WorldWideScience.org: A Global Science Gateway to Public Access Resources and Research Data

WorldWideScience.org (link is external) is a global science gateway that offers federated searching across over 100 scientific and technical databases from more than 70 countries. The WorldWideScience Alliance, a strategic partnership of national and international libraries and data and information centers from around the world, provides the governance structure for WorldWideScience.org. OSTI serves as the Operating Agent for the Alliance, whose members are committed to eliminating barriers associated with finding and sharing scientific and technical information, including public access resources and scientific research data.

The federated search technology employed by WorldWideScience.org offers a user a number of distinct advantages, including the ability to perform a real-time, simultaneous search of multiple databases.  A user receives a consolidated, relevance-ranked results list incorporating information in textual, multimedia, and scientific data formats.  Multilingual translations are automatically performed in ten languages, which makes scholarly material, including scientific data, more accessible to a worldwide audience. 

WorldWideScience.org makes it possible to search data collections in a way that facilitates the discoverability of research data.  For example, unless a user is familiar with a particular data center or knows that specific datasets exist, it can be difficult to identify and locate scientific data, especially outside the researcher's own discipline or specialty.  WorldWideScience.org enables a user to receive data results in a separate results tab; upon selecting a specific result, the user will be directed to the landing page at the originating source, which in turn makes the data accessible for viewing or downloading. 

WorldWideScience.org has also incorporated public access portals, from both U.S. federal science agencies and international partners, into its federated search capabilities.  Results are available via a separate "Public Access" tab, allowing the user to seamlessly link to free, open access journal articles and peer-reviewed accepted manuscripts.

The inclusion of research data collections and public access portals in WorldWideScience.org, as part of the broad public access movement among government research funders in many countries, further expands access to R&D results during the full research lifecycle and ultimately contributes to increased scientific collaboration and progress.  WorldWideScience.org significantly increases the visibility and usage of DOE R&D results.