Springer to acquire Papers

Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) has reached an agreement to acquire Mekentosj BV and Livfe Ltd, developers of the leading reference manager software Papers. Papers allows researchers to organize, use, share and cite their research literature more effectively.

Papers radically improves the way researchers handle their scientific literature. It centralizes search, downloads and organizing references and documents in one tool, functioning as a personal library of research. The literature can be cited in the word processing software of choice, and can be shared with colleagues. Papers is available for Mac, Windows and iOS.

Peter Hendriks, Springer President Publishing and Marketing said: "This acquisition is in line with Springer's ambition to offer not only quality content, but also efficiency tools for researchers. Discovering and managing scientific content is at the heart of researcher activity and our role includes supporting libraries and funders who increasingly seek to equip their researchers with the best tools."

The current Papers employees, including the founder, Alexander Griekspoor, will continue to run Papers as a unit within Springer.

"We are very excited by the opportunities that being part of a larger group will bring, and about the next phase of growth and development for Papers with Springer. Springer has played a notable, and often unique role, among major STM publishers for its willingness to experiment with business models and new services; Springer's desire to innovate and invest should prove highly beneficial to Papers and our customers." said Alexander Griekspoor. "Our customers will continue to enjoy the same level of service they have been accustomed to, and will benefit from the wider scope and global presence that Springer provides."