OSTI's E-print Network continues rapid growth

Oak Ridge, TN — The E-print Network (www.osti.gov/eprints), a communications hub created by scientists for scientists worldwide, currently provides full-text searching of more than 730,000 e-print documents from scientific Web sites - an increase of 39 percent since January 2005. More than 100,000 documents were added to the network in the past three months.

In addition, this rapidly expanding network provides one-stop browse/search access to more than 19,650 scientific Web sites containing e-prints, as well as deep Web searching across 52 major databases containing close to 20 million pages of searchable full text, and links to more than 2,800 professional scientific societies. In all, approximately 3 million e-prints are accessible via the network. Usage of the E-print Network in FY 2005 increased 85 percent over FY 2004.

"We want to make sure researchers have the absolute latest science information they need for further innovation and discovery," said Dr. Walter Warnick, director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), which hosts the science communications network at its facility in Oak Ridge, TN. "Essentially, the E-print Network provides access to millions of pieces of scientific knowledge, overlaid with the tools and technologies that allow for the creation of new science. We're pleased that researchers are finding the E-print Network useful."

By linking to and integrating publicly accessible scientific e-print Web sites and databases from around the world, the E-print Network makes available information in basic and applied sciences, primarily in physics but also chemistry, biology and life sciences, materials science, nuclear sciences and engineering, energy research, computer and information technologies, and other disciplines of interest to DOE. The E-print Network is intended for use by scientists and engineers, as well as students, instructors, and grantees at advanced levels of academia.

Researchers can access a specialized set of tools and services to facilitate the use and exchange of scientific and technical information. These tools include

• A unique deep Web search capability that combines full-text searching through PDF documents residing on e-print Web sites with a distributed search across e-print databases,
• An Alert Service that provides automatic updates on new e-prints of interest
• A source of valuable professional and contact information about e-print contributors and their research activities, as well as related events at their sponsoring institutions or laboratories.

Since 1947, OSTI (www.osti.gov) has made R&D findings available so that science and technological creativity can advance.

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