Learn more about how to use and access NASA STI tools, including NASA Thesaurus, NASA Scope and Subject Category Guide, and NASA Thesaurus Machine Aided Indexing (MAI).
- NASA Thesaurus
- The NASA Thesaurus contains the authorized NASA subject terms used to index and retrieve materials in the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database (NA&SD) and NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS). The scope of this controlled vocabulary includes not only aerospace engineering, but all supporting areas of engineering and physics, the natural space sciences (astronomy, astrophysics, planetary science), Earth sciences, and the biological sciences. The NASA Thesaurus contains over 18,400 subject terms, 4,300 definitions, and more than 4,500 USE cross references.
- PDF Version
Access the PDF version (updated January 2012) using the links below or request the CD-ROM, containing both volumes, via the NTRS.Volume 1, Hierarchical Listing With Definitions (4.5MB): Contains an alphabetical listing of subject terms with their fully-expanded hierarchical structure, term definitions, USE cross references, and related terms
Volume 2, Rotated Term Display (1.4MB): Provides additional access points to terms
- NASA Thesaurus Data File
The NASA Thesaurus Data File contains all valid terms and hierarchical relationships, USE references, and related terms in machine-readable form. The Data File is available in the following formats: RDF/SKOS, RDF/OWL, ZThes-1.0, and CSV/TXT.
- PDF Version
- NASA Scope and Subject Category Guide
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The NASA Scope and Subject Category Guide is a scheme of 76 subject categories that permits high-level subject classification of scientific and technical information. It provides scope notes, listing of subtopics, cross references and an index of nearly 3,000 research topics of particular interest to NASA linked to the appropriate subject categories.
- NASA Thesaurus Machine Aided Indexing (MAI)
- Machine Aided Indexing (MAI) was originally developed by the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI), the STI Program’s contract operational arm, as an aid to indexing technical literature for the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database. The web-based application was designed to provide authors, editors, information analysts, and others with a convenient, fully interactive tool for determining the subject content of documents, and identifying keywords and terms for various uses. The terms of the NASA Thesaurus serve as the foundation for the extensive knowledge base used by MAI. Using this established vocabulary of terms, MAI provides valuable assistance in assuring that technical reports and other STI documents are uniformly and consistently accessible.
- STI RSS Feeds
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The NASA STI Program produces two daily feeds comprised of bibliographic information loaded to the NASA Technical Reports Server during the prior day.
- “New NASA STI” contains publicly available, unlimited NASA documents, including NASA formal reports.
- “New NASA STI Report Series” contains publicly available, unlimited NASA formal reports only.