<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16705" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P>Berlin / London, 7 October 2008</P>
<P><A href="http://www.springer.com/" target=_blank>Springer Science+Business
Media</A> has reached an agreement to acquire <A
href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/" target=_blank>BioMed Central Group</A>, the
leading global open access publisher.... <A
href="http://www.springer-sbm.de/index.php?id=291&backPID=132&L=0&tx_tnc_news=4970&cHash=b5a2aa41d8"
target=_blank>leggi tutto</A>...</P>
<P><STRONG>Peter Suber</STRONG>: <SPAN>The question now, is will BMC have more
of an effect on the way commercial giant Springer publishes, or vice versa....
<A
href="http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/springer-buys-biomed-central.html"
target=_blank>leggi tutto </A></SPAN></P>
<P><STRONG>Derk Haank, CEO of Springer</STRONG> Science+Business Media
said: “<EM>This acquisition reinforces the fact that we see open access
publishing as a sustainable part of STM publishing, and not an ideological
crusade</EM>. We have gained considerable positive experience since
starting Springer Open Choice in 2004, and BioMed Central’s activities are
complementary to what we are doing. Additionally, this acquisition
strengthens Springer’s position in the life sciences and biomedicine, and will
allow us to offer societies a greater range of publishing options.”</P>
<P><STRONG>Matthew Cockerill, Publisher of BioMed Central</STRONG> said:
“We are very excited about this new phase of BioMed Central's growth and
development. Springer has been notable among the major STM publishers for its
willingness to experiment with open access publishing. <EM>BioMed Central
has demonstrated that the open access business model can work, and we look
forward to continued rapid growth as part of Springer</EM>. The support of our
authors, journal editors and institutional customers has been vital to BioMed
Central's success and we will continue to focus on offering the best possible
service to these groups."</P>
<P>Cordialmente,</P>
<P>Mary Joan Crowley</P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">_________________________________________<BR>Biblioteca
Ingegneria Strutturale e Geotecnica<BR></FONT></SPAN><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'">SAPIENZA
University of Rome</SPAN></B><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow'"><BR></SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">via Eudossiana 18 - 00184
ROME Italy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">office: <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>0644585387</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">e-mail: <A
href="mailto:maryjoan.crowley@uniroma1.it"><SPAN
style="COLOR: windowtext">maryjoan.crowley@uniroma1.it</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">webpage: <SPAN
style="COLOR: #990033"><A href="http://w3.disg.uniroma1.it/biblioteca/"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #990033">http://w3.disg.uniroma1.it/biblioteca/</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Please
consider the environment before printing this e-mail</SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: purple"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P> </P></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>