database is comprised of information Bowker collects from a group of men and women (aged 13 and older) on a weekly basis. These individuals are asked, in a survey, a list of 60 core questions and as many as 15 proprietary questions submitted by PubTrack Consumer clients. Bowker has outsourced the panel and survey functions to a couple of U.S.-based market research firms.

PubTrack Consumer fits neatly into R.R. Bowker's suite of tools geared toward the information needs of the publishing industry. It also meets an ever-increasing demand for sales and marketing analytics tools that enable publishers to more easily and efficiently analyze their own sales data and adjust their strategies accordingly. Targeted customer data is typically difficult to obtain, so publishers will surely benefit from the in-depth look PubTrack Consumer promises to provide. Bowker has already signed on Random House as a subscriber to the new service and other prominent publishing houses are sure to follow.