Cleaner interface for arXive

IOP (Institute of Physics) has developed an interface known as eprintweb for accessing e-prints uploaded to arXive. In its beta form, eprintweb offers an easier, better-looking platform for accessing eprints in 17 physical and mathematical disciplines.*

Features available in eprintweb include the following:

• RSS feeds: By subscribing to a particular feed channel, researchers can remain informed of newly submitted papers.
• Personalization: After signing up for a free account, users can create bookmarks and email alerts, as well as customize settings
• DOIs: Linking through DOI number to the published article is available

Search features mimic common database interfaces, providing several search boxes with drop-down menus to identify your search area, whether it be author, title, subject, affiliation, abstract, and more. Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) can be used to further refine search statements. In addition, the archive allows user to browse by date and subject category, and the author tab permits easy browsing by category and author name.

For students unfamiliar with eprints and preprints, it is important to note that some of the material may not have been peer-reviewed. According to Richard Luce(1), the term "preprints" generally describes either material that has been accepted for publication or material submitted but has yet to be accepted (or rejected). In arXiv, the papers often have comments describing their publication status, but not always. Richard Luce(1) identifies eprints as preprints, published works, and unpublished works distributed electronically by an author, often for archiving purposes.

*Categories are as listed:

• Astrophysics (astro-ph)
• Condensed Matter (cond-mat)
• Computer Research Repository (CoRR)
• General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
• High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
• High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
• High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
• High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
• Mathematics (math)
• Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
• Nonlinear Sciences (nlin)
• Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
• Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
• Physics (physics)
• Quantitative Biology (q-bio)
• Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
• Statistics (stat)

1. Luce, R. (2001) E-prints intersect the digital library: inside the Los Alamos arXiv. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 29. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from http://www.istl.org/01-winter/article3.html