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Astronomy Preprint Sources

We (the UofT Astronomy and Astrophysics Library) receive fewer paper preprints each year as institutions around the world forego mailing them out in favour of mounting them on the web. (We reached a peak of 2342 in 1994. We received 935 in 1998, 707 in 1999. We no longer keep track of them.)

Care should be taken in assessing the authority of preprints. arXiv, for example, does not remove a preprint after publication in a journal or when it is replaced by a new, revised version. Some institutions consider a preprint 'publishable' on a preprint server once it has been submitted, while others require that it be accepted first. The former has not undergone a peer review process but the latter is close to actual journal publication.

To find preprints on the web...
arXiv astro-ph
SISSA.IT (European mirror of arXiv.)

Astrophysical Journal & Supplement (papers accepted)

PrePrint Network- a search engine, operated by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) of the US Department of Energy, includes many astro institutions.

Astroweb has a category of websites for preprints.
But I have been a bit disappointed with the comprehensiveness of Astroweb lately.

A few individual institutional servers of preprints (this list not comprehensive):

Australia Telescope National Facility. ATNF publications
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Observatoire de Haute Provence
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste pubblicazione
Universitat Munchen. Institut fur Astronomie und Astrophysik. Publications
Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii)

To find out whether and where a particular preprint has been published, consult...

NRAO RAPsheet. Database of all preprints received at NRAO from 1986 to May 2002, with citations to published papers. From 1956-1986 and after May 2002 it contains papers by NRAO staff and visitors. The database is updated nightly.
STScI STEPsheet, a list of preprints received at STScI in the last few years, indexed for searching via WAIS. In addition, you may also search a list of older preprints , received at STScI between 1982 and 1995.

More about astronomy preprints

A general article, For better or for worse- Preprint servers are here to stay by Peter Boyce April 2000

From Library and Information Services in Astronomy (LISA) III, April 21-24, 1998:


From Library and Information Services in Astronomy (LISA) II, 10-12 May 1995:

Compiled by Marlene Cummins
library@astro.utoronto.ca
Last update: November 8 2002