PRESS RELEASE FROM NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
25 February 2009

Contact: Grace Baynes
Corporate PR Planner, Nature Publishing Group
T:+44 (0)20 7014 4063
g.baynes@nature.com

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and Palgrave Macmillan Journals (PMJ) are delighted to announce that upgraded usage statistic reporting is now available for all online publications. With immediate effect, NPG and PMJ statistic reports now include the additional reports and services required by the new COUNTER Release 3, including SUSHI (Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative). The enhanced statistics reporting is provided by MPS Insight, a new service for publishers from Macmillan sister company MPS Technologies.

The move to MPS Insight provides site license customers with a much-improved service including more timely reports and consolidated consortia statistics. Reports are now also available in XML (eXtensible Markup Language), in addition to the familiar CSV (Comma separated value) formats that can be opened in Microsoft Excel. XML reports can be automatically harvested into local systems using SUSHI, with time-saving benefits for librarians and library consortium administrators. Reports meet the criteria set by COUNTER Release 3, which publishers must comply with by August 2009 in order to retain their COUNTER-compliant status.

MPS Insight offers an attractive, easy-to-use interface, allowing customers to make real-time changes to accounts and create additional user accounts for non-library staff. The service has been very well received by a group of librarians invited to beta test the new service; over 96% rated MPS Insight as "easy" or "very easy to use".

John Carroll, Chief Operating Officer at NPG, said "MPS Insight provides the standard that our customers expect. Usage reports are incredibly important and we are proud that NPG is leading the way by delivering reports that meet COUNTER Release 3 standards well before the due date. We are looking forward to providing a reliable service, and to the additional benefits that come from working with colleagues at our sister company."

MPS Insight provides COUNTER-compliant usage reports for libraries on behalf of publishers. Independently audited by ABCe (a COUNTER approved auditor), MPS Insight is COUNTER-compliant and provides reports and services such as SUSHI as required by COUNTER Release 3. MPS Technologies offer a range of award-winning technology-driven solutions for publishers and librarians.

NPG and PMJ customers can now access usage statistic reports for the period January 2006 to January 2009. Older reports have been archived. Site license administrators will shortly receive full instructions and log-in details for using the system, and can access the service from their regular Administration Accounts. Palgrave Connect will also be served by MPS Insight.

For full details of Project COUNTER and of Release 3, please visit www.projectcounter.org

-ENDS-

About Nature Publishing Group (NPG):

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, dedicated to serving the academic, professional scientific and medical communities. NPG's flagship title, Nature, was first published in 1869. Other publications include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature Clinical Practice and a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. NPG also provides news content through Nature News. Scientific career information and free job postings are offered on Naturejobs.

NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo and offices in Basingstoke, Boston, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Hong Kong, Madrid, Melbourne, Munich, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Washington DC. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.

About Palgrave Macmillan

Palgrave Macmillan is a global publisher, serving learning and scholarship in higher education and the professional world. We have an established and distinguished track record in international academic publishing with considerable strengths in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Business. Our academic publishing programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. We also publish a highly acclaimed non-fiction trade list representing the best thinking and research in the core areas of Politics, Business, History and Current Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan represents an unbroken tradition of 150 years of independent publishing, continually reinventing itself for the future. For more information, please visit www.palgrave.com.

About MPS Technologies

MPS Technologies was founded in 2004 to meet the growing needs of the information industry and address the digital publishing revolution. MPS Technologies provides a range of technology-driven products and services designed to support the information industry. Services include BookStore and BookStore Discovery which form part of the ContentStore digital content platform, and MPS Insight which provides COUNTER-compliant reports for publishers. www.mpstechnologies.com