New: MathSciNet on Ebscohost Platform

Ebscohost also a simple search box as the default search.  This search is easier to use for students less familiar with field searching and more familiar with Google.  Use the advanced search to access fields for more precise searching.

The Ebscohost interface offers a more flexible author search than the AMS version.  Commas delineating first and last name are not necessary on the Ebscohost platform, nor is the last name first name order necessary.  The Ebscohost platform will also search for an author affiliation in the author search field.  E.g. a search for the name “Brandeis” include authors from that university.

Instead of using subject word tagging for content, MathSciNet has a unique Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC) which uses a number-letter-number code to classify subjects.  The AMS interface will search the first part of the code or the first and second together.  But Ebscohost has not adopted this search method and instead appears to search the code as a string anywhere in the MSC, returning significantly different results.

For more information, consult this in depth study of the differences between the two interfaces.