Clarivate reaffirms support for ERIC, launches free index

Clarivate has confirmed it will continue supporting the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), a global index for education-related literature.

ERIC is widely used by libraries, education researchers, and professionals worldwide, and it’s currently sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

Responding to concerns from libraries and feedback from customers about ERIC’s future, Clarivate is introducing a new, free tool called the ProQuest Education Research Index. This will include all of ERIC’s data.

The ProQuest Education Research Index also features a new component called the ProQuest Supplemental Education Index. This aims to cover most of the academic journals currently found in ERIC. Its purpose is to make sure that as many titles as possible that were previously indexed by ERIC continue to be covered, and it will expand over time.

Together, this combined solution is designed to give librarians, researchers, and faculty ongoing access to more than two million records. These include journal articles, research reports, teaching guides, conference papers, and books, all focused on education.

Jon Shaw, University Librarian, Vanderbilt University said: “This alleviates the potential access issues to the ERIC database and opens up the significant possibility of broadened coverage, improved usability and ultimately new areas of discovery and research.”

Chris Burghardt, Senior Vice President, Product Management, Academia & Government at Clarivate said: “Following uncertainty around the future of ERIC, the introduction of ProQuest Education Research Index will ensure that these vital data remain accessible to all. It will enable libraries to plan long term and beyond, and to continue to serve their communities effectively.”

Karen E. Dowding, Education Liaison Librarian, University of Michigan said: “ERIC is a powerful tool that enables education researchers and practitioners to access the broadest range of education literature available. Paired with the power of the ProQuest search platform, ERIC is magic for meaningfully narrowing results to support literature review, making knowledge claims, and setting up targeted alerts. Making this resource universally available to all will improve education practice by accelerating discovery, and providing stability for users everywhere.”