AMSTERDAM, September 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - Optimizes Grant Seeking Process by Integrating Current Funding Opportunities with Historical Award Information and Publication Data Elsevier, a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the launch of SciVal Funding, a comprehensive funding intelligence solution for U.S. research institutions. The platform helps researchers locate the most appropriate grant opportunities in order to maximize their potential to receive funding. Securing funding is an essential step in a researcher's workflow. Due to the labor intensive and demanding nature of the process, researchers may spend up to one third of their time seeking grant opportunities and preparing proposals - often with limited success. As research becomes increasingly multidisciplinary, collaborative and international, securing funding is inherently more competitive. Recognizing these challenges, SciVal Funding is designed to optimize the pre-award stages of the process, leading researchers and research administrators to grants with the greatest potential for success by integrating current funding opportunities with publication information and historical award data. SciVal Funding allows users to routinely search over 5,000 grant sources, including federal funding bodies and private foundations. Updated daily, funding opportunities can be explored by subject area, award type, deadline or amount. In addition, by fully cataloguing limited submission programs, research administrators may set up necessary internal review mechanisms in a timely way. Access to a comprehensive pool of funding opportunities as well as the ability to uncover new sources of financial support is especially critical in these difficult economic times. Moreover, the solution provides customized recommendations and alerts by matching funding opportunity data to pre-populated research profiles that are continuously updated. This eliminates the need to create a summary of each investigator's body of work and allows users to run searches on their own as well as other researchers' profiles. These recommendations can also serve as guideposts to junior faculty regarding which funding sources to pursue, particularly as the early grants in a young researcher's career are critical to building a solid track record. Another advantage of the solution is the integrated funding award information. The historical data on what grants were awarded to which researcher and at which specific institution, provides vital insight into the funding environment. This intelligence enables researchers to more accurately estimate their award chances, tailor their proposal, find collaborators and ultimately better compete for grants. Research administrators may also use this award information for performance measurement, evaluation and strategic planning purposes. "The fragmented and fast-changing nature of today's research funding environment, combined with the limited time and resources of researchers, is driving a need to rethink the current approach to the grant-seeking process," explained Josine Stallinga for Elsevier's Academic and Government Group. "SciVal Funding helps users make smarter decisions when it comes to determining which research grants to pursue as well as the most appropriate way to pursue them. Ultimately, reducing time spent searching for funding enables scientists to focus on what's really important -- their research." On June 30, 2009, Elsevier hosted a webcast discussing the challenges of today's funding environment and offering an overview of the SciVal Funding solution. To view a recording of the virtual event, please visit http://info.funding.scival.com/webcast3/, and for information on the tool, please visit http://www.info.funding.scival.com/. About the Elsevier SciVal Suite The SciVal suite of services delivers intelligence solutions to help the academic and government research communities evaluate, establish and execute their research strategies more effectively. The suite currently includes SciVal Spotlight and SciVal Funding. With traditional research performance measurement options unable to capture the reality of today's multidisciplinary scientific landscape, the SciVal Spotlight tool is designed to provide research managers with a more accurate picture of any institution's unique research strengths and opportunities. SciVal Funding is an online funding intelligence solution that enables researchers and research administrators to better compete for research funding. The tool provides access to over 5,000 funding sources and includes targeted recommendations based on pre-populated research profiles as well as an extensive history of awarded grants. For more information on the SciVal Suite, please visit http://www.scival.com/. About Elsevier Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com/) and Cell (http://www.cell.com/), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), Scopus (http://www.scopus.com/), Reaxys (http://www.reaxys.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/) and Nursing Consult (http://www.nursingconsult.com/), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (http://www.scival.com/) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (http://www.medai.com/), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively. A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange). Jessica Disch +1-212-752-8338 Amanda Sham +1-212-752-8338 DATASOURCE: Elsevier CONTACT: Jessica Disch, +1-212-752-8338, ; Amanda Sham, Phone: +1-212-752-8338,

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