Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Portal provides access to millions of government documents

Science.gov has improved on their government science documents portal in its newest release. The press announcement follows:

Science.gov—Science.gov 5.0—was launched Sept. 15th, allowing users to search additional collections of valuable science resources; more easily target their searches; and readily find links to information on a variety of science topics. Science.gov is a free, integrated single-search gateway to reliable science and technology information from 17 organizations within 13 federal science agencies.

Science.gov 5.0 improves upon the previous version, Science.gov 4.0, by offering seven new databases and portals which allow researchers access to over 200 million pages of scientific information. New information available includes thousands of patents resulting from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research and development(DOepatents); documents and bibliographic citations of DOE accomplishments (DOE R&D Accomplishments Database); millions of electronic scientific documents from around the world known as e-prints (Eprint Network); and comprehensive and peer-reviewed toxicology data for thousands of chemicals (HSDB Hazardous Substances Databank) as well as more than 3 million references to worldwide literature on the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms (TOXLINE Toxicology Bibliographic Information). New information also includes a digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature (PubMed Central) and cancer-related information of all kinds for all audiences (Cancer.gov), including support and treatment resources for patients, comprehensive descriptions of research programs and clinical trials for healthcare professionals and the general public, and funding opportunities for researchers.

Another key feature of Science.gov 5.0 is a “clustering” tool which helps target searches by grouping results by subtopics or dates. This technology was recently developed through a DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program award.

In addition to quadrupling the amount of searchable content and enhancing the search technology, Science.gov 5.0 now provides links to related EurekAlert! Science News and Wikipedia, and provides the capability to easily download research results into personal files or citation software.

Science.gov is hosted by DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), within DOE’s Office of Science. In addition to DOE, Science.gov is supported by contributing members of the Science.gov Alliance, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, and the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation, with support from the National Archives and Records Administration.

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