ZbMATH Open is an open access database that indexes journals, monographs, proceedings, dissertations, conference proceedings, and collected volumes in pure and applied mathematics with database coverage from 1826 to the present. zbMATH Open includes the content from Zentralblatt für Mathematik und ihre Grenzgebiete (1932 – present), Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik (1868-1944), and additional retrospective journal information back to 1826.
The database has been made available as an open access database since January 2021. The database is edited by the European Mathematical Society, the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and FIZ Karlsruhe. The database is updated daily. Over 3,000 current serials are covered by the database. Journal profiles are also included for over 6,000 journals.
zbMATH Open has a wide variety of search options. Some options include a document search, search by author name, serial title, or classification code based on the Mathematics Subject Classification system. In addition, there is an option to search for mathematical software and a Formulae search option (Figure 1). Searches can be combined with Boolean operator symbols: & for the AND operator, | for the OR operator and ! for the NOT operator. Phrase searching with quotation marks and right-handed truncation with the asterisk symbol are also supported. In addition, the Structured Search option provides an easy to use interface to allow combinations of multiple fields, eg. Author and title (Figure 2). Sorting and filtering options are also available. Online tutorials in the About section of the database provide short overviews of the different search features.
Figure 1: Default Search Screen
Figure 2: Structure Search Report
The database record (Figure 3) includes details about the publication, assigned mathematical classification codes, keywords (uncontrolled vocabulary) and an abstract or a review that has been written by an expert in the field. Links to the publishers’ website and/or to electronic libraries and repositories with open access (examples: arXiv, The Electronic Library of Mathematics, The European Digital Mathematics Library, Project Euclid) are also provided.
Figure 3: Sample Database Record
Author profiles in zbMATH Open include external links to various profiles like ORCID, Google Scholar, ResearchGate as well as Awards and an overview of the author’s publication history. The profiles also list the author’s coauthors, publications by journal title and subject areas as well as citation information (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Example of an Author Profile
ZbMATH Open and MathSciNet both index mathematical literature. Librarians and researchers are encouraged to try zbMATH Open and see how it compares to MathSciNet. zbMATH Open and MathSciNet both use and contribute to the development of the Mathematics Subject Classification system and have many similar features. For researchers that do not have access to the subscription based MathSciNet, zbMATH Open is an excellent option to use for mathematics research. For information on some of the similarities and differences between the two databases see Kremer-Schmitt and Thureau’s (2021) blog post on zbMATH Open.
Additional Reading
Kremer-Schmitt, M., & Thureau, G. (2021, April 13). zbMATH open: The first resource for mathematics. RNBM. https://www.rnbm.org/zbmath-open-the-first-ressource-for-mathematics/
Marie Speare, Acting Head, Sciences Division and Liaison Librarian for Chemistry and Engineering, Jim Peebles Science and Technology Library, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA
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