Dept. of Energy Proposes to Discontinue PubSCIENCE

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Of possible interest to many readers of this list.  Any reactions to the 
news?  The Moderators

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Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 14:19:12 -0500
Sender: Discussion of Government Document Issues <GOVDOC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU>
From: Govdoc-l Moderator <govmod@tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Dept. of Energy Proposes to Discontinue PubSCIENCE
To: GOVDOC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU

U.S. Department of Energy Proposes to Discontinue PubSCIENCE

Since its inception in 1999, PubSCIENCE (<http://pubsci.osti.gov/>) has
provided researchers and science-attentive citizens access to bibliographic
records of peer-reviewed journal literature relating to DOE-supported work,
addressing the need for a searchable gateway for the Department's Web
patrons.  Based on an extensive public/private sector collaboration,
PubSCIENCE has covered journals of participating science publishers,
including hyperlinks to the full text on publishers' servers.  PubSCIENCE
was developed by DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information and
made available to the American public in partnership with the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO).

More recently, private sector information products have emerged that freely
offer bibliographic records to Web patrons.  Provider systems such as Scirus
and Infotrieve have progressively increased the availability of freely
searchable citations, and this trend is anticipated to continue.  A recent
comparison of the content between PubSCIENCE and Scirus and Infotrieve
showed that 90% of the journal literature in the scope of PubSCIENCE was
covered by these two products.  Taken as a whole, they provide coverage of
information for DOE Web patrons.

As a result of these findings DOE is hereby proposing to discontinue
PubSCIENCE.  Comments on this proposed action will be collected using the
comment form available on this Web site for a 30-day comment period to end
September 8, 2002.  Comments received will be considered in the final
decision process for the future of PubSCIENCE.

Comments may be directed to pubscience@osti.gov.

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