AIP Partners with Portico to Digitally Archive All of AIP's Electronically Published Material

MELVILLE, NEW YORK, 26 July 2006 —The American Institute of Physics has contracted with Portico, an independent digital archiving service for the publishing and library community, to retain and preserve the information in AIP journals, proceedings, and other publications that are published electronically. The archival record will include the back issues of all publications, starting with the first issue of each that was originally published electronically. Archival versions will be stored in multiple locations to ensure the safety and integrity of the files.

"AIP was a pioneer in committing to digital archiving, formulating our first policy statement on the subject nearly 10 years ago," said Darlene Walters, Senior Vice President for Publishing for AIP. "We've since visited with our library clients to learn their concerns and requirements, and our agreement with Portico reflects the input we received. Portico will help us carry out the tenets of our archiving policy."

"Successful preservation of electronic journals depends upon cooperation and collaboration between libraries, publishers and trusted-third party archives, such as Portico" said Eileen Fenton, Portico Executive Director. "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the AIP to ensure that this important scholarly literature is safely preserved for the long term."

"Not only will AIP archive its own materials with Portico, we will also offer an archival management service to any publisher on AIP's Scitation online hosting service who wants to work with Portico," said Jim Donohue, AIP's Senior Director of Publishing Services. "At a time when nearly a full third of all library expenditures are devoted to electronic resources, publishers owe it to their customers to provide the best security possible for their electronic products."

Portico's (www.portico.org) mission is to preserve scholarly literature published in electronic form and to ensure that these materials remain accessible to future generations of scholars, researchers and students. Support for Portico is provided by participating publishers and libraries, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and its Ithaka subsidiary, The Library of Congress, and JSTOR.

The American Institute of Physics (www.aip.org) is a not-for-profit corporation with a mission to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics and related fields of science and engineering and its applications to human welfare. Today, in addition to publishing magazines and journals, AIP provides composition, printing, fulfillment, marketing, and other services to science and engineering publishers. AIP also fulfills its mandate by operating Scitation, the online home of more than 140 leading journals published by 20 science and engineering societies.

For more information, contact:
Tim Ingoldsby
Phone: +1 516 576 2265
Fax: +1 516 576 2327
Email: tingoldsby@aip.org