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Segment Information (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2017 USD ($) Segment	Oct. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Segment Information [Abstract]
Number of reportable segments | Segment			3
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 451,731	$ 425,588	$ 863,175	$ 829,873
Contribution to profit (loss)	120,948	102,141	185,450	182,065
Operating and administrative expenses	(239,318)	(247,270)	(483,126)	(482,497)
Operating income	82,771	47,644	97,271	91,571
Operating Segments [Member] | Research [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	228,870	205,994	452,497	413,218
Contribution to profit (loss)	71,163	60,292	132,624	120,727
Operating Segments [Member] | Publishing [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	164,985	163,300	296,263	308,261
Contribution to profit (loss)	42,476	36,490	47,485	55,832
Operating Segments [Member] | Solutions [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	57,876	56,294	114,415	108,394
Contribution to profit (loss)	7,309	5,359	5,341	5,506
Corporate [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating and administrative expenses	$ (38,177)	$ (54,497)	$ (88,179)	$ (90,494)

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Direct contribution to profit minus allocated shared services and administrative costs.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 225
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=63488584&loc=d3e20235-122688

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