ArXiv celebrates its´ 25th birthday 14th August. Open access archive arXiv serves the researchers of physics, astronomy, computer science and mathematics as they can free of charge submit scientific papers for the discussion. The anniversary truly gives cause for celebration, as an open archive by the end of last year has collected 139 million works whereas papers have been opened more than a million times.
ArXiv´s user survey published in June collected 36 000 responses. A clear majority of respondents to the survey would like to keep an archive mainly the way it is, although some features, such as development of the search functionality, were seen crucial. Also development of research data archiving was pointed out as an important development line.
The vast majority of the users say arXiv should stick to what it is good at: That is to share researchers´ papers openly and rapidly. However, the pressure of a technical modernization of the archive and the expansion of the financial base is high. Currently mainly libraries and a charitable foundation finance arXiv. Also Helsinki University Library participates in arXiv´s operation and maintenance. Advisory boards of arXiv meet in September to make guidelines on the future of the archive.
Read more:
Van Noorden, Richard (2016): ArXiv preprint server plans multimillion-dollar overhaul. Nature Vol 534, Issue 7609. doi:10.1038/534602a
Rieger, Oya Y. (2016) arXiv User Survey Report : arXiv@25: Key Findings of the User Survey.
University of Helsinki
services are available and where can I find them? What is reference management software?
