Academic Search Ultimate vs Project MUSE
Academic Search Ultimate
about.ebsco.comProject MUSE
muse.jhu.eduSide by side
| Figure | Academic Search Ultimate | Project MUSE |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $174.58/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 6 |
| Spec score · Academic Research Databases | 8.4 (#8) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Headquarters | EBSCO Information Services lists its headquarters at 10 Estes Street, Ipswich, Massachusetts 01938, United States. | LinkedIn lists Baltimore, Maryland as Project MUSE headquarters and identifies its Johns Hopkins University Press campus address. |
| Mobile access | EBSCO says the EBSCO Mobile app is available to EBSCOhost users and supports iOS and Android devices. | The FAQ says the site works on iPhone, iPad, and Android through a web browser. |
| Open access | The database includes 7,153 active global open access journals curated and indexed by EBSCO. | Unauthenticated users can read full-text open-access books and articles, while subscription content requires institutional or personal access. |
| Support | The EBSCOhost page directs existing customers to tutorials, user guides, and support. | Customer support is available by email and contact form Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. |
Plans
Academic Search Ultimate
- Academic Search UltimatePriced on request
Project MUSE
- MUSE Journal Collection trialFree
- Premium Journals Collection (school libraries)$2,095 a year
- 2027 PLUS+ Package$13,121.40 a year
- Individual articles and issuesPrice not published
- Institutional journal collectionsPriced on request
- MUSE Journal Collection subscriptionPrice not published
In their own words
Academic Search Ultimate
Academic Search Ultimate is a multidisciplinary full-text database for scholarly research, with material spanning nearly all academic disciplines. It lists 10,199 active full-text journals and magazines, including 9,581 peer-reviewed journals; 5,873 active full-text journals are indexed in Web of Science or Scopus. The collection also includes 7,153 active global open access journals, plus periodicals, reports, books, conference proceedings and videos. Its video collection contains more than 6,700 videos from The Washington Post and other providers, and relevant titles may include ahead-of-print content. Through EBSCOhost, researchers can use basic and advanced search, citation assistance, saved searches and results, and subject browsing with access points in more than 30 languages. The EBSCO Mobile app supports searching, saving and sharing on iOS and Android. Institutional access is available; the product is also accessible on the web. It has no free plan, but a trial can be requested. Pricing is by request, with no subscription price shown.
Project MUSE
Project MUSE provides scholarly books, journals, and other digital resources in the humanities and social sciences, from university presses and nonprofit scholarly publishers. Its catalog includes more than 800 journals and over 100,000 books from 400 publishers, along with over 6,000 open access books and more than 100 open access journals. Users can search across resources and filter by content type, language, journal, date, or publisher. Reading formats include HTML, PDF, and EPUB; EPUB files must be downloaded and opened in a compatible reader. MUSE describes subscribed and purchased content as DRM-free, with unlimited access, simultaneous use, downloading, and printing. Institutions can authenticate through IP address, Shibboleth, referring URLs, or a secure proxy. People without institutional access can use MyMUSE to save or email citations and receive content alerts, and may buy selected online articles and issues. Those individual purchases provide perpetual MyMUSE access, but sales are final. Pricing is on request, with a 45-day trial. A school-library Premium Journals Collection is listed at $2,095 a year.