INDEXES

By Ara Jenina Singh

What is an INDEX?
An open-end finding guide to the literature of an academic field or discipline (example: Philosophers Index), to works of a specific literary form (Bibliography Index) or published in a specific format (Newspaper Abstracts), or to the analyzed contents of a serial publication (New York Times).

What is an INDEX?
Usually issued in monthly or quarterly paperback supplements, cumulated annually Citations are usually listed by author and subject in separate sections, or in a single alphabetical sequence under a system of authorized headings (controlled vocabulary)

INDEX MEDICUS
A comprehensive index of medical scientific journal articles Published since 1879 Initiated by John Shaw Billings, head of the Library of the Surgeon Generals Office, United States Army
Later evolved into the United States NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

Index Medicus US National Library of Medicine

Inclusion into the Index is not automatic and depends on a journal's scientific policy and scientific quality. These criteria are evaluated by the "Literature Selection Technical Review Committee" and the final decision is made by the NLM director. The review process may include outside reviewers and journals may be dropped from inclusion. The last issue of the Index Medicus was published in December 2004 (Volume 45). The stated reason for discontinuing the printed publication was that online resources had supplanted it, most especially PubMed, which continues to include the Index as a subset of the journals it covers.

MESH Medical Subject Headings

Authority list for the subject analysis of biomedical literature at the National Library of Medicine It presents the subject headings under which all citations will appear in the Index Medicus. Serves as the basis for search formulation in retrieval of bibliographic citations stored in the MEDLARS (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System) computer files Standard subject heading list for the cataloging of books and audiovisual materials in the library 2 Parts: Alphabet List and the Tree Structures

MESH Medical Subject Headings

Is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences; it can also serve as a thesaurus that facilitates searching Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine it is used by MEDLINE/PubMed article database and by NLMs catalog of book holdings

Philippine Index Medicus

Is a compilation of bibliographic citations with abstracts on Philippine health and medical literature, published research works in various Filipiniana medical journals. It serves as a reference and retrieval tool for medical personnel, doctors, researchers, hospital and health service administrators and anyone whose work, of whatever orientation, lies in the medical and paramedical field

1917-1944 National Science Development Board, Manila 1945-1951 National Institute of Science and Technology, Manila 1952-1956 University of the Philippines Library, Quezon City 1970-1974 University Library, University of the Philippines Manila 1975-1979 Southeast Asian Medical Information Center, Tokyo

1980-1990 University Library, University of the Philippines Manila and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, Manila 1991-1995 University Library, University of the Philippines Manila 1996-2000 University Library, University of the Philippines Manila, The Health Sciences Center

Index Medicus other print examples

Indonesian Index Medicus
UPM main library & UPSLIS library 19751979

Thai Index Medicus

UPSLIS library 1975-1979

References include
Medical Subject Headings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Subject _Headings Philippine Index Medicus (1996-2000) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Medicus Reitz, J. (2004) Dictionary for library and information science.