SSCS Members Access Wealth of Technical
Information Through IEEE Xplore

Barbara H. Lange,
Publishing Business Development,
IEEE Publications Group

The IEEE and its member societies publish nearly one third of the world’s literature on electrical and electronic engineering — a vast treasury of infor-mation that was released in the year 2000 through a new online delivery system called IEEE Xplore. The more than 750 Gbytes of IEEE information — 660,000 articles, papers, and standards since 1988 — includes over three million pages of content from journals, transactions, magazines, conference proceedings, and standards. IEEE Xplore is the gateway that leads engineers to the specific piece of information needed within such an immense mass of data.

IEEE Xplore delivers all publications in PDF full text and a related abstract/citation record. In the future, starting with 1996 journal articles, it will deliver interactive HTML full text. With HTML, users can search an entire article, not just abstracts and citations. By summer 2001, IEEE Xplore will contain linked IEEE article references for journal content published since 1996, including links to other IEEE articles. This latter enhancement will provide users with a convenient navigation path for retrieving related articles.

Finding Information in IEEE Xplore

IEEE Xplore provides two main ways of finding information. By browsing tables of contents, users can simulate browsing a printed copy to see available articles and papers. By searching, users can make precise queries to locate content of interest.

If users know a title, author, journal name, conference name, abstract, or subject term, they should use Basic Search, which includes a pull-down list of these most-used fields. If users have no concrete idea of what field to search in or if they want to use search techniques such as Boolean logic and truncation, the Advanced Search is the best option.

Search Conference Articles

Important SSCS-sponsored conferences are also included in IEEE Xplore. The ISSCC and the VLSI Symposium on Circuits are available from 1988 to the present. The CICC is available from 1990 to the present. As an IEEE member, you can view the abstract/citation record. Purchasing the online article will be enabled later in the year. A number of institutional subscribers already have purchased viewing rights for all conferences. Check with your institutionís librarian. Logging in through your institutional account may give you access to many more articles than would your individual membership subscriptions. To see the abstracts of articles from these conferences, try this for yourself.

Step 1: Click on Basic Search, log in with your IEEE web account.
Step 2: In the first text box, type VLSI Circuits (Integrated Circuits for CICC or Solid-State Circuits for ISSCC).
Step 3: Select Conference Title from the pull-down field menu.

In the Search Options box:
Step 4: Select conference articles and deselect journal and standards.
Step 5: Select ALL from the publication year range.
Step 6: Sort the search results by year in ascending order to see first the earliest proceedings on line.
Step 7: Click on Search.

Search Example

Let’s say you are interested in the latest journal articles on IA-64 microprocessors. Follow these steps to get at the desired information.

Step 1: Click on Basic Search, log in with your IEEE Web account.
Step 2: In the first text box, type the keywords IA-64 microprocessors.
Step 3: Select TITLE from the pull-down field menu.

In the Search Options box,

Step 4: Deselect conferences and standards (since you only want journal articles).
Step 5: Select 2000 from the publication year range.
Step 6: Click on Search.

This search results in two articles that have the keywords in the title. The results are organized in reverse chronological order or are based on the preference set on the search page. Both articles are from the November 2000 issue of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, which is only accessible to SSCS members. Click on the Abstract link to view the abstract/citation record. From there, you can click on the PDF link to view the article’s full text.

For a broader, topical search—articles published in journals in 2000 on A to D converters—follow these steps.

Step 1: Click on Basic Search, log in with your IEEE Web account.
Step 2: In the first text box, type ADC.
Step 3: Select SUBJECT from the pull-down field menu.

In the Search Options box,

Step 4: Deselect conferences and standards.
Step 5: Select 2000 from the publication year range.
Step 6: Sort the search results by score.
Step 7: List 25 results per page.
Step 8: Click on Search.

This search results in articles ranked by their relevance score. Eight of these are in the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits and can be selected for full-text PDF or abstract/citation viewing only by SSCS members.

During your searches, you may come across articles and papers to which you do not have access rights to the full-text PDF file. As an IEEE member, you will always be able to view the abstract/citation record. Within the coming year, you will also be able to purchase that single article online. In the meantime, copies can be purchased through the Ask*IEEE document delivery service, ieee.uncoverco.com/.

Solutions for Member Societies

IEEE Xplore also extends the reach of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society’s publications around the world. Nonmembers and guests visiting the site will have free access to browse the tables of contents of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society’s publications and to access links to author information and the Society’s home page.

Member and Subscriber Access

IEEE members have access to IEEE Xplore by logging into the system. This is easily done with an IEEE Web account—the same account used for renewing IEEE membership on the Internet. Once a member is logged in, IEEE Xplore automatically recognizes access permissions to provide each user with uninterrupted access to personal subscriptions and abstract/ citation records.

Access rights to IEEE Xplore vary according to the type of user. Table 1 on page 15 shows which features are available to specific user groups.

Currently, access to the full text of conference proceedings and standards is available only to subscribing library of institutions. Users should contact their librarian or Ask*IEEE (askieee@ieee.org) to purchase conference papers or standards.

IEEE Xplore: Simple to Use, But Complex and Powerful in Design

IEEE Xplore is a central repository of electrical and electronic engineering information that must deliver many kinds of publications from many IEEE and member societies to many kinds of users.

IEEE Xplore incorporates a sophisticated authentication system that recognizes a member working at any subscribing university, corporation, or government agency. Members can take advantage of overlapping their own subscription rights with those of the institutions where they work—a double benefit.

IEEE Xplore provides a platform that enables the IEEE and its entities to develop a variety of product packages that encompass a variety of content. This means that IEEE Xplore constitutes a powerful single platform to serve members, nonmember institutional subscribers, and guests who seek its information around the world. It is the world’s largest library of electrical and electronic engineering information, the one place that everyone can visit to find needed technical information.

For more information, visit IEEE Xplore at www.ieee.org/ieeexplore.

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