About

Linking to Science.gov

Science.gov Architecture

Science.gov is a gateway to government science information and research results. Currently in its fifth generation, Science.gov provides a search of over 55 scientific databases and 200 million pages of science information with just one query, and is a gateway to over 2100 scientific Websites (see Science.gov fact sheet).

Science.gov is an interagency initiative of 17 U.S. government science organizations within 13 Federal Agencies. These agencies form the voluntary Science.gov Alliance which governs Science.gov.

Science.gov 5.0 provides the ultimate science search through a variety of features and abilities, including:

• Accessing over 55 databases and 200 million pages of science information via one query
• Clustering of results by subtopics, authors, or dates to help you target your search
• Wikipedia results related to your search terms
• Eureka News results related to your search terms
• Mark & send option for emailing results to friends and colleagues
• Download capabilities in RIS
• Enhanced information related to your real-time search
• Aggregated Science News Feed, also available on Twitter
• Updated Alerts service
• Image Search

Science.gov is also available to the Spanish-speaking public as Ciencia.Science.gov, covering the same breadth and depth in science. Integrating Microsoft's Translator, Spanish-language queries to Science.gov are automatically translated into English; searches of U.S. databases and websites are performed; and results can then be translated into Spanish. This represents an innovative use of existing commercial technology to broaden public access to federal science information.

The content for Science.gov is contributed by participating agencies committed to serving the information needs of the science-attentive citizen, including science professionals, students and teachers, and the business community. Many of these agencies are members of CENDI, which provides administrative support and coordination for Science.gov. Science.gov and the Science.gov Alliance were formed in response to the April 2001 workshop, "Strengthening the Public Information Infrastructure for Science."

The "Explore Selected Science Websites by Topic" portion of the site is maintained by the CENDI Secretariat. The Science.gov Website search, internship search and "deepweb" search are maintained by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which also hosts the Science.gov website.

History

Science.gov 1.0 was launched in December 2002, providing for the first time wide public access and a unified search of the government's vast stores of scientific and technical information.

In May 2004 Version 2.0 was launched, introducing real-time relevancy ranking to government science retrieval. This technology, funded by the Department of Energy, helps citizens sort through the government's reservoirs of research and return results most likely to meet individual needs. An advanced search capability and other enhancements were added.

A free and convenient "Alert" service was released in February 2005, allowing citizens to receive e-mail alerts about the most current science developments in their areas of interest. Up to 25 relevant results from selected information sources can be delivered. Results are displayed in the Alert email and in a personalized Alert Archive, which stores six weeks of alerts results. In the Archive, past activity can be reviewed and Alert profiles edited.

Science.gov 3.0 took relevancy-ranked search to a higher level of precision. Launched in November 2005, Version 3.0 provided more refined search queries of federal science databases. In addition, greatly enhanced fielded searching and the extensive Boolean capabilities offer new search options for Science.gov users.

In February 2007, Science.gov 4.0 was launched, which allowed even further refinement of search queries. For the first time, patrons could search within their original results. The relevancy ranking algorithms became more sophisticated, with the date of the document priority-weighted for ranking purposes. A new feature allowed patrons to share search results via e-mail with colleagues and friends.

Science.gov 5.0 was launched in September 2008 and boasts several new and innovative features. Clustering, the grouping of results into meaningful topics, helps guide patrons to desired information. Science.gov results have also been enhanced by the addition of Wikipedia topics and EurekAlert items related to the search. Additionally, selected results can be emailed to colleagues and friends, and the overall look and feel has been updated.

More recently, enhanced features added include an aggregated Science News feed, also available on Twitter, a Science.gov widget for users' own web pages and an image search. Federal Regulations and Legislative databases have been added and a mobile version is now available. An app for Android is available through Google Play.

October 2012 marked a major update to Science.gov in honor of its 10^th Anniversary. Besides sporting an updated look, the website added multimedia content such as videos, images and audio files. These are now automatically searched and are made available as an option to users. The underlying technology has been updated as well. A way to visualize your search results and the relationship between results has been added. Finally, those who would prefer to explore the site in Spanish now have the opportunity to do so with Ciencia.Science.gov. While Science.gov in its entirety has not been duplicated in Spanish, a streamlined version, including search results, is linked.

Happy 10^th Anniversary Science.gov!