Measuring the hadronic cross section via radiative return

Abstract Recently it has been demonstrated that particle factories, such as DAΦNE and PEP-II, operating at fixed center-of-mass energies, are able to measure hadronic cross sections as a function of the hadronic system energy using the radiative return. This paper is an experimental overview of the progress in this area. Preliminary results from KLOE for the process e + e − → ϱγ → π + π − γ and a fit to the pion form factor are presented. Some first results from the BABAR collaboration are also shown.