Rapid-Publication SPIE Digital Library Adds New Features and Partners in New Federated Search Option

BELLINGHAM, WA--(Marketwire - October 19, 2007) - The SPIE Digital Library, accessible through key search engines and scientific databases as well as independently, will extend multimedia file support and other new capabilities in January.

The SPIE Digital Library (http://spiedigitallibrary.aip.org/) was launched on the American Institute of Physics Scitation platform in June 2003. Scitation provides federated search, returning results from among publications of its 26 member societies in response to a single query. Scitation contains the world's largest collection of technical papers in optics and photonics science and engineering.

This year SPIE continued its commitment to meeting the needs of the research community for federated search options. SPIE has joined with 14 other societies to create a new search portal, Scitopia.org, which launched from the beta version earlier this week.

SPIE articles are among the most widely cited literature in patents related to optics and photonics, encompassing the broadest range of technologies in those topics.

New features of the SPIE Digital Library include:

--  Multimedia file support. Audio and video files have been supported for
    all SPIE journals through standard multimedia platforms (QuickTime and
    Windows Media Player) since January 2007. Starting with submission of
    manuscripts for SPIE Medical Imaging and SPIE Advanced Lithography symposia
    in January 2008, submission of these types of supplementary files with
    Proceedings manuscripts will be enabled. Multimedia files are accessed from
    the abstract page or directly from links within the PDF. Papers containing
    multimedia are designated with an icon in the table of contents.
    
--  Enhanced citation reference linking. Currently, journal citations are
    linked to the referenced publication through CrossRef. This capability is
    being added for Proceedings articles in January.
    
--  User-defined RSS saved search, launched earlier this year. Users
    specify criteria through a search on the site and may save the query as a
    dynamic RSS feed. As new articles meeting the criteria are published,
    alerts are sent.
    
--  Open access content. SPIE Letters, an online collection of rapid
    publications on topics of significant originality and interest from the six
    journals published in the SPIE Digital Library, presents a virtual table of
    contents with links to abstracts and free, full-text downloads of all
    letters in their parent journals.
    

New papers from SPIE Journals and Proceedings go online as they complete the necessary approvals and production steps (e-First publication). Proceedings articles are published online within two to four weeks after the end of a conference, with print and CD-ROM publication following soon after. For e-First publications, the electronic version is the publication of record, and citation information indicates the online publication date.

The SPIE Digital Library includes approximately 250,000 articles from 1990 through the present published in:

Proceedings of SPIE
Optical Engineering
Journal of Electronic Imaging
Journal of Biomedical Optics
Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS
Journal of Applied Remote Sensing
Journal of Nanophotonics

About SPIE: SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. Serving the interests of its more than 188,000 active constituents representing 138 different countries, SPIE acts as a catalyst for collaboration among technical disciplines for information exchange, continuing education, publishing opportunities, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. As the organizer and sponsor of approximately 26 major conferences and education programs annually in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific, SPIE provides publishing, speaking, and learning opportunities on emerging technologies. For more information, visit http://SPIE.org.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Amy Nelson SPIE Public Relations Manager +1 360 685 5478