Abstracting Service Consultative

Abstracting Service Consultative Committee, List of Periodicals and Bulletins Containing Abstracts Published in Great Britain, Royal Society, London, 1949. 

Abstracting Services Consultative Committee, Royal Society, A List of Periodicals and Bulletins Containing Abstracts Published in Great Britain with Appendix giving Partial List of Journals Containing Abstracts Published in the British Commonwealth, 2nd ed., London, Cambridge University Press, 1950. 

There has been a rapid proliferation of commercial search interfaces, such as DataStar and STN International. STN may deserve special mention since it is a science information service operated by Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) in North America, Fachinformationszentrum-Karlsruhe (FIZ-K) in Europe, and Japan Association for International Chemical Information (JAICI) in Japan. It is available as online subscriber access to 220 databases (STN Express) and as web access (STN on the Web for experienced searchers and STN Easy for infrequent searchers). See www.cas.org/stn. html and/or www.stn-international.de/. Since Internet search techniques depend on the interface available, no detailed explanations are given here. There are several published guides to database searches for chemical and physical properties, but the situation is evolving rapidly and it is recommended that you consult a reference librarian for information about the current situation concerning search interfaces at the library you use. 

The various abstract indexes discussed above contain item numbers that refer directly to an abstract in one of the abstract volumes. If the abstract indicates that the research results are of interest, the original journal article should be consulted whenever possible, even if the abstract gives the desired information. If a cited journal article is especially pertinent but not available locally, a reproduction can be obtained through interlibrary loan services. The availability of all journals abstracted in Chemical Abstracts is listed in Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index, published by the American Chemical Society. 

Having obtained a reference from various sources or searches, one often needs to consult the original journal (the location of patents is discussed on p. ). The first step is to ascertain the full name of the journal, since it is the abbreviation that is generally given. Of course, everyone should be familiar with the abbreviations of the very important journals, such as J. Org. Chem., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and so on, but references are often found to journals whose titles are not at all familiar (e.g., K. Skogs Lantbruksakad. Tidskr. or Nauchn. Tr. Mosk. Lesotekh. Inst.). In such cases, one consults the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI), with the most recent abbreviations in bold print. CASSI is available in a 1907-2004 cumulative, containing information 80,000 serial and nonserial publications. CASSI also lists journals covered by Chemisches Zentralblatt and its predecessors... 

While many technical reference libraries have Beilstein in print form, it is more convenient to search for information in the electronic form of the database, hi addition, the printed series is no longer being updated. The electronic database allows a variety of searches on compounds and properties. Access to the electronic database is offered through CrossFire Beilstein [see http //www.mdl.com] or through the STN database system of the Chemical Abstracts Service [http //www.cas.org/stn.html]. Some details given in the print version (such as experimental methods) were not carried over to the electronic version, so in some cases it may be necessary to consult the print version or the literature citation for further information. 

Chemical Abstracts Service evaluates the patents fi om 27 countries and two international patent organisations. A list of all countries may be consulted in Sect. 2.1.1.2, Table 3 and Sect. 7.4. Figure 125 shows a patent document in CA. You can restrict a query to patents by using the field Document Type (DT) ... 

Chemical Abstracts (CA) has a large staff of abstractors, well over 2000. These chemists constitute a representative group because all kinds of chemists are needed in approximate proportion to the research activities in the various branches or fields of chemistry. One or more section editors, each well informed in the field of his section, are in charge of the 33 sections and 19 subsections of CA. rhe abstractors and section editors, active specialists in many kinds of chemical work, are often consulted as to matters of policy, so that right in the CA family the editor has users of CA regularly available for consultation and advice. In addition, many others are consulted and many write to tell of their needs. Carefully worded and distributed questionnaires have been sent out from time to time from the CA office. In 1958 a professional information service (Herner Co.) made an extensive interview study of the use of CA. Listening is a source of growth. 

In previous years, you may have used one or more of the CD-ROMs (compact disks of stored information) in your library, perhaps when you needed to consult an encyclopedia, such as Encarta or Grolier s. Today, most college libraries have converted almost exclusively to online information services that will lead you to appropriate databases (general and specific) for your subject. A database allows you to use a computer to scan electronic indexes that list thousands of bibliographic sources, abstracts, and texts. 

Libraries across the country subscribe to different information services, so you must consult your place of research for its particular list. Once you are familiar with your library s selected databases, you will find some general-interest indexes and others that are focused on specialized areas (education, health, business, law, film and so on) abstracts and even full texts of articles are sometimes available. Online databases are updated frequently and may offer you the most current sources for your research. Ask a librarian to help if you are unfamiliar with a database search. 

All data used in this chapter were obtained from a manual collection of the author compiled over the last 15 years as well as from a computerized literature search consulting CAC (Chemical Abstracts Condensates), and METADEX (Metals Abstracts— Alloys Index) services up to July 1982. 

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