British Abstracts Subject index

Other abstract and index journals. Subject indexes in British Abstracts and Chemi-sches Zentralblatt subject indexes in physical science and engineering subject indexes in biology, agriculture, and medicine. 

The system of subject indexing in British Abstracts [which ceased publication with the December 1953 issue] is described in the 1948 index (4). Subject indexing is used rather than word indexing, but the range of subject headings listed is very much narrower than that of Chemical Abstracts. These subject headings or key words do not always include the chemical name but are "the words under which the information is most likely to be sought. ... 

In searching for patents on a certain subject, the index is used as in searching for information on any subject. In British Abstracts and Chemical Abstracts the reference entries under subject heading concerning patents are prefixed by the letter P, and in Chemisches Zentralblatt they are marked with an asterisk. The same prefixes are placed before the titles of patents in the author index, which also lists the names of the assignee. In Chemisches Zentralblatt the name of the country in which the patent was first issued is included after the title of the patent in the author index. 

British Abstracts has also listed and subject-indexed the reports written by Allied teams of investigators. 

From 1871 until the formation of British Abstracts in 1926 it published abstracts from other journals on pure and theoretical chemistry, indicated in the collective indexes by an A after the author s name. For many years two volumes of abstracts were published annually. Author and subject indexes are available. About half of its contents today refer to organic chemistry, the rest being divided between physical and inorganic. News and activities of the Society which were for many years included in the Journal have been published separately since 1957 as the Proceedings of the Chemical Society. 

British Abstracts was issued monthly, two numbered columns to the page, with separate pagination for each section. Indexes for A and B were sometimes published separately, sometimes combined, C was issued sometimes with A and sometimes with B. Author and subject indexes were issued for A and B to cover 1923-1932, 1933-1937. The subject indexes, which were neither as complete or as detailed as those of the other two major abstracting journals, consisted of a shortened title with the part and page reference. No formula index was issued until 1946. 

In Great Britain the British Standards Institution (2 Park Street, London W.l) is the body responsible for the preparation and promulgation of standards. These are listed in numerical order with a brief abstract of each in the BSI Yearbook, which also includes British Standard Codes of Practice and the publications of international organizations. It has a subject index. New standards are listed in the monthly BSI News. Sectional lists are also issued of standards in specific fields. PD 3457 is entitled British Standards of Indirect Interest to the Chemical Engineering Industry. 

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... 

Beilstein is the most comprehensive list of organic compounds. The main series, volumes 1-27, 30 and 31, part I, covers the literature up to 1910. The first supplement, volumes 1-27, and the subject and formulae indexes constituting volumes 28 and 29, survey the literature up to 1919. The second supplement, volumes 1-27, and the subject and formulae indexes constituting volumes 28 and 29, covers the period 1920-1929. For compounds not listed in Beilstein , i.e., for those which first appear in the literature after 1929, the indexes of the Abstract Journals Chemical Abstracts, ChemischesZentralblatt or British Chemical Abstracts (to 1953) should be consulted. The Collective Formula Index to Chemical Abstracts, 1920-1946, is extremely useful. For general reference work Heilbron will be found less cumbersome than Beilstein , although of necessity not so comprehensive. 

British Chemical Abstracts, annual subject and author indexes, numerical patent lists, 1926-. 

In some fields the trade journals prepare and publish abstracts of pertinent information within the field including a certain amount of technical trade literature. At least one specialized abstracting service (the Summary of Current Literature a British publication devoted to the subjects of rubber and related fields including plastics) includes abstracts of appropriate technical data or information appearing in advertisements. The Industrial Arts Index and Chemical Abstracts will frequently report data appearing in trade journals and similar types of publications. 

The specialist abstract journals, such as Analytical Abstracts, Nuclear Science Abstracts, etc., should be scanned in the same way as Chemical Abstracts, and these should be followed by a perusal of the annual indexes to specialized journals of relevant interest. The technical indexes such as Engineering Index, Applied Science and Technology Index, and British Technology Index are often very useful, particularly in the case of chemical engineering subjects. 

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