For an improved author identification, see the new author database of ZBMATH.
Search in Zentralblatt MATH Database
Display fields
The DISPLAY fields which you may see in records of ZBMATH Database are summarized below.
Search-Fields
The searchable fields of the database MATH which are displayed in the search menu are listed below.
- bi basic index (including au ti,, ut, cc (text), ci, ab, br)
- au author(s), editors, author references
- ai identified author(s); will also be executed when clicking at the name of an identified author
- ti title
- so source
- py publication year
- cc classification code
- rv reviewer
- dt document type
- an accession number
Proximity
A simple form of proximity searching is available for this database, in
the following text fields: BI, TI, SO. A group of consecutive words may
be searched for by selecting "expression".
Truncation
The (right) truncation symbol * is used to retrieve various forms of your search terms. In the author search the truncation is used automatically.
Left truncation is not available.
TeX
The description of mathematical contents within the records of MATH database requires the use of a formatting language which is capable of presenting special characters, formulae and formatting instructions. The most widely used and best known language for these purposes is TeX. Therefore TeX is used in the encoding of the data for MATH. However, a TeX-implementation on your computer is not a necessary condition for MATH Database to run.
But if high output quality is asked for, if it is desired to get output in a form similar to the printed version of Zentralblatt für Mathematik, then viewers for DVI, PostScript or PDF should be available on your system.
Accession Number
The accession number AN of the MATH Database is closely related to the document number as used in Zentralblatt fuer Mathematik:
- the first 4 digits refer to the Zbl-volume number
- the two digit behind the full stop represent the MSC field
- the last 3 digits are consecutive numbers
Examples:
0779.14002
The search can be restricted to a single volume by entering, for example 0779.* in the zblno field.
Basic Index
The Basic Index is the main tool in the subject search of MATH Database as a bibliographic text-oriented database.
This index contain all single words of the fields describing the contents of the document.
The following fields are included in the Basic Index:
- au authors, editors
- ti title
- cc classification text
- ut english keywords
- br biographical references
- ab review / bbstracts
- ci citations
Authors, Editors, Author References
Author names have been implemented in a form common to all STN databases, i.e. last name, first name, middle name. First and middle names can or cannot be abbreviated. When searching for an author's name, it is recommended to use only the first initial. You will get all forms of the first names, because the system adds automatically a truncation symbol. Thus, the following forms of implementation are possible.
Examples:
Friedrich Wilhelm Mahle as Mahle, F.; Mahle, F. W.; Mahle, Friedrich; Mahle, Friedrich W.; Mahle, Friedrich Wilhelm; and as an Editor (e.g.) Mahle, Friedrich W. (ed.)
Title
The title of the original document is not only contained in the basic index, but also in a special field TI. This is useful in those cases in which users want to limit his search to title words.
The language of the title is English, French, or German. In case of French and German there is also given an English translation.
Language
The ISO 639-1 alpha-2 language code for each language can be searched.
Example:
| Code | Language |
| DE | German |
| EN | English |
| FR | French |
| IT | Italian |
| RU | Russian |
Source
This field contains a great part of the bibliographic information and information about meetings.
The source field contains the following searchable data:
- the authors, and editors
- the journal title, volume, and pages
- the title of conference volumes etc.
- title of book series
- the name and the place of the publisher
- conference title and place
- publication year (see also the index py)
Publication Year
The publication year is always written in 4 digits.
You may specify a period from 1 to 5 years entering the first and last year of the period. The second box may stay empty if only one year is specified. No entry is necessary for the whole period of the database.
Document Type
By means of document type it is possible to separate the main types of publication: journal article, book, book article, etc.
Classification Code and Text
All Documents in Zentralblatt-MATH are indexed by codes from the
Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC) 2000 which was prepared jointly by the editorial offices of Mathematical Reviews and Zentralblatt fuer Mathematik/Mathematics Abstracts.
A list of codes and the corresponding text is available.
The corresponding text is included in the Basic Index.
It is also possible to search for the main fields (higher levels) of the classification if you use the first two digits or the first two digits followed by a character in combination with the truncation symbol.
Examples:
35J10 searches all papers to "Schroedinger operator"
35J* searches all papers to "elliptic equations"
35* searches all papers to "partial differential equations"
English Keywords
In all cases where the classification is not specific enough there are added English keywords for a detailed description of the topics (starting 1970). Since we index all literature with English keywords, it is possible to search only in English for the selection of non-English papers and reviews.
The display field UT is only searchable in the Basic Index.
Review / Abstracts
The description of a document by a review should
- contain a description of the mathematical content and eventually give applications
- outline references to thematically related work and,
- if necessary and possible, pronounce criticism of positive as well as negative kind.
The reviews are compiled by about 10,000 reviewers from all over the world who cover the whole mathematics and all the occuring languages. If the result of a check of the summary of a document by the editors of Zentralblatt fuer Mathematik is that it is informative and of good quality, then it may be used for the printed version and the databases as well.
The preferred language for the reviews is English, but reviews in French and German will also be accepted.
The author of a review is mentioned at the end of it, as long as it is not compiled from the summary, from the text, or so from one of the editors of Zentralblatt fuer Mathematik.
Does a paper remain without a review, this indicates in general that it rather crosses the borderlines of the scope of our printed product. However, to make it as complete as we can, we include those documents in MATH Database. Also those papers which are under documentation and whose bibliographic data are given, are without a review.
The review text is searchable in the Basic Index (bi).
Reviewer
There are more than 10,000 scientists from all over the world who provide Zentralblatt fuer Mathematik with about 80,000 reviews per year. They cover all areas of mathematics and its applications and all languages in which mathematical research papers are usually written. The name of the reviewer and his home town are searchable.
Citations
The Reviews of MATH Database contain citations to relevant papers for different reasons. These references are provided with the MATH Database accession number (zblno).
By a mouse click on this accession number you can display directly the cited record.
Moreover there is a link on the accession number of each displayed document which provides you with all reviews citing the displayed one.
