World Wide Science Alliance, which offers a federated search service across multiple databases, has unveiled the beta version of a new multilingual tool. The tool is projected to enable scientists to simultaneously search and translate over 400 million pages of scientific research published in 65 countries from around the world in multiple languages. Launched at the recent International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) annual conference in Helsinki, the new beta version of WorldWideScience.org is claimed to help scientists break down the language barrier.
Although most scientific literature continues to be published in English, the pace of non-English scientific publishing is seen to be increasing rapidly, with vast quantities of high-quality science now being produced every year. The new tool offers researchers real-time searching and translation of articles written in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and English simultaneously. Combining Microsoft Research’s translation technologies with the online search capabilities of Deep Web Technologies, Inc., the multilingual translation function will enable users to search a number of non-English databases. It will also reportedly allow non-English speaking researchers to translate existing collections into their native tongue. Initially covering nine of the most common languages, additions will be made as the project develops.
Set up in 2007 to create a single portal from which to conduct federated searching of multiple open access scientific databases, the World Wide Science Alliance initially brought together 12 databases from 10 countries. It has since grown to cover the research output of 65 countries world wide.
