NASA/SAO Astrophysics Data System

Sharing the Science Explorer

2026-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Denver, Colorado, hosted around 14,000 scientists for the American Physical Society’s 2026 Global Physics Summit from March 15 through 20.

A mile high and still overflowing with excitement for the latest developments in astrophysics, gravitational wave detection, geophysics, exoplanets, particle physics, cosmic rays, plasma physics, soft matter, biosignatures, and so much more.

Jennifer Lynn Bartlett was thrilled to spend four days giving demonstrations of SciX to new users and old ADS friends preparing to transition to the new platform. With the exhibit hall filled to capacity, the SciX booth and NASA Physics of the Cosmos team set up in the Hyatt Hotel, where sessions on traditional “April” meeting topics were scheduled. Chief Scientist Brian Humensky led their team along with public outreach specialist Stephanie Clark. Additional scientists staffed their booth each day. Together, we talked NASA science and open science all day for four days.

Half our visitors are exploring the boundaries of high-energy phenomena, neutrino properties, relativistic mechanics, and quantum dynamics; each was pleasantly surprised to see what they could find with SciX.

Glen Bennett said, "I'm glad it's free...very hard to access this otherwise without [institutional] resources."

Another quarter of our visitors are undergraduate students, and even a few high school students, just starting their research journeys and discovering what excites them most; each was delighted with how easy SciX makes searching the scholarly literature. Swastika Acharjee of the University of Minnesota said, "What an exciting project!" while bringing her own high-energy positivity at the end of the day. A Novi High School student who wants to gamify the collecting and sharing of urban environmental science data was especially interested in learning about open science data repositories and how SciX links to them.

Current ADS users were relieved to learn that they can change over to the new interface with minimal disruption to their current workflow while enjoying new features, like a mobile friendly interface and searchable filters. Some, like Naaz Shafeer Vemmerath Kulangara of the University of Southern California, picked up some additional tips, like visualizations, to assess new literature more efficiently.

"I've been using [alternative source] to read new papers but I think I'll use SciX now; it has better tools and interface."

A few, like science journalist Liz Kruesi, were interested in the SciX historical literature, which extends to 1581 and includes over 135,000 physics items before 1930. She “love[s] this new tool with StarGlass” that connects astronomical photographic plate observations to published papers and scanned notebooks so that the connections among historical research products can be as rich as the modern links.

Of course, SciX excitement is only rivaled by delight at the SciX logo stickers and literature designed by SciX Lead Ambassador and PhD student at UC Irvine, Yueyi Che.

Jennifer also presented two posters, in-person and online. “Exploring the Physics Literature with the Science Explorer” dove into our extensive physics collection and highlighted ways physicists could use SciX. “Science Explorer: Next-Generation Access to ADS and All NASA Science” focused on assisting ADS users shift to SciX and make the most of this opportunity by learning a new feature or two. Attendees can access these resources in the APS app through June 18. After that, you will be able to find the files in the Science Explorer Community on Zenodo. SciX receives APS conference abstracts yearly; we expect to receive the 2025 APS Global Physics Summit shortly.

With deepest gratitude to Dan Cooke and all the American Physical Society staff who make the Global Physics Summits possible, our science is stronger when it is open and when it is shared.

Looking Ahead

We hope to see you in Vienna for the European Geosciences Union General Assembly at the beginning of May. Until then, happy Spring!

Sharing the Science Explorer

2026-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Denver, Colorado, hosted around 14,000 scientists for the American Physical Society’s 2026 Global Physics Summit from March 15 through 20.

Glen Bennett said, "I'm glad it's free...very hard to access this otherwise without [institutional] resources."

"I've been using [alternative source] to read new papers but I think I'll use SciX now; it has better tools and interface."

Of course, SciX excitement is only rivaled by delight at the SciX logo stickers and literature designed by SciX Lead Ambassador and PhD student at UC Irvine, Yueyi Che.

With deepest gratitude to Dan Cooke and all the American Physical Society staff who make the Global Physics Summits possible, our science is stronger when it is open and when it is shared.

Looking Ahead

We hope to see you in Vienna for the European Geosciences Union General Assembly at the beginning of May. Until then, happy Spring!

Keeping It 100 at OSM 2026

2026-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

Glasgow greeted us with big skies, bigger ideas, and one very important mission: to meet researchers working across the land, the sea, the sky at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026.

Jenny Koch and Suze Kundu arrived at OSM armed with demos of the platform, flashy SciX badges, and an unreasonable amount of enthusiasm. What followed was four days of near-constant conversation with oceanographers, climate scientists, ecosystem modellers, remote sensing experts, and early-career researchers mapping out futures as vast as the Atlantic itself.

From coral reefs off Madagascar to atmospheric data captured from space, the science on show was breathtaking. We chatted with researchers tracking coastal resilience, modelling ice sheet dynamics, exploring biogeochemical cycles, and using satellite data to understand how our planet is changing in real time.

One of the joys of OSM is that it truly is interdisciplinary — physical oceanographers rubbing shoulders with marine biologists, climate scientists collaborating with technologists. That spirit of connection was everywhere.

Claudette Proctor from Stanford’s School of Sustainability summed up her experience beautifully:

"This is like [another major search platform], except it is actually useful. I will be using this tool every day."

Kayla Ellerbe from the University of Miami was excited about how research networks come to life:

"Very easy to work with and gives an enormous amount of information that can connect papers based on authors, keywords, and institutions."

Bryan Wilson, who explores rare coral reefs off the coast of Madagascar, was delighted to find a platform that supports his interdisciplinary work — particularly the ability to link NASA’s ECOSTRESS data with other published research. When you’re bridging ecosystems, climate science, and remote sensing, those connections aren’t just helpful — they’re transformative!

OSM also delivered some unforgettable moments beyond the science. We had a brush with royalty when Princess Anne visited booths near ours — a slightly surreal moment in an already extraordinary week. And then, in what can only be described as peak ocean conference energy, we came face to face with Boaty McBoatface. Yes. That Boaty McBoatface. Ocean royalty indeed!

As always, a big highlight for all our booth visitors was the beautiful array of stickers and button badges designed by SciX Lead Ambassador and PhD student at UC Irvine, Yueyi Che. We ran out of our exclusive, hot-off-the-press ocean science button badges before lunchtime on Tuesday, but we had plenty of other scientists for people to collect.

We even gained some additional “Barbie in STEM” stickers from researcher Mackenzie Eckles from CSU Monterey Bay, who had some spares from her poster presentation and thought we were the organisation best aligned with her personal brand of science-for-all! Thanks for thinking of us, Mackenzie — the stickers were as popular as our own ones.

Naturally, we leaned into Glasgow’s cultural heritage too. Jenny bravely tried her first deep-fried Mars Bar — a scientific experiment in its own right — while Suze fully committed to the local favourite, Irn-Bru, in quantities that may require further peer review.

Reflections

What will stay with us most are the conversations. Early-career researchers excited about discovering potential collaborators. Scientists thrilled to break out of disciplinary silos. Teams eager to connect datasets from fieldwork, satellites, and laboratory analysis into something bigger than the sum of its parts.

OSM 2026 reminded us that ocean science doesn't exist in isolation. It spans coastlines and continents, institutions and industries. Glasgow, thank you for the science, the stories, and the sugar highs. We'll see you next at APS later this month!

Keeping It 100 at OSM 2026

2026-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

Glasgow greeted us with big skies, bigger ideas, and one very important mission: to meet researchers working across the land, the sea, the sky at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026.

Claudette Proctor from Stanford’s School of Sustainability summed up her experience beautifully:

"This is like [another major search platform], except it is actually useful. I will be using this tool every day."

Kayla Ellerbe from the University of Miami was excited about how research networks come to life:

"Very easy to work with and gives an enormous amount of information that can connect papers based on authors, keywords, and institutions."

Reflections

The SciX Adventure Begins: Exploring the Universe of Research Together

2025-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

It’s official - SciX is here! After months of development, testing, and feedback from our brilliant community, we’re thrilled to launch Science Explorer, or SciX to its friends, out into the world.

So, what is SciX? Think of it as your one-stop platform for exploring research across Earth, environmental and space sciences, including planetary science, heliophysics, geology, geophysics, atmospheric sciences and oceanography.

From tracking solar storms, to uncovering the secrets of distant planets, to understanding the changing dynamics of our own Earth, SciX is designed to be your research co-pilot. Watch our launch video here, and learn more about what SciX can do here.

We’ve built SciX as a natural evolution of the Astrophysics Data System (ADS), bringing its powerful capabilities into new domains. For ADS users, SciX uses your familiar search queries and workflows to access an even more comprehensive collection of curated scientific literature, software, and data. Transitioning from ADS to SciX is seamless: existing user accounts, personal libraries, and notifications created via ADS are available and accessible through SciX. No ADS links or services become obsolete with the introduction of this interdisciplinary portal, but SciX users benefit from the newest features we have developed for it.

With expanded coverage, intuitive search, smart recommendations, and tools for collaboration, SciX makes research more discoverable, connected, and accessible than ever before.

Why does this matter? Because the big questions - about our planet, our local star, and our universe beyond - don’t fit neatly into one discipline. They require all of us, across communities, to work together. SciX helps break down research silos, making it easier for researchers in heliophysics to connect with Earth scientists, or for planetary scientists to explore insights from astrophysics.

Because you don’t know what you don’t know. SciX helps uncover those underexplored but interrelated areas of research that might enable the breakthrough you’ve been looking for.

SciX is a project created by the ADS team and operated out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a NASA Cooperative Agreement. SciX builds on decades of open research infrastructure and collaboration that’s powered discoveries big and small. It's a platform created and developed by scientists, for scientists - and we can’t wait to see how you’ll use it.

This is just the beginning. The launch is a milestone, but the real journey is what comes next - and that will be shaped by you, our community. So explore, share, and let us know how SciX helps spark your research adventures.

Welcome aboard!

Press Coverage

New NASA-Backed Research Platform SciX Expands Open Science
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
SciX: A New Era for NASA Research Discovery
NASA Science Data Portal
UAE-raised astrophysicist helps build NASA's new portal for Earth and space research
The National

Press Coverage

New NASA-Backed Research Platform SciX Expands Open Science
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
SciX: A New Era for NASA Research Discovery
NASA Science Data Portal
UAE-raised astrophysicist helps build NASA's new portal for Earth and space research
The National

The SciX Adventure Begins: Exploring the Universe of Research Together

2025-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

So, what is SciX? Think of it as your one-stop platform for exploring research across Earth, environmental and space sciences, including planetary science, heliophysics, geology, geophysics, atmospheric sciences and oceanography.

With expanded coverage, intuitive search, smart recommendations, and tools for collaboration, SciX makes research more discoverable, connected, and accessible than ever before.

Because you don’t know what you don’t know. SciX helps uncover those underexplored but interrelated areas of research that might enable the breakthrough you’ve been looking for.

Welcome aboard!

Press Coverage

New NASA-Backed Research Platform SciX Expands Open Science
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
SciX: A New Era for NASA Research Discovery
NASA Science Data Portal
UAE-raised astrophysicist helps build NASA's new portal for Earth and space research
The National

Press Coverage

New NASA-Backed Research Platform SciX Expands Open Science
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
SciX: A New Era for NASA Research Discovery
NASA Science Data Portal
UAE-raised astrophysicist helps build NASA's new portal for Earth and space research
The National

SciX Data Collections

2025-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

In addition to its main high-level disciplinary collections (Astronomy, Earth Science, Physics, and General Science), the Science Explorer currently maintains a set of “data collections” to help scientists discover and analyze resources associated with research datasets. The SciX search engine implements a search by data collection via its data search field (e.g. data:Zenodo) or its data filter, available in the left bar of search results pages. The filter displays the names of repositories hosting datasets linked to the SciX records selected by the query (see fig. 1).

As can be seen from the list of datasets displayed in the filter, data collections are sets of records labeled with the name of the repository that is hosting related data products. The list includes well-known disciplinary repositories such as the ORNL DAAC, NOAA, GSFC; general-purpose ones such as Zenodo, GITHUB, and Figshare; and a generic entry (“DATASOURCE”) used as a label for data hosted by repositories that don’t appear on our list of known archives.

In addition to being able to select records in a data collections by using the proper filter, one can also use the corresponding search constraint via the data field, e.g. data:ORNL.DAAC will return all records that belong to the NASA’s ORNL.DAAC collection.

Figure 1: Left: Data collections currently available in SciX’s Earth science collection (`collection:earthscience`). Right: Publication types for records currently found in the ORNL DAAC data collection (`data:ORNL.DAAC`).

The records found in a given data collection consist of resources which either are datasets hosted by a particular repository or use data from a particular repository. The first category typically consists of high-level data products that are indexed in SciX. Examples of such records include ones found in the different NASA DAACs (original observations by NASA’s earth observing satellites) or the VizieR data products (machine readable datasets associated with astronomy articles), which have been indexed in the system to make them discoverable and citable. The second category includes data bibliographies which link articles to datasets hosted by the repositories. Examples include the SIMBAD and NED collections, which link articles to measurements of astronomical objects, and the collections from the astrophysics archives (MAST, Chandra, IRSA, HEASARC), which link papers to data products hosted by them.

In order to distinguish between records which correspond to a dataset from the records of papers that use the dataset, one can simply use the “Publication Type” filter to see the different documents available in the particular collection. As an example, figure 1 shows the documents found in the ORNL DAAC data collection.

Curation

All data collections in SciX are curated according to various criteria and various levels of effort. Historically, the collections associated with the data hosted by the astrophysics archives have been maintained by curators working at the different archives, and have relied on a meticulous analysis of the papers published in the scientific journals of interest to astronomers. (For more information on the process followed, please refer to this publication).

With the advent of electronic publishing and the adoption of FAIR principles, more and more publishers are requiring that software and data products be identified either through a formal citation, or as a mention in the scientific paper. This makes it possible for SciX to automate the process of identifying the use of datasets and attribute to them either a formal citation or a credit for its mention in the paper (more on this later). If the data product in question is indexed in SciX, proper links between the source paper and the target dataset are created. If the dataset is not indexed but the data product is available online, SciX will provide a link to it so that researchers can access it. It is important to remember that our ability to use text mining and machine learning to automate this process depends greatly on the availability of full-text content from publishers which collaborate with SciX.

In general, any given data collection may be composed by aggregating records which are curated by data managers collaborating with SciX, and records which are mined from the literature by the indexing pipelines implemented by SciX. As our full-text holdings in SciX increase and our ability to incorporate robust AI/ML methods in our pipelines improves, we expect to reduce the amount of human efforts needed to curate these collections long-term.

Citations and Credits

One distinctive feature of SciX is to track citations between research works. While this has traditionally meant providing links between papers based on the list of formal citations found in their bibliography, it has now made it possible to also track citations between a paper and a data product or software records. This information is exposed in SciX via the “Citations” tab available in the left menu for each record, as shown in figure 2.

However, thanks to our text mining efforts, we are now able to supplement this information with additional links between papers and datasets or software mined from the papers’ full-text (typically the so-called “data availability statement” sections). This provides an additional set of linkages between papers and data products mentioned in them which are named credits in SciX. This will become an additional impact metric that we will track for an increasingly larger number of research products such as data and software going forward.

Figure 2: The SciX record for a dataset hosted by the ORNL DAAC. As of 8/25/2025, SciX has identified 139 citations and 2 credits from mentions for the dataset. Insert: the corresponding citation metrics for the record in question.

Concluding Remarks

Tracking the use of research data and software in the scientific literature is one of the primary goals of SciX. This not only helps reproducibility of scientific results, but it also allows greater discoverability of all the research artifacts involved: papers, software, and datasets. An additional benefit of enhancing the FAIRness of this content is the ability for researchers, data managers, and funders alike to evaluate the scientific impact of people, projects and institutions.

For more information on our efforts in capturing citations and credits to datasets and for practical examples of how to leverage SciX’s features further, please see our 2024 blog post by Edwin Henneken on SciX Data Linking and Indexing.

SciX Data Collections

2025-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

NASA/SAO Astrophysics Data System

Sharing the Science Explorer

Looking Ahead

Sharing the Science Explorer

Looking Ahead

Keeping It 100 at OSM 2026

Reflections

Keeping It 100 at OSM 2026

Reflections

The SciX Adventure Begins: Exploring the Universe of Research Together

Welcome aboard!

Press Coverage

Press Coverage

The SciX Adventure Begins: Exploring the Universe of Research Together

Welcome aboard!

Press Coverage

Press Coverage

SciX Data Collections

Contents

Curation

Citations and Credits

Concluding Remarks

SciX Data Collections

Contents

Curation

Citations and Credits

Concluding Remarks