MathSciNet
via the Web
- Introduction
- Starting your search
- How to access MathSciNet
- Searching
- Combining words, phrases and fields
- Author searching
- Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC)
- Searching for journal titles
- Search results
- Downloading
- Printing
- Leaving the Database
- Academic Liaison Librarian: Tony Wilson
Introduction
MathSciNet provides computerised access to Mathematical Reviews and Current Mathematical Publications, the major abstracting services for mathematics. This guide is an introduction to MathSciNet with more detailed help available on the Web pages.
Mathematical Reviews (MR) covers data from 1940 to the present. Both bibliographic data and review texts are available from 1980-present. Bibliographic data is available from 1940-1979. Items listed in the annual indexes of MR but not given an individual review are also included. Current Mathematical Publications (CMP) is a subject index of bibliographic data for recent and forthcoming publications. Most items are later reviewed in MR. All items in MR appear first in CMP.
CMP data is added daily, while MR data is added each month when the printed issue is complete. The MR record for an item with a review replaces the CMP recorded for that item.
Starting your search
MathSciNet may be searched from any machine connected to the campus network which has a Web browser such as Netscape. Users off campus will need to set the proxy settings on their PC.
How to access MathSciNet
Go directly to MetaLib at http://metalib.york.ac.uk and use Find Database to select MathSciNet by its title.
Searching
The search screen consists of boxes in which you type your search terms, and field name menu boxes. Options to limit (narrow) a search by time frame or publication type are displayed at the page bottom.
Enter search terms into one or more of the blank boxes, selecting the fields to be searched. It is possible for more than one field name to be set to the same type (e.g. two author/related).
When all terms are entered, click on Search. The next screen will contain matching records for your search terms, or a notice stating that no matching references have been found. To clear all searches and reset all options, click on the Clear button.
Publication years
You can limit (narrow) your search to reviews published between certain years, in recent issues only, or for particular kinds of documents using the Narrow search options. Click the appropriate radio buttons to select most recent MR or CMP issues, or to limit by publication year enter a year span (e.g.1988 to 1995), or use the = > < publication year option in the boxes shown below. (e.g. Publication Year > 1985 will only search for articles published after 1985).
Document type
The database includes information about publication format with all types of documents searched by default. Within the Narrow search options select a document type by clicking on the relevant box, e.g., books, or journal articles or conference proceedings only.
Truncation and wildcards
The wildcard is an asterisk (*) which can be used to search on truncated words, e.g. comput* or in the middle of a word to find alternate spellings, e.g. computeri*e. If no truncation is used MathSciNet will perform exact word matching and also the plural of the words used. If searching for a phrase that contains a Boolean operator (see below) you must place the phrase in quotation marks, for example, "not locally symmetric".
Combining words, phrases and fields
Words entered as a phrase will only be found if the words are adjacent to each other. Terms can be combined in a variety of ways to refine your results. Boolean operators (OR, AND, NOT) may be entered within search box or between a number of searches between fields in Search terms using the drop down menus. The default Boolean operator between fields is AND.
| AND | both terms must appear in the record (e.g. bayesian and statistics) |
| OR | either word or phrase appears (e.g. integral or integration) |
| NOT | records including the second term will be excluded (USE WITH CAUTION) |
| ADJ# | records where terms appear a certain number of characters apart (e.g. function adj3 variables). Can only be used within an individual search box. |
Cyrillic
Effective with MR 83a (January 1983), a new system for transliteration (romanisation) of Cyrillic was adopted. This may affect author name searches (both last names and initials). In some cases, it may be necessary to do two searches, using the current and then the old transliteration, in order to find all of the papers by a particular author.
Searching for mathematics (TeX codes)
In the past, users needed to strip the TeX code \ from search terms. This is no longer the case: For instance, a title search on ${\rm O}(3)$ will return results for, among others, Matrix elements of real representations of the groups ${\rm O}(3)$ and ${\rm SO}(3)$. TeX-coded accents do not need to be omitted from names when searching. E.g., when searching for a name coded as m\"uller, you may use use m\"uller or muller.
Author searching
All names, including authors, editors, translators and the subject of a biography, are searchable within this field. Names are in the form; last name, first name, middle name(s) or initial(s). Commas separate last and first names; e.g. Erdos, P*; Knuth,Donald E. The wildcard (*) may be used anywhere within the name string to broaden the search.
Author identification
Click on Authors in the menu bar to get help in identifying authors and possible variations of author's names. Enter an author's surname and click Search. A list of matching author's names will be displayed. You may then elect to combine authors with a full search, or view all items by them. Note that author identification is only reliable from 1985 to the present.
Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC)
Click on the Other tools tab to perform a keyword search to identify items in the Mathematics Subject Classification, or select a 2 digit classification to browse the index. Searching displays all matching headings, while browsing will display a longer list of classification numbers. 2-digit classifications do not have links to reviews as most of them produce too many results. To view how a classification breaks down further as a topic click on the classification number.
Alternatively to obtain a list of matching reviews, click on the adjacent review icon . From subsequent pages, you can either expand a classification or link to reviews that fall within it.
Searching for journal titles
The journal field contains full and abbreviated journal names from 1980 to the present. Prior to 1980, only abbreviations are given. Original and translated journal names are searched. The wildcard (*) may be used; e.g. j* hist* astronom*; pattern rec*; j* sym* logic
Search results
Search results are given in reverse chronological order.
From the results list, click on PDF to view the contents of the review. Clicking on the other highlighted options initiates a search on that person, journal, subject etc. While the default display is 20 headlines per page, this can be altered by clicking on Preferences and selecting either 50 or 100. Click on the Select Page numbers at the top and bottom of the list to move through the results. By clicking on Add to Clipboard you can add any reference to a list, for future examination. This list is lost when you end your MathSciNet Session.
If the Article button is lit up (in the image above it is not) then clicking on this will display the full journal article in another window. Clicking on the Journal button opens the ejournal homepage for that title. However, there is no guarantee of access if the University does not subscribe to it. Clicking on PDF displays the reference in Adobe PDF format. If it is not available here then click on to see if the title is available.
Downloading
You can download pages to a file using the File | Save As function of your browser. Individual reviews may be downloaded one at a time while a headline list can be downloaded in its entirety.
You can also view individual reviews in 8 different formats. Mark the items you are interested in by clicking on the box next to each article so a tick appears. Then select the format required from the drop-down list and click on Retrieve Marked. Some formats will display as Web pages which you can download as above, while others can be saved/viewed outside of your browser.
Printing
Headlines or individual reviews may be printed using the Print function of your browser. A headline list may be printed in its entirety, while individual reviews must be printed one at a time.
Leaving the Database
Close your browser window, to conclude your MathSciNet Session.
