Using the Digital Library

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I access in the Digital Library?

The SPIE Digital Library, one of the most extensive resources available on optics and photonics, contains more than 70,000 full-text papers from SPIE Journals and Proceedings published since 1998. It also includes citations and abstracts for most SPIE papers published since 1990. Plans are underway to expand the DL back to 1990 by the end of 2004, an archive of nearly 200,000 papers covering a wide scope of optical technologies and applications. Approximately 15,000 new papers will be added each year.

Contents of the SPIE DigitalLibrary

What Digital Library features are freely accessible to non-subscribers and which require a subscription?

A Digital Library subscription is not required to use the search and browse features or to view tables of contents and abstracts. Downloading full-text digital papers is available only to authorized subscribers.

How do I navigate the Digital Library?

A systematic and clear-cut navigational system has been implemented for all journals and proceedings in the Digital Library for ease of use. 

How do I browse the Digital Library?

The design architecture of the SPIE Digital Library places an emphasis on browse functionality so that customers have some of the browse capabilities available with physical books and journals.

Tables of contents for the current issue or previous issues of SPIE Journals may be accessed from the Journals homepage or from the homepage of a specific Journal of interest.

Proceedings may be browsed by volume number, by year, by title, by conference, and by technical area. Each of these provides links to the complete tables of contents of Proceedings volumes, which in turn have links to the abstracts and full text, if available online.

What full-text article formats are available?

All full-text papers are provided in PDF format. Journal papers from 1998- are available in both PDF and HTML formats.

How do I download, save, and print PDF articles?

While this procedure is different across browsers and platforms, and there are many variations owing to different versions of browsers, the following steps can be used as general guidelines.

• In your browser, select the "PDF" link by placing the mouse cursor over the link and clicking on the right mouse button.
• In the pop-up window that appears on your desktop select "Save link as".
• In the "Save as" dialogue box that appears, retype the filename as as myfile.pdf, where 'myfile' is any meaningful name you wish.
• Once saved, you can open the PDF in your viewer.

IMPORTANT: Proper display of full-text PDF papers in the SPIE Digital Library requires Adobe Reader 7.0 or higher. If you have an earlier version of Adobe Reader, you may click here to download the current version: Download current version of Adobe Reader.

How do I use Scitation's personalization tools with the SPIE DL?

Scitation includes a customizable set of features designed to make the user experience more informative and more intuitive. You can sign in from the SPIEDL DL and freely access MyArticles, MyPublications, MySubscriptions, and MyProfile.

What types of linking are available in the Digital Library?

Reference linking is available for all SPIE Journal papers published since 1999. Each Journal abstract page includes the complete list of references from that paper in HTML, with citation links as applicable. Only subscribers can access this feature. Links are also provided to INSPEC and MEDLINE records. Proceedings papers have assigned DOI numbers and thus may be linked from other sources in the technical literature. Outbound reference linking from SPIE Proceedings papers to references cited within the paper is planned for the future. SPIE is a member of CrossRef.

How does Digital Library e-mail alerting work?

A free e-mail alerting service is available for each SPIE Journal and for SPIE Proceedings by technical area. By subscribing to this service, you will receive table of contents alerts as new Journal issues or Proceedings volumes are published - in either plain-text (ASCII) or HTML format. Contents alerts are delivered directly to the e-mail address you specify; alerts in HTML format are fully linked to abstracts and full text. more » 

How do I start and stop e-mail alerts?

To start e-mail alerts, go to the "E-Mail Alerts Page," enter your e-mail address, select the SPIE journals and proceedings you'd like to receive alerts for and select the format you prefer to receive alerts in. Then, click the "Subscribe" button. You'll then receive a message to reply to in order to confirm that you've opted to receive TOC alerts. Once you've confirmed your subscription to the alerting service, you'll receive another message confirming that you've been subscribed. The next message you receive from the service will be the TOC of the next issue as soon as it is published online.

To stop e-mail alerts, go to the "E-Mail Alerts Page," enter your e-mail address and select the list you'd like to unsubscribe to. Then, click the "Unsubscribe" button. You'll then receive a message to reply to in order to confirm that you've opted out of receiving TOC alerts. Once you've confirmed your cancellation, you'll receive another message confirming that you've been unsubscribed.

How do I purchase digital documents?

Nonsubscribers may purchase digital papers directly from the Digital Library using the "Quick Article Buy" option or by conducting searches at the SPIE Bookstore.

How do I purchase hard-copies of documents?

Hard copies of papers not yet available in digital format may be ordered at the SPIE Bookstore site on SPIE Web.

How can I find other SPIE products of interest to me?

The SPIE Bookstore offers an extensive collection of resources available on optics and photonics including publications in hardcopy and CD-ROM format.

What is SPIN database and how do I access it?

AIP's SPIN (Searchable Physics Information Notices) database includes bibliographic records and abstracts for more than 1.5 million articles from major physical science journals, magazines, and conference proceedings published by the American Institute of Physics, its member societies, and other affiliated organizations.

What is the difference between secure and nonsecure login modes?

>Users on our system have the option of encrypting their sign-in information (username and password) by using "secure mode" when logging in. When you sign in using secure mode, you are taking advantage of industry-standard SSL encryption, a technology created for managing the security of data transmissions to protect sensitive information. (NOTE: While secure mode provides SSL encryption, pages will take slightly longer to download depending on the speed of your Internet connection.) Secure mode is not supported by all browsers, and not all versions of even the most popular browsers have the necessary "cipher strength" to display SSL-protected pages. You may have to upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer or FireFox to take advantage of secure sign-in. If you experience problems in secure mode, simply toggle back to standard mode (but do consider an upgrade so you can use this capability).

Why should I sign out?

Users should log off after using the service by clicking the sign-off button available at the top right of the page. Neglecting this step is not harmful, but if a user closes a browser without exiting and then attempts to log in again before the access period of 15 minutes has passed, it may restrict their access. Our system tracks the number of concurrent users on the system (i.e., the number of logins per login name). There are limits that are set per user and per institutional login. In order to free up a "slot" for the next user, it is recommended that you use the "Exit" button. If you do not, the next person logging in from your institution may not be able to access the service for up to 15 minutes.