Press Release: Elsevier Embraces EPUB3 Format

AMSTERDAM, April 22, 2014 -- EPUB3, the most advanced eBook format, will provide readers with a more immersive, multi-media eBook experience

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, will move its new eBooks to EPUB3, becoming the first major STM publisher to commit to the latest, most advanced eBook format available.

By moving to EPUB3, Elsevier's eBooks will be able to take advantage of the format's ability to provide multi-media and interactive experiences within eBooks. Elsevier currently publishes more than 25,000 eBooks in a variety of formats.

"Elsevier's adoption of EPUB3 is a very important milestone in the advancement of the next-generation portable document standard based on HTML5 and the Open Web Platform," said Bill McCoy, Executive Director, International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). "The IDPF looks forward to working with Elsevier and the STM publishing ecosystem to ensure that EPUB continues to evolve to meet critical needs in communicating scientific and technical content with accessibility for all, on any device."

Even though the current eBook market faces some challenges to making EPUB3 work, Elsevier has moved forward with the upgrade from EPUB2 to EPUB3 to ensure that readers continue to receive the enriched customer experience they require and have come to expect, particularly as readers upgrade their electronic devices and demand more.

"EPUB3 is a giant leap ahead of EPUB2, the most widely used current format," said Adriaan Roosen, Executive Vice President, Global Operations, Elsevier. "This move will ensure that Elsevier eBooks will be prepared to meet reader demands for more interactivity in the future."

The EPUB3 upgrade will provide:

   -- Support for audio, video and built-in interactive elements, like quizzes, 
      self-assessments, etc. 
 
   -- Improved table of contents: more granular for better navigation, adding 
      lists and elements (for instance, a list with all tables or graphics in 
      the book) 
 
   -- Improved viewing of footnotes, citation, and references - click on or 
      hover over a reference and the reference pops up instead of taking you 
      away from the page to the location of the reference 
 
   -- Support for MathML - mathematical formulas are no longer pictures, but 
      are text 
 
   -- Improved accessibility features 

Elsevier's EPUB3 files render well on EPUB2 devices, which will "see" Elsevier's EPUB3 eBooks as EPUB2 files.