Electronic Collections Committee
Evaluation of AMS MathSciNet
Criteria Comments
Coverage MathSciNet is the database published by the American Mathematical Society to provide access to their publications - namely, Mathematical Reviews and Current Mathematical Publications. MathSciNet covers all items in these publications from 1940 to the present.

Mathematical Reviews provides reviews or summaries of articles from approximately 1600 serials and books that contain new contributions to mathematical research. The full text of these reviews are available via MathSciNet. Items listed in the annual indexes of Mathematical Reviews but not given an individual review are also included in the database.

Current Mathematical Publications is a subject index of bibliographic data for recent and forthcoming publications. Most of these items are later reviewed in Mathematical Reviews.

Currency Current Mathematical Publications data is added daily. Reviews ready for publication are added daily. Mathematical Reviews data is added each month when the printed issue is complete.

When available, the Mathematical Reviews record for an item with a review replaces the Current Mathematical Publications record for that item.

Response Time Good. Most searches retrieved in 5 seconds or less.
Availability MathSciNet is available from 6 different sites. Mirror sites are listed on the main page. If your primary site is down, you are prompted to try one of the mirror sites.

MathSciNet reserves the time between 6-6:30 a.m. EST daily for possible maintenance.

Compatible with Multiple Web Browsers? Compatible with Internet Explorer, Netscape and the Lynx text browser (version 2.7 or higher). For optimal viewing, AMS recommends Netscape 3.x or higher.
Extra Software Needed Files in MathSciNet are found in a variety of formats including PDF, PostScript, BibTeX and DVI. Most of the plug-ins needed to view these file types are available in public domain. Most documents are available in more than one format, giving the viewer a choice of which formats are best for their viewing.
Full Text Availability Full text of reviews are given when available. In addition, links are made to the full text of articles available through several subscription services, including:
  • Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
  • Oxford University Press
  • Academic Press
  • American Mathematical Society
  • JSTOR (Coming Soon)
Help Screens Includes pages describing the database, a demo, and help on searching and managing results.
Searchable Fields
  • Author
  • Title
  • Mathematics Subject Classification
  • Journal
  • Institution Code
  • Series name
  • Number of item in Mathematical Reviews
  • Review Text
  • Reviewer
  • Publication year
Search Modes Searches include Basic, and "Full" (Advanced Searching). In addition, you can search a database of authors or journals.
Search Features Boolean searching; proximity searching; truncation
Browsable Indexes Can browse current books, current journals, or by the Mathematics Subject Classification codes.
Lateral Searching Author's names, journal title, journal issue number, Mathematics Subject Classification codes, and reviewer name are hyperlinked. In addition, other Mathematical Reviews articles that are referenced in the review are hyperlinked.
Search Revision None available.
Results Display The number of 'Headlines' (Results) displayed per page can be chosen on the search screen. Choices given are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, or 1000. The number of results retrieved is shown on the top and bottom of the results screen, with choices to go to the next page, to display all, to retrieve marked items, or to look at the first 50 items. The symbols for next and previous are somewhat ambiguous -- a page with letters marked alphabetically and an arrow forward or back.

The results list shows the citation information, publisher, and reviewer. Each item has a choice to mark, retrieve item in pdf or html, or hyperlink to a number of fields. Once an item has been selected, the review can be pulled up in a variety of formats as noted in 'Extra Software Needed', above.

Display Format Options Files in MathSciNet are found in a variety of formats including PDF, PostScript, BibTeX and DVI.
Records Marking Yes.
Export Options Exporting is only available by using the options in your browser software.
PROS
  • This is one of the few Mathematics databases available.

  • The variety of formats available for viewing documents makes results compatible with all systems, including PC, Mac and UNIX.

  • The lateral searching capability includes links to virtually every field of a record. This gives a flexibility to link between commonalities that is rarely seen.

  • The browse features allows the user to view the most recent additions by Mathematics Subject Classification codes, journal title, or author.

  • Includes the Mathematics Subject Classification codes as a browsable index, searchable by keyword, or as a pdf file. The index and keyword search allows expansion of classification codes and a link to records within that classification.
CONS
  • MathSciNet has its own interface, separate from other SUS interfaces.

  • Although almost every field in a retrieved record is hyperlinked, it is not readily apparent to a novice user where a link may go. To actually retrieve a review, the user must click on the Mathematical Review number or the pdf button next to the record.

  • Links to publishers, such as Academic Press, link only to the journal homepage rather than to the individual article. The article must then be found on the publisher's site.

  • Links to publisher's site is established regardless of whether or not the full text is available to the user. (i.e. a link was made to The Journal of Graph Theory homepage, but the full text of articles must be retrieved via Wiley Interscience. FIU does not subscribe to this service.)

RECOMMENDATION

  • Subscription purchase recommended.

REFERENCES

About MathSciNet, at the American Mathematical Society website.
MathSciNet Search Results Help Page

Submitted by: Valerie Edwards, Florida International University, September 21, 1999