Science.gov is a

web portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...

and specialized search engine. Using

federated search Federated search retrieves information from a variety of sources via a search application built on top of one or more search engines. A user makes a single query request which is distributed to the search engines, databases or other query engines ...

technology, Science.gov serves as a gateway to

United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

scientific and technical information and research. Currently in its fifth generation, Science.gov provides a search of over 60 databases from 14 federal science agencies and 200 million pages of science information with just one query, and is a gateway to 2,200+ scientific websites. In 2007, a report to Congress noted that in fiscal year 2007 "Science.gov experienced 6.5 million search queries across all its scientific databases and 2.6 million page views of its website." By 2012, the site had reached 34 million page views annually. In April 2007, ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'' included Science.gov in its list of best references of 2006. Science.gov is also the United States contribution to the international portal

WorldWideScience WorldWideScience.org is a global science search engine (Academic databases and search engines) designed to accelerate scientific discovery and progress by accelerating the sharing of scientific knowledge. Through a multilateral partnership, WorldW ...

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 stores of scientific and technical information. Science.gov is an interagency initiative of 18 U.S. government science organizations within 14 Federal agencies. These agencies form the voluntary Science.gov Alliance. 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 users sort through the government's research and return results relevant to individual needs. An advanced search capability and other enhancements were added.

U.S. Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...

Spencer Abraham Edward Spencer Abraham (born June 12, 1952) is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as the tenth United States Secretary of Energy from 2001 to 2005, under President George W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, Abraham pre ...

and Director of the Office of Science Dr. Raymond L. Orbach both remarked positively on the launch of Science.gov 2.0 on May 11, 2004. A free "Alert" service was released in February 2005, allowing users to receive e-mail alerts about 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. Launched in November 2005, Version 3.0 provided more refined search queries of federal science

databases In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...

. In addition, fielded searching and Boolean capabilities were enhanced. In February 2007, Science.gov 4.0 was launched. The new version was reviewed by

Gale Cengage Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale G ...

and Government Computer News. Version 4.0 allowed further refinement of search queries, allowing users to search within their original results. The relevancy ranking algorithms became more sophisticated, providing ranking of the entire full text of documents on sites where searchable full text resides. Date of the document was priority-weighted for ranking purposes. A new feature allowed users to share search results via e-mail. Science.gov 5.0 was launched in September 2008 and announced in a U.S. Department of Energy Press Release. The

Oak Ridger ''The Oak Ridger'' is an American daily newspaper published Mondays through Fridays in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is owned by Gannett. Its editor and publisher is Darrell Richardson. ''The Oak Ridger'' was established in 1949 by Alfred and Julia ...

covered the release as did

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

, Open Access News,

Federal Computer Week ''FCW'' (launched as ''Federal Computer Week'') is a news website that covers U.S. federal government technology and occasionally state, local, tribal and international governments. It is owned by GovExec. ''FCW'' was established in 1987 by Interna ...

Econtent Information Today, Inc., is an American publishing company. It publishes Internet and technology magazines, newsletters, books, directories and online products. Information Today was previously known as Learned Information, Inc. Learned Informa ...

, and SLA Government Information Division. Clustering results into topics areas and the inclusion of Wikipedia topics and EurekAlert Science items related to the search were added.

Governance

Governance of Science.gov is provided by the interagency Science.gov Alliance. The Alliance is co-chaired by the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

and the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Features and capabilities

Science.gov provides science search through a variety of features and capabilities, including: * Accessing over 60 databases and 200 million pages of science information via one query * Clustering of results by subtopics or dates to help users target their search * Eureka Science News results related to user search terms * Mark and send option for emailing results to friends and colleagues * Enhanced information related to the user's real-time search *

Alerts Alert messaging (or alert notification) is machine-to-person communication that is important or time sensitive. An alert may be a calendar reminder or a notification of a new message. Alert messaging emerged from the study of personal information ...

service * Science.gov participates in the WorldWideScience global science gateway.

Content

The content for Science.gov is contributed by participating agencies including science professionals, students and teachers, and the business community. Many of these agencies are members of

CENDI CENDI (Commerce, Energy, NASA, Defense Information Managers Group) is an interagency group of senior Scientific and Technical Information (STI) managers from 14 United States federal agencies. CENDI managers cooperate by exchanging inform ...

, 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.

Search function providing and hosting

The web page search function is provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

), and the "Explore Selected Science Websites by Topic" portion of the site is maintained by the CENDI Secretariat. The Science.gov website is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy ( DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (

OSTI The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is a component of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The '' Energy Policy Act'' PL 109–58, Section 982, called out the responsibility of OSTI: "The Secre ...

), located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which also supplies the site's "deep web search" capability.OSTI deep web video
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Notes

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External links

Science.gov search page

Data.gov research portal

Facts about Science.gov

CENDI

World Wide Science
Internet search engines Web portals Government-owned websites of the United States Scholarly search services