About Adonis

In the early Eighties scientific publishers considered technical approaches to finding methods allowing for the 'controlled' copying of STM journal articles. The idea of using optical data carriers to deliver an electrocopying (CD-ROM based document delivery service) system was not economically feasible until the emergence of CD-ROM technology along with low cost personal computers. The concept was further studied by a consortium of about 10 publishers.

When, in 1984 the 'real' technology was developed and substantial cost would have to be incurred, the consortium dropped to three publishers; Elsevier Science, Springer and Blackwell Science.

The methodology and the new product were tested in a two-year trial held in 1987 and 1988 and the then participating publishers each paid for their share of the costs. ADONIS was further assisted by the British Library who helped win a grant from the European Commission.

In order to receive this grant the consortium had to accept that the "project" had to be named according to the EC's naming convention. In those days documentation supply and library studies were named after characters in the Greek/Roman mythology and the then director of the project adopted the first name on the list: ADONIS. His rationale was a simple but effective one: the name would show up first in CD-ROM directories etc. which it did for a considerable amount of time.

The experience of the two-year trial demonstrated that ADONIS could deliver a large number of journal articles on CD-ROM for printing-on-demand at a standard slightly better than a photocopy. After all the data obtained was assessed it was decided to launch a full service on a commercial foundation in 1991. And thus the ADONIS Document Delivery Service was born.

Offices in Amsterdam and Cambridge, Massachusetts were established to market, sell and support the European and American markets and technically capable agents were found who could provide the necessary support in other countries.

Our original mission was to use new technology to provide libraries, under publisher control, copies of copyright articles more efficiently than unauthorised photocopying and to take the net efficiency gain as a usage or copyright fee. The mission has been expanded and now includes the facilitation of the purchase and licensing of subscriptions to electronic journals, as requested by many of ADONIS' subscribers. ADONIS, now in its seventh full operational year, works closely with its global clientele to ensure that researchers' and other end-users' needs are adequately fulfilled.

ADONIS' services have been widely adopted by the STM market (publishers, libraries and agents) and we are looking into (and developing) ways and methods to even further expand our services. Just bookmark this site to be kept up-to-date regarding ADONIS ... Electronic Journal Services !