Federated Search

Federated Search is a technology that allows searching of multiple resources, many considered 'deep web' databases, with a single search query. The software handles the syntax needed and searches these resources in real time. ETDEWEB's Federated Search, available only to authenticated users, allows simultaneous searching of the ETDEWEB database plus other key external sources of scientific interest, yielding consolidated search results. Over 50 deep web databases and over 1,800 websites are being searched behind the scenes if all eight Federated Searching sources currently being offered by ETDE are selected: ETDEWEB, CORDIS, the IEA Information Centre, Danish Energy R&D Projects, Institut Francais du petrole (IFP), esp@cenet (from the European Patent Office), Science.gov, and Science Conferences. Search results may be viewed by source or by ranking. A short description of each of these sources is included on the main Federated Search search page.

The version of Federated Search software currently implemented within ETDEWEB offers a simple basic search. Phrase searching is the default, so simply enter your word or phrase in the search box -- quotes are not needed. It is expected that an upgraded version of the software offering more advanced search options will become available in 2009. Federated Search will appear as a menu option when user-authenticated. After choosing Federated Search, users then have the option to select one or more of the specific resources to search or query all of them at once by selecting "All". The progress bar will time out in 5 minutes. This means that if a particular database is running slow, you may not get all those results during that search session. Be as specific as possible with search terms so that searches return swift and pertinent results. Additional searching tips are available in the ETDEWEB help file.