What is Project MUSE®?

Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly online access to over 350 high quality humanities and social sciences journals from over 60 scholarly publishers.

MUSE began in 1993 as a pioneering joint project of the Johns Hopkins University Press and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at JHU. Grants from the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities allowed MUSE to go live with JHU Press journals in 1995. Journals from other publishers were first incorporated in 2000, with additional university press and scholarly society publishers joining in each subsequent year. Today, MUSE is still a not-for-profit collaboration between the participating publishers and MSEL, with the goal of disseminating quality scholarship via a sustainable model that meets the needs of both libraries and publishers.

The Project MUSE® comlete collection offers a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals to support a core liberal arts curriculum at any academic institution. Every journal is heavily indexed and peer-reviewed, with critically acclaimed articles by the most respected scholars in their fields. MUSE is also the sole source of complete, full-text versions of titles from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies.

The complete content of each and every issue is online—including all charts, graphics and images—with articles available in HTML, PDF, or both formats. To supplement current issues, MUSE subscribers have free access to a decade of backfiles for selected titles. And, the MUSE version is typically online before the print version hits the streets.

Collections offered to eIFL members

PREMIUM COLLECTION
The Premium Collection is MUSE's foremost collection of high quality, peer reviewed, interdisciplinary journals from leading university presses, not-for-profit publishers and prestigious scholarly societies. The Premium Collection is designed for institutions acquiring comprehensively in the humanities and social sciences. This collection offers internationally respected scholarly journals that support the collection development and research needs of major research institutions. The Premium Collection will grow annually and the corresponding annual price will be a reflection of the number and nature of new titles added. All new titles added each year to MUSE become part of the Premium Collection making it the most comprehensive collection offered by MUSE.

STANDARD COLLECTION
The Standard Collection is a subset of the Premium Collection. It is an interdisciplinary collection of high quality, peer reviewed journals designed for institutions acquiring extensively in the humanities and social sciences. This collection offers institutions the interdisciplinary content consistent with their collection development needs yet ensures controlled annual growth. New titles may be added selectively each year to the Standard Collection in order to maintain conservative growth from year to year. The Standard Collection is a relatively stable collection of journals offering controlled growth that is reflected in modest annual price increases.

BASIC RESEARCH COLLECTION
The Basic Research Collection is a more limited subset of the Premium Collection than the Standard Collection. It is an interdisciplinary collection designed for institutions acquiring extensively in the humanities and social sciences. The Basic Research Collection is a fundamental collection of interdisciplinary journals that grows modestly in size and price from year to year. Titles added to this collection are chosen based on a number of criteria, including the journal's presence in appropriate high quality indexes, inclusion in archival collections, and current usage in MUSE. The controlled number of journals, modest growth and modest price increases make the Basic Research Collection an appropriate collection for institutions with limited budgets.

Basic College Collection (formerly Basic Undergraduate Collection)
The Basic College Collection is the smallest interdisciplinary subset of the Premium Collection and is designed for four and two year colleges acquiring selectively in the humanities and social sciences. This collection grows modestly in size and price from year to year. Titles added to this collection are chosen based on a number of criteria, including the journal's presence in appropriate high quality indexes, inclusion in archival collections, and current usage in MUSE.

HUMANITIES COLLECTION (Revised for 2008)
The Humanities Collection is a subset of the Premium Collection. It is an interdisciplinary collection of high quality, peer reviewed journals designed for institutions acquiring extensively in the humanities. Of the new titles added to MUSE each year those with a humanities focus are added to the Humanities Collection.

Social Sciences Collection (Revised for 2008)
The Social Sciences Collection is a subset of the Premium Collection. It is an interdisciplinary collection of high quality, peer reviewed journals designed for institutions acquiring extensively in the social sciences. Of the new titles added to MUSE each year those with a social science focus are added to the Social Sciences Collection.

MUSE® journals offered to eIFL

To see a list of journals within a specific collection please go to: muse.jhu.edu/journals

Or to see a comparison amongst these collections please consult: muse.jhu.edu/about/subscriptions

MUSE offers online access to all of the above electronic journals for the 3-year period (2008-2010) to eIFL countries at greatly discounted rates.

If you are an institution in one of the eIFL countries and would either like to know whether your institution has access to the MUSE on-line journals or how to gain access to them, please get in touch with your country coordinator.