ProQuest's Services and Offerings
- ProQuest provides applications and information services for libraries.
- They offer access to dissertations, theses, ebooks, newspapers, periodicals, historical collections, governmental archives, cultural archives, and other aggregated databases.
- ProQuest's content is estimated to be around 125 billion digital pages.
- They offer tools for discovery and citation management.
- ProQuest platforms allow library users to search, manage, use, and share research.
ProQuest's Business Ventures
- ProQuest was founded as a microfilm publisher.
- They began publishing doctoral dissertations in 1939 and have published over 3 million searchable dissertations and theses.
- ProQuest is designated as an offsite digital archive for the United States Library of Congress.
- They provide scholarly content including dissertations and theses, primary source material, ebooks, scholarly journals, historical and current newspapers and periodicals, and data sources.
- ProQuest also offers a Video Preservation and Discovery Service for libraries to preserve and provide access to their audio and video collections.
ProQuest's Acquisitions and Subsidiaries
- ProQuest operates under various names, including Bowker, which provides bibliographic information management solutions.
- Dialog is an online information service with over 1.4 billion unique records curated for researchers in corporate, business, and government fields.
- EBL (Ebook Library) is an ebook aggregator serving academic, corporate, and research libraries.
- Ebrary offers access to ebook collections tailored for various types of libraries.
- ProQuest acquired these businesses and expanded its services.
ProQuest's History and Growth
- ProQuest was founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene Power.
- The company initially focused on microfilm products and later shifted to electronic publishing.
- Xerox acquired the company in 1962 and changed its name several times before it was purchased by Bell & Howell in 1985.
- In the 1980s, ProQuest began producing CD-ROMs for periodical abstracts and indexes.
- The company continued to expand through acquisitions, including Chadwyck-Healey, Serials Solutions, and Copley Publishing Group.
ProQuest's Financial and Legal Issues
- ProQuest experienced overstatements of its net income from 2000 to 2005, resulting in a cumulative overstatement of pre-tax profits by $129.9 million.
- In 2008, ProQuest's CFO settled SEC charges related to the earnings overstatements.
- The company also acquired Norman Ross Publishing in 2001 and bigchalk.com in 2002.
- In 2005, three ProQuest executives formed National Archive Publishing Co, a distribution company.
- ProQuest's growth and expansion have been accompanied by financial and legal challenges.
ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene Power.
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Headquarters at Ann Arbor, Michigan | |
Type | Subsidiary |
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Industry | Information and data provider |
Founded | 1938 | as University Microfilms
Founder | Eugene Power |
Fate | Acquired by Clarivate on December 1, 2021 |
Headquarters | Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
Key people |
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Parent |
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Website | proquest |
ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, providing access to dissertations, theses, ebooks, newspapers, periodicals, historical collections, governmental archives, cultural archives, and other aggregated databases. This content was estimated to be around 125 billion digital pages, and is commonly accessed through library Internet gateways. This includes tools for discovery and citation management,[example needed] and platforms that allow library users to search, manage, use, and share research.[example needed]
The company began operations as a producer of microfilm products, subsequently shifting to electronic publishing, and later grew through acquisitions. On December 1, 2021, Clarivate bought ProQuest from Cambridge Information Group for $5.3 billion in what was described as "huge deal in the library and information publishing world". Clarivate said that the operational concept behind the acquisition was integrating ProQuest's products and applications with Web of Science.