The free, open index of the mathematical literature.
At a Glance
| Publisher | FIZ Karlsruhe |
| Coverage | 4.8M+ records with reviews or abstracts from 3,000+ journals and book series, back to the 18th century |
| Access | free (opened to all in 2021); open API |
| Free alternative | it is the free option |
| Regional | global. |
Our Take
zbMATH Open (formerly Zentralblatt MATH) became fully open in 2021, giving mathematics a free, high-quality abstracting-and-reviewing index that rivals the subscription MathSciNet — with reviews, deep historical coverage, and an open API that makes it a favorite for bibliometric work in the field. For anyone without a MathSciNet subscription it’s the answer. Coverage and reviewing are excellent in mathematics specifically; it’s discipline-bound by design. Use it as your free math index and as a data source for math bibliometrics.
Power Tips
- Use the open API to pull structured math bibliometrics — author networks, citation links — without a subscription (Issue 1’s spirit: free tools at scale)
- read the signed reviews to judge a paper’s contribution before committing to the full text.
Alternatives & Complements
MathSciNet · arXiv (math) · OpenAlex · Semantic Scholar.
Get Database Intelligence Weekly — search smarter, everywhere. [Subscribe CTA — replace with your signup block]