JISC Collections has agreed a deal to provide UK Further and Higher Education institutions with free access to 800,000 searchable journal articles.

The online journal archive material will come from the American Chemical Society, Brill Academic Publishers, ProQuest and Taylor and Francis.

Established in 2006, JISC Collections was set up on behalf of the UK, FE and HE communities to negotiate with publishers and other digital content holders. The latest agreement includes access to 230 peer reviewed journals covering topics across academia and the sciences. Topics include the arts, humanities, physical, life and social sciences. All bids from content holders for their archived material were ranked by the academic community based on quality, value for money and suitability for the needs of JISC’s community of users.

Commenting on the agreement Dr Hazel Woodward, University Librarian and Director of the University Press at Cranfield University said “The competitiveness of UK universities requires access for their researchers to relevant journal material of the widest subject breadth and greatest historical depth, both now and into the future.”

In addition, Liam Earney, JISC Collections Team Manager added “JISC Collections’ archival purchases are already saving the academic community millions of pounds every year, these agreements will add to those savings and increase the availability scholarly content.”