Abstracting journals Coverage

Complete, detailed indexing schemes and comprehensive journal coverage is both an asset and a liability for index/abstract databases. From the user s point of view, the number of citations retrieved from... 

The coverage attempted in this Handbook is wide, but is certainly incomplete because of the difficulties in retrieving relevant information from original literature when it does not appear in the indices of either primary or abstract journals. Details of such new material known to users of this Handbook and within the scope given in the Introduction will be welcomed for inclusion in supplementary or revised editions of this work. 

Medline (Medical Information Online) is a data base containing approximately 7 million references to biomedical journal articles published since 1966. These articles, usually with an English abstract, are from over 3000 journals. Coverage of previous years (back to 1966) is provided by back files, searchable on-line, that total some 3.5 million references. 

The literature of cement chemistry is voluminous the abstracting journal. Cements Research Progress has latterly listed about one thousand new contributions annually. Inevitably, coverage in the present work has been selective. 1 have tried to strike a balance between classical and recent contributions, in order to produce a book that will serve both as an... 

Abstracting journals, of both general and specialized coverage, are the chief means of keeping abreast of the constantly accumulating mass of new chemical developments. For the present purpose the author is concerned only with what is contained in analytical abstracts and where they are segregated in a periodical covering all of chemistry, such as Chemical Abstracts. 

As with treatises, there is no perfect publication in this class. To the extent that abstracting journals meet these requirements, they are among the most useful means to which the searcher can turn. Any deficiency relating especially to our problem arises from incomplete coverage. Therefore, whatever is involved deserves attention. 

As far as the authors know, no study has been published on the degree of completeness of the coverage of the big three abstracting journals, let alone all journals which have carried abstracts at some time. Table III lists the number of periodicals covered by each of the big three at various dates. Those not covered at any given time by a particular journal might be determined by checking its list against a list of all known periodicals of that date. The authors have not presumed to attempt this check. 

Such a list should give the inclusive dates covered by each periodical. Along with the date should appear notations to show which treatises and which abstracting journals have covered the periodical, with inclusive dates if the whole period of the periodical was not covered. We shall assume for the present purpose that coverage by a treatise and/or an abstracting journal is adequate. 

Periodicals, We come finally to the most difficult part of the problem, and, unfortunately, the part for which least advice can be given for searching. Each treatise has its index, accompanied usually with a list of the periodicals covered. The current abstracting journals are probably unsurpassed in the quahty of their indexes, and each occasionally publishes lists of the periodicals covered. In brief, the problem remaining is to discover any lack of coverage of the periodicals by these organizing agencies and then to determine what indexes are available for such periodicals. 

See Indexes and Abstract Journals. Chemical Abstracts gives the most comprehensive coverage. 

Let me start with a look at the amount of literature published in the various sciences. Such data provide a good estimate of the relative size of the disciplines, in contrast to the coverage in the media and other talk about science. Figure 1 presents the number of new publications (books, papers, patents, etc.) as indexed by the major abstract journals in 2000 and 1979. 

Journal coverage has generally included the calendar year 1992 however, late deliveries have resulted in some issues of selected journals not being scanned. Their reports will be included in the 1993 survey. In addition. Chemical Abstracts, Sections 29,75 and 78 of volumes 116 and 117, were scanned to pick up determinations report in Chinese, Korean and other journals not available to the author. It must be noted, however, that in sevei instances, it was not always clear precisely which compound had been studied such references have been omitted. 

Abstracts of analytical chemistry can be found in the general abstracting journals already described and in Analytical Abstracts (Fig. 27) published for the Society for Analytical Chemistry since 1954 as an independent publication, and previously issued as section C of British Abstracts and in the Analyst. This is a monthly publication with world coverage having annual author and subject indexes. Wherever possible authors addresses are included with indication of the language of the original article where this is not obvious. These excellent informative abstracts which are also available printed on one side only of the paper so as to be suitable for inclusion into reference systems are... 

NIOSHTIC on compact disc from the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (ean buy at CCOHS web site). "NIOSHTIC(R) is a bibliographie database which provides comprehensive international coverage of documents on occupational health and safety, as well as related fields. It eontains detailed summaries of over 200,000 articles, reports and publications, spanning over 100 years. NIOSHTIC(R) sources include over 160 scientific and technical journals, NIOSH reports (published and unpublished), NIOSH research bibliographies, abstracts from CIS Abstracts, and personal files from respected professionals on selected topics. 

International Pharmaceutical Abstracts. International Pharmaceutical Abstracts [104], published semimonthly, is an abstracting/indexing publication which covers all pharmaceutical literature. IPA covers approximately 700 worldwide pharmaceutical, medical, herbal, cosmetics, and health-related publications. IPA features all abstracts from American Society of Health-System Pharmacist s Annual, Midyear Clinical, and Home, Hospice, and Long-Term Care Meetings, coverage of state pharmacy journals, and American Pharmaceutical Association and American College of Clinical Pharmacy meeting abstracts. IPA indicates articles that offer CE credit. IPA is commercially available in several formats. 

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