Cairn | eDesiderata

Tabbed

Overview

Cairn aggregates scholarly journal content for social science and humanities journals published in France and Belgium. Most of the content dates back only to 2001. As of late 2014, over 400 journals and 4,000 ebook titles (more than 300,000 full-text articles and book chapters) were included. Content is updated continually, averaging five new journal issues per day.

Since 2010, Cairn also offers e-book packages from major French, Belgian and Swiss publishers.

Provider:

Cairn France

Posted:

Mar 31, 2011 11:06am

Updated:

Feb 17, 2023 3:29pm

Source

CRL reviews are based on independent research. Information is researched by CRL staff and other specialists at CRL libraries. See CRL Review for additional source notes.

Details

Collection Content

Subject Areas:

Arts and Humanities

Health and Life Sciences

Science, Engineering and Technology

Social Sciences

Resource Types:

Electronic books

Electronic journals

Major Languages:

French

- Denotes data sourced directly from publisher

Content Details:


Geographic coverage	Mostly France and Belgium
Chronological coverage	Varies by journal. Earliest available journal issue is 1997, but most start around 2001.
Content types	Journals and e-books
Source formats	Electronic files of journal and e-book content
Total titles	400 journal titles as of late 2014
Total pages	3.65 million as of late 2014
Digital collection launch date	2005
Update frequency	Content updated daily. On average, 5 new journal issues are added per work day.
Collection ongoing	Y
Completion date	N/A
Available supplements	N/A

Specifications

Metadata:


MARC records available	N (MARC 21 scheduled for release in early 2015)
Creator of MARC records	N/A
Structural metadata exposed anywhere?	N/A
Subject authorities used	N/A
Name authorities used	N/A

Technical Platform:


Browser compatibility	Compatible with recent versions of all common browsers
Authentication options	IP Authentication; Shibboleth compliant for French libraries
Archiving solution – master files	N/A
Archiving solution – derivative files	After a minimum of 3 years of subscription, an institution that decides to stop its subscription to Cairn.info will have the opportunity to retain a perpetual access right for content they accessed during their last year of subscription. For access to this archived material hosted on the platform Cairn.info, cancelling institutions will be charged 10% of the price paid for the last year, invoiced in January of each year, for three years only.
Availability in web discovery tools	N
Open URL target	N/A
Federated searching, z39.50	N/A
Local host option	N
Usage statistics	Y (sent to subscribers monthly)

Interface Tools:


Full text displayed	Y
Page images	Y
Color images	N/A
Search full text	Y
Advanced search (fielded)	Y
Search within results	Y
Limit results by dates and/or document types	Y
Display highlighted search terms	Highlights appear in HTML version not the PDF version
Display snippet -- search term in context	Y
Relevance sorting	Y
Save searches	Y
Download PDF	Y
Download HTML	Y
Print page	Y
Print full document	Y
Export citations	Y
Annotation tools	N
Cross-product searching	Cross searching available within each "bouquet" group
ILL	Y
Restrictions on use	See Participant Agreement for details. (Available to subscribing CIFNAL members.)

Terms and Provider Details

Terms:


Terms	Options	Notes
Subscription option	Y	For members of CIFNAL
Purchase option	N
Multiple year payments option	N/A
Hosting charges	N/A
List of purchasers available
Sample license available	Y
MARC records purchase fee	N/A
Price tier basis	Y	Based on FTE and collection selected. Discounts available for maintaining print subscriptions.

Provider:

Cairn France

Website:

http://www.cairn.info/

Main Address:

5, rue de Charonne

75011 Paris

France

CRL Review

Collection Content:

CAIRN aggregates scholarly journal content for social science and humanities journals published in France and Belgium. Most of the content dates back only to 2001. As of late 2014, over 400 journals and 4,000 ebook titles (more than 300,000 full-text articles and book chapters) were included. Content is updated continually, averaging five new journal issues per day.

CAIRN, launched in 2005, was started as an initiative of four French language publishers to support the publication and dissemination of journals in the humanities and social sciences on the internet. The National Library of France has been associated with the project since 2006.

CAIRN organizes its collection of journals into different ‘bouquets,’ or packages, from which subscribers may choose. Some titles are repeated in the various bouquets, which include:

Bouquet Général (the complete journal collection)
Bouquet Sciences économiques, sociales et politiques (including journals in Economics, Politics, Sociology, Geography and Law)
Bouquet French Studies (including journals in Literature, Linguistics, Philosophy, History, and General Interest)
Bouquet International (also called CAIRN International Edition, which includes English versions of a selection of journals in Economics, Politics, Sociology, Geography, History and Philosophy)

In 2013, CAIRN discontinued the Bouquet Sciences Humaines, which contained most journals in the Bouquet Général (absent Psychology and Education journals).

CAIRN continues to add new journal titles, averaging 40-50 new titles per year in recent years. Since 2010, CAIRN also offers e-book packages from major French, Belgian and Swiss publishers. See Appendices to this review for a listing of current journals and e-book packages.

To the best of our knowledge, there is no overlap between titles available on Cairn and those of other aggregators. While Cairn does not force publishers into exclusivity agreements, the publishers working with Cairn generally do not make their eBooks or journals available elsewhere.

CAIRN partners have made portions of their content (CAIRN reports as many as two thirds of all articles) available via open access. Depending on the choice of each journal, select articles, whole issues (subject to a three-year "moving wall") or entire runs of journals are freely accessible to all users.

Delivery:

Technical platform & interface

The review by Scigliano notes that many titles are indexed in the French abstracting service FRANCIS as well as in English-language abstracting and indexing tools. Readers can establish an account and receive notification of content updates through RSS on page 38.

Reviewers:

Center for Research Libraries

Judy Alspach, Project Coordinator

Contributors:

Duke University

Heidi Madden, Librarian for Western European Studies

Sources

Sources for this review include information publicly posted or obtained directly from the publisher; data collected by CRL staff and specialists at CRL libraries; and examination of the digital collection when possible. Other sources are noted where cited. CRL continues to gather additional information on this resource and to solicit critical assessment.

Additional Reviews in Other Sources:

Marisa Scigliano, "Cairn", The Charleston Advisor 11(4) April 2010: 36-38. Accessed September 27, 2012.

Heather Dawson, “Review of Cairn.Info”, French Studies Library Group Annual Review, issue 8 (2011-12): 7-10. Accessed September 27, 2012.

CRL Offers & Status

Status	Current	Description
CRL Flagged	no	Potential interest to CRL community
Offer Pending	no	Currently a candidate for CRL offer
Active Offer	yes	Currently offered for purchase or new subscription
Trial Access	no	Available for trial
Renewal Offer	no	Currently offered for renewal
Expired Offer	no	Past offers
Inactive / Declined	no	No longer under consideration by CRL
Reviewed by CRL	yes	Evaluation available by CRL and community
Special Access	no	Member-only access available for a limited time