Papers
GunSpec Research publishes technical reports built on the catalogue and the methods documented on this site. Every figure in a paper names the API requests that produce it, so anyone with a key can check it.
What a paper is
A paper is a technical report that answers one question with the catalogue: what a service rifle costs a soldier on a march, how the mass of a class of cartridges scales with its dimensions, how a family of firearms changed over its production life.
It is written by named authors, states the data it was computed on, and uses the calculations published on the Methods tab. Its figures are not typed into the text by hand and left there: each one names the requests that produce it.
Why we publish them
A specification database is judged by what can be done with it. Papers are where we do that work in public, on the same terms any reader has.
- Analysis, not claims. A reader deciding whether the data can carry an engineering, procurement or research question can read one that it did carry, with the working shown.
- A method is tested by use. Applying a calculation to a real question finds its limits faster than documenting it does, and what a paper finds goes back into the Methods tab and the data checks.
- Every figure can be checked. A paper lists the requests behind its numbers, so a reader with a key recomputes them rather than trusting them.
- Review is stated, never implied. Each paper says what review it has had in plain words, so a figure is never taken for more than it is.
- A record that can be cited. A paper carries a DOI when it has been deposited, and gives a reference and a BibTeX entry to copy.
Where to read them
Papers are published on GunSpec Research, newest first, with an RSS feed. The same papers are served by the API to any key, on every plan including the free one:
GET /v1/papersList the published papers, newest first, filterable by topic.GET /v1/papers/{slug}One paper with its body, authors, review status and the requests that reproduce its figures.