Database of the Month: MathSciNet

MathSciNet is the major search tool - and most comprehensive resource - for the international literature of mathematics and statistics. Created and maintained by the American Mathematical Society (AMS), MathSciNet provides access to citations, abstracts, and limited linking to full-text for articles and reviews from 1940 to the present. The database offers subject indexing of historical, recent, and forthcoming mathematical publications with over 100,000 new items added annually.

More than Just Journals and Citations

As of this writing, MathSciNet indexes more than 1,900 current journals from the American Mathematical Monthly to the Journal of Difference Equations and Applications, and links to the full-text in databases such as JSTOR and Science Direct are available for some articles. But the database also contains a wealth of other resources including:

• full-text access to Mathematical Reviews (MR) –the AMS journal reviewing the world’s mathematical literature
• full-text access to Current Mathematical Publications (CMR) – the AMS early awareness journal, a subject index of recent and forthcoming mathematical publications
• indexing of conference proceedings
• indexing of books
• indexing of Ph.D. theses with direct links to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database

At present, MathSciNet contains records for over 2.7 million total publications. Starting in 2000, reference lists from the original articles have been added for a select list of journals called Reference List Journals. The Citations Block for each publication provides links to citations from reference lists and to citations from reviews.

Advanced Searching

In addition to the standard keyword, author, title, and subject searches, users can search for highly cited articles by year or by subject using the mathematical subject classification codes (MSC). To search using MSC, reference the classification schedule found from the Free Tools link in the upper right corner of the home page. While there, use the search tab Collaboration Distance to research connections and collaborations between authors. Free Tools has two additional browsing features of interest – Current Journals and Current Publications – to learn about recently published works.

Learn More

In response to requests from MathSciNet users and librarians, MathSciNet now offers tutorials on how to get the most out of searching. These tutorials treat each of the tabbed areas of MathSciNet - Publications, Authors, Journals, and Citations - as well as Free Tools and Preferences. Users are helped to take advantage of the rich structure of the databases underlying MathSciNet. Every user is likely to find a feature or search that they have not previously used.

Connect to this Database

Please visit MathSciNet to explore this valuable database further, or visit our Databases page to view a complete list of our resources.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk. If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.