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What happens when the IdP changes entityID?
Last updated on August 26, 2025Quick summary
When your library’s new IdP is added to the federation metadata, you must contact Elsevier Customer Support to activate it. Users with existing Elsevier accounts will need to link their new institutional credentials to their current accounts.
Detailed explanation
Elsevier participates in multiple federations and updates federation metadata daily. When a new IdP is added, it becomes available in our systems within 24 hours but requires activation before users can access Elsevier content.
Our entitlement system does not automatically know which customer an IdP belongs to or whether it is configured for Elsevier’s SP. Not all IdPs in a federation correspond to our customers, and customers have varying subscriptions. Therefore, activation by Elsevier support is required to enable access.
Complete information about our SP requirements is available here.
Since we cannot determine ownership or intent from the metadata alone, your library must contact Elsevier Customer Support to:
- Remove the old IdP from your account (if applicable)
- Configure the new IdP for your access
- Users who previously accessed Elsevier anonymously via the IdP will experience no change.
- Registered institutional users signing in through the new IdP will appear as new users because their credentials (entityID + pseudonymousID) have changed. They may notice missing personal settings.
- These users can link their new institutional credentials to their existing Elsevier accounts to restore personalized settings.
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