INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of
high energy physics
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and b ...
(HEP). It is the successor of the
Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System
The Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) is a database management system developed by Stanford University. It is used by universities, colleges and research institutions. The first website in North America was created to allow re ...
(SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1970s.
History
SPIRES was (in addition to the CERN Document Server (CDS),
arXiv
arXiv (pronounced "archive"—the X represents the Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not peer review. It consists of ...
and parts of
Astrophysics Data System
The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is an online database of over 16 million astronomy and physics papers from both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed sources. Abstracts are available free online for almost all articles, and full scanned a ...
) one of the main Particle Information Resources. A survey conducted in 2007 found that SPIRES database users wanted the portal to provide more services than the, at that time, already 30-year-old system could provide. On the second annual Summit of Information Specialists in Particle Physics and Astrophysics in May 2008, the physics laboratories
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...
,
DESY
The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (English ''German Electron Synchrotron''), commonly referred to by the abbreviation DESY, is a national research center in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to investigate the structure of matt ...
,
SLAC
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center,
is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. Departm ...
and
Fermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been operat ...
therefore announced that they would work together to create a new Scientific Information System for high energy physics called INSPIRE. It interacts with other HEP service providers like
arXiv.org
arXiv (pronounced "archive"—the X represents the Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not peer review. It consists of sc ...
,
Particle Data Group The Particle Data Group (or PDG) is an international collaboration of particle physicists that compiles and reanalyzes published results related to the properties of particles and fundamental interactions. It also publishes reviews of theoretical r ...
,
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's
Astrophysics Data System
The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is an online database of over 16 million astronomy and physics papers from both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed sources. Abstracts are available free online for almost all articles, and full scanned a ...
. and HEPdata. In April 2010, a beta version of INSPIRE-HEP was freely accessible,
in April 2012, it fully replaced SPIRES. A new and upgraded INSPIRE platform was officially released in March 2020.
Content
INSPIRE-HEP combines the SPIRES-HEP database content with the open source digital library software
Invenio
Invenio is an open source software framework for large-scale digital repositories that provides the tools for management of digital assets in an institutional repository and research data management systems. The software is typically used for open ...
and the content of the CERN Document server.
In addition to scientific papers, INSPIRE-HEP provides other information such-as citation metrics, plots extracted from papers or internal experiment notes and tools for users to improve metadata like
crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...
for author disambiguation. As of August 2012, INSPIRE-HEP contains 1.1 million records. INSPIRE provides not only a literature database for the field of High-Energy Physics, but for other HEP-related services:
* HEPNames: a comprehensive directory of people involved in High-Energy Physics
* Institutions: a database compiling over 7000 institutes related to the HEP field; included in the information about each institute is a link to all the papers in INSPIRE-HEP that are associated with the institution as well as a list of people (taken from HEPNames)
* Conferences: a collection of HEP meetings and conferences
* Jobs: a listing of academic and research jobs of interest to the community in high energy physics, nuclear physics, accelerator physics and astrophysics
* Experiments: a database containing summaries of HEP and HEP-related experiments from different labs and locations around the world
See also
*
List of academic databases and search engines
This article contains a representative list of notable databases and search engines useful in an academic setting for finding and accessing articles in academic journals, institutional repositories, archives, or other collections of scientific and ...
References
Citations
Sources
* Gentil-Beccot, A., Mele S., Holtkamp, A., O’Connell, H., and Brooks, T. (2008). Information Resources in High-Energy Physics. Surveying the Present Landscape and Charting the Future Course,
* Warner, S., and Rieger, O. (2010). Developing Sustainability Strategies for arXiv. Information Standards Quarterly 22, 2-4
* Gülzow, V., and Kemp, Y. (2012). Teilchenphysik. In: Neuroth, H. et al. (ed.). Langzeitarchivierung von Forschungsdaten. Eine Bestandsaufnahme, 257-27
* DPHEP Study Group (2012). Status Report of the DPHEP Study Group: Towards a Global Effort for Sustainable Data Preservation in High Energy Physics. arXiv:1205.466
{{refend
External links
INSPIRE-HEP databaseINSPIRE-HEP website
Bibliographic databases and indexes
Discipline-oriented digital libraries
Open-access archives
Full-text scholarly online databases
Particle physics journals