据悉，欧盟和美国司法部等商业竞争监管机构已批准施普林格科学与商业媒体（SpringerScience+Business Media）和与麦克米伦科学与教育（Macmillan Scienceand Education）多数业务的合并，合并后的新公司将被命名为“施普林格·自然”（SpringerNature）。

       据报道（http://www.biodiscover.com/news/politics/118785.html），国际学术期刊有四巨头的说法，分别是Springer(2987本杂志)，Elsevier(3057本杂志)，Wiley(2339本杂志)and Taylor  Francis (2105本杂志)。本来Elsevier排行老大，但是这次合并将增加自然集团的160杂志，使Springer一下变成期刊数量的老大，又因为自然有大量高水平学术期刊，也让这个老大在期刊的水平上扬眉吐气了一把；这次合并将造就世界上最大，也应该是最强的科学出版商。

       上述报道似乎没有区分“杂志”和“期刊”，并且提及的数据也没有出处，因此很难考究这次合并是否造就了“世界上最大，也应该是最强的科学出版商”。

       就有学术质量控制的期刊而言，目前比较公认的是世界上共有同行评议期刊约30000种，其中SCI和SSCI共计收录的期刊为12000余种，Scopus收录的期刊（科技+医学+人文社科）为21150种。

       基于Scopus的21150种期刊统计发现（http://www.elsevier.com/online-tools/scopus/content-overview），被收录期刊数量位居前5位的出版商分别为：Elsevier—2089; Sprnger—1610; Wiley-Blackwell—1149; Taylor &Francis—1137; SAGE—549。此外，Nature系列期刊的东家Macmillan有129种期刊被Scopus收录，如此看来，整合后的Springer Nature应当有1739（=1610+129）种较高质量的同行评议期刊，比Elsevier的2089种仍然少350种。当然，这种整合无疑使得Springer在影响力方面大大地变强了，使得Macmillan在数量规模方面大大地变大了。

     ·        Life Sciences(agriculture, biology, neuroscience, pharmacology)

     ·        Social Sciences(arts & humanities, business, history, information sciences)

    ·        Physical Sciences(chemistry, engineering, mathematics)

    ·        Health Sciences(allied health, dentistry, nursing, veterinary medicine)

What content is included in Scopus?

·        Journals: Over 21,000 titles from more than 5,000 internationalpublishers

·        More than 20,000 peer-reviewedjournals, including 2,800 gold open access journals

·        Over 365 tradepublications

·        Articles-in-press(i.e., articles that have been accepted for publication) from more than 3,750journals and publishers, including Cambridge University Press, the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Nature Publishing Group, Springer,Wiley-Blackwell and, of course, Elsevier

·        Books: More than 85,000 books, withmore than 120,000 expected by the end of 2015 through our BookExpansion Project

·        Plus, more than420 book series

·        Conference papers:6.5 million conference papers from over 17,000worldwide events

·        High energyphysics from the inSPIRE database

·        Computer scienceconferences and workshops from DBLP Computer Science Bibliography

·        Society meetingsincluding the IEEE, American Chemical Society (ACS), Association for ComputingMachinery (ACM), Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), The Minerals, Metals& Materials Society (TMS), American Geophysical Union (AGU), EuropeanSociety of Cardiology (ESC), International Society for Chemotherapy (ISC),American Society for Information Security (ASIS), Japan Society of MechanicalEngineers (JSME), and many more

·        Patents: 24 million patents from fivepatent offices

·        US Patent &Trademark Office

·        European PatentOffice

·        Japan PatentOffice

·        World IntellectualProperty Organization

·        UK IntellectualProperty Office