Our commitment to content partners

Elsevier works closely with thousands of publishers, societies, and data providers worldwide to build comprehensive, curated collections of scientific and medical knowledge. For example, our Scopus solution contains the world’s largest collection of curated research abstracts (100+ million records) from 7,000+ publishers globally.

Our solutions are designed to support discovery while preserving publisher platforms as the destination for full-text access. AI-generated answers and insights include attributed, citable sources with links to the original publication, helping users inspect the full context and continue their research at the source.

We aggregate peer-reviewed full-text articles, books, and abstracts across disciplines, ensuring that insights are grounded in the most relevant and validated evidence available. Content is carefully structured, enriched, and continuously updated.

Our solutions preserve the integrity of the scholarly record by clearly differentiating between content types and incorporating continuous updates such as corrections and retractions when they occur.

This commitment ensures that users benefit from a transparent and accurate view of the evidence - while our partners can trust that their content is represented faithfully and responsibly.

Attribution recognizes intellectual contribution, enables verification, and connects ideas across the scholarly ecosystem.

Elsevier embeds attribution and citations directly into its AI solutions so that every insight can be traced back to its original source.

For example, our clinical-grade AI workspace ClinicalKey AI enables users to trace answers to the exact passages in peer-reviewed literature on our publishing partners’ platforms, reinforcing confidence and supporting decision-making at the point of care.

Similarly, every AI-generated insight on our research-grade AI workspace LeapSpace is referenced and has its own ‘Trust Cardopens in new tab/window,’ a foundational capability which provides context and transparency into every result. These features are designed to support, not replace, expert judgment.

As AI changes how researchers discover and engage with content, Elsevier is working to ensure publishers have meaningful visibility into how their content contributes to AI-generated responses. We are developing robust attribution and usage reporting capabilities and actively engaging with emerging industry standards, including COUNTER’s developing guidance for AI usage metrics.

By maintaining rigorous attribution standards, we protect intellectual property, support transparency, and ensure trust in research.

Transparency is key to support critical thinking - how content is selected, how outputs are generated, and how limitations are communicated.

Elsevier’s AI solutions are designed to make the reasoning behind results visible and understandable. Users can see how answers are constructed, what sources were used, and where uncertainties or contradictions exist.

Features such as ‘Claim Radar’ in LeapSpace help researchers calibrate the strength of responses, showing how closely a claim aligns with the wider published literature.

We complement this with strong governance and accountability. Our approach includes enterprise grade security and privacy protections, ensuring content and user data are handled securely and responsibly.

We also collaborate with external partners, advisory bodies, and the wider research community to continuously strengthen transparency and ensure that our AI systems remain aligned with evolving standards and expectations.

Elsevier combines subject matters experts with deep domain knowledge and advanced technology to ensure highest standards of content and data quality.

Content and datasets are curated through established scholarly processes such as peer review, and independent evaluation. As an example, the Scopus Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB) is an international group of scientists, researchers and librarians who represent the major scientific disciplines. The board members are responsible for reviewing all journals that are suggested for and indexed in Scopus.

An independent advisory board of world leading experts helps support neutrality and transparency on LeapSpace, ensuring that LeapSpace algorithms remain publisher neutral and clearly explainable.

This foundation is complemented by robust evaluation frameworks that assess AI performance across dimensions such as accuracy, completeness, and potential risk. Human expertise remains central: domain specialists, clinicians, and researchers are involved in the development, testing, and refinement of our solutions.

Our solutions are designed to support, not replace, expert judgment by helping researchers and clinicians evaluate AI-generated outputs in context, review the supporting evidence, and identify where further investigation may be needed.

By grounding AI in trusted content, validated methodologies, and evaluation, we help support critical thinking - and help our partners ensure their content contributes to meaningful, reliable outcomes.