Approximately 84 percent of the database's source publications are in English. Coverage is 1968-date, and it is updated weekly. Many of these papers are subsequently published in journals or conference proceedings. Users can retrieve papers from the archive either through a world wide web interface, or by sending commands to the system via e-mail. Similarly, authors can submit their papers to the archive either using the world wide web interface, using ftp, or using e-mail.
Authors can update their submissions if they choose, though previous versions remain available.
Users can also register to automatically receive a listing of newly submitted papers in areas of interest to them, when papers are received in those areas. These listings are sent by e-mail. In addition, the archive provides for distribution list maintenance and archiving of TeX macro packages and related tools. Mechanisms for searching through the collection of papers are also provided. The National Technical Information Service is the U. S. Government's central source for the distribution of scientific, technical, engineering, and related business information.