Briefing for Journal Editors and Authors Regarding Selection Criteria for Inclusion in Ei Compendex®
uLzE'Z mV h,$CJdDY] The purpose of this document is to help editors and publishers of primary literature and authors of papers submitted for publication to become familiar with the way Engineering Information is representing the content and descriptive information for these papers in database records. If you know the rules, you can write good abstract and have your article retrieved by an online search. This is important because it allows other scientists and engineers around the world to discover your work and to encourage cooperation among scientists.
%e ]G]B% KdkL_GSLT Overview of Ei and Compendex
|yk/iO( JH\:9B+:L Engineering Index was founded in 1884 as the first United States literature abstracting and indexing service for the purpose of providing access to and awareness of the world’s engineering literature. We went online in 1970 with Dialog and Orbit. In 1995 we introduced the Ei Engineering Village, one of the first database web applications in the world, and through the Village, the Compendex Database.
a(vt"MQ_ rNk'W, FU The Compendex database currently contains over 7 million abstracts and is growing at the rate of about a quarter of a million records each year.
b,+Sa\j)(
oT\K P Over 5,000 journals and conference proceedings are reviewed for coverage in Compendex.
"d)Yq Q ];k!*lR) Ei currently covers close to 300 journals published in China.
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YQS fk HX2u{2$ Our extensive coverage of the Chinese engineering literature began in the early 1990s, when we established an editorial office in Beijing, headed by Lu Ping. All Chinese journals are sent to her for processing locally in China.
;D~#|CB fx|d"VF[ In 1992, we abstracted about 4,000 records from Chinese journals. By the year 2000 that number had tripled to about 12,000 articles annually.
8n 5~K.;< :4zu. We feel that Chinese engineering and technology is important and will continue to cover new journals that are appropriate to our coverage areas.
=H)]HxEEM ijOp{ How do we make decisions about what journals we cover in Compendex?
/''=V.-N ! Wr<T!T Subject matter is the primary criterion for selection of a journal.
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`o#(YEu A Second criterion is the quality of the journal.
Md~SzrU C _N|o|dX Subject Matter
q7lC}'2fu d3q%[[@ Subject Matter is the primary criterion for selection. Our emphasis is on the major engineering disciplines:
)IcSdS0@M 9>4 #I3 chemical,
~Y`ys[Z m civil,
D`@a*YIq electrical/electronic,
p(pfJ^/:( mechanical,
8vuTF*{yZ metallurgical, mining and petroleum engineering.
_5rK uL computer engineering and software
y!1X 3X,V ?7NSp2aq2A &j:e<{@ We consider these “core” areas for Compendex and will index every signed (authored article) from these journals. We do not cover editorials or discussions. Journals that publish entirely in these disciplines are called “CORE” Journals.
vCi`htm% t[TM\j0jW There are also many special subject areas. Journals in these areas are covered selectively. These special subject areas include,
, mz;$z6i _fS\p|W (E agricultural engineering,
F2
B(PGa7 industrial engineering,
Cdz?+hb textile engineering,
I-^sJ@V; applied chemistry,
b+a+OI D applied mathematics,
e$s&B!qJ atmospheric sciences,
dI\_ I] paper chemistry and technology.
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I& >s5}pkAv|e Selective coverage means that our indexers scan the journal and look for articles that are relevant to engineering. For example in the some of these areas, such as Industrial Engineering, there may be trade journals (non-scientific journals). For these we would not cover product reviews. In the area of General Science, for example a very important journal such as Nature, we would only choose articles that are appropriate to our subject scope. We would not index an article on biology or astronomy.
32K& IfV RK.lz VaY Format and Clarity
_h<rVcl!wX t a{24{?M\ The format and clarity of a journal is important for selection for coverage in Compendex. It is very helpful if the articles in the journal are written in English. The editorial scope of the journal should be stated very clearly so that the Compendex staff can determine if the journal is appropriate for inclusion in the database. Peer Review is also important. If other scientists know fellow scientists have reviewed your work, they know that the work is good.
(H uvo9 fJ8>n Oh
Contribution to knowledge in the subject areas covered.
~u$ cX1M D\5+2 G We do not want journals that contain reprints of earlier published papers.
8 ?82 p We do want journals that publish original research or other original work
; +\h$ 79 ;uHR&S Publication Level Criteria
E "=4( !(q@sw( At the publication level, a good journal will have:
kKlNhP( -ZE YzZqY A journal title in English.
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&TZ An ISSN and a CODEN.
nT> v Complete publisher information:
]AA|BeL?| Publisher Name
!AXLoq$SY Publisher Address
MxpAh<u!vF Publisher City, Country and Postal Code
[ifw}( Publisher Telephone, fax and e-mail
_OG9wi(Fpx )K?7(H/j If the journal is on the web, the url should be published in the journal.
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T r5xm7- `c ]D;*2Lw4& A good conference will have the following:
9~`#aQG T BeFyx"NBg An English Language Conference Title
/lR*ab Conference Location (including meeting city, country)
}k t%dDU Conference Dates (date started – date ended)
bXJ(QXHd% Conference Sponsors
i&H^xgm An ISSN or ISBN
0]5X Tc3r Publisher Information
b z>\n"' Evj%$7H1L1 Formatting Issues
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WA2NjxYz The following are important when preparing a citation:
w=fWW^>bP *DIY;)K Paper citation information
Lx>[`QT Contact information for correspondence with authors
w>*Jgc@A* References
t #(=$ Subject Access
|9XoRGgXU Abstracts
]0T*#U/P 2 &*# k ) A*53>JV English Item Title:
=7e!'cF[ jywS<9c@ Mandatory field, maximum 400 Characters
O\f`+Q`0 Separate titles and subtitles by a colon (:)
_LZ(HTX~ l|
uiC %T Authors:
B Evt{q4 tRI<K In the format:
sxr,] @ fNi&r0/-t Write your author names in a consistent format so that our abstractors can be sure that we record your name properly.
gOnZ# &iWTf K7 Do not “Westernize” your name. Publish it exactly as you are known in China. For example,
F_0D)H)N@ G0!6rDu2, Zhong Sixuan
.'o=J`| Lu Ping
n@tt.n!{l Khd A;bF In Compendex, beginning this year, we are including more information about authors to make it easier to correspond with each other.
! $mY.uu Psf'^42(v We will include author name, author address, the name of the organization, the department, address, postal code and e-mail address. Please be sure to provide this information for your articles.
#W8F_/!n| B?&0NpVD For special Elsevier products,(Science Direct) and perhaps for the EI Village, we want to include references in our database for “reference linking purposes” especially for our Science Direct Products.
3:Nc`tM_ uxn+.fA Be certain that for articles that contain references that you include:
iPl, KjGk W5'6L =WG Author of the referenced article
hpXW t Q English Title
9IXy96 ]]6 Full or abbreviated source title (title of the journal, conference or report in which the referenced article was published)
>"IG\//I Volume, issue number and year of the referenced publication
\},H\kK+^ Page range
A-L1vu; Website name: If a website name appears in a reference it should be listed exactly as it appears, e.g. Cornell University Web Page.
MOh&1]2j5 URL: If the reference is to a web page, make sure you give the full URL, e.g.
http://physics.nist.gov/ionxsec ^ U,iDK_ Publication Name
7*{l\^ism; Volume and Issue Number
<o t`0 Page Range
'y!qrmMRr Publication Year
!i8)si_ @D-I@Cyl Ei uses a thesaurus that contains about 9000 terms to index Compendex records. For best retrieval online, it is advisable that authors use words and phrases from the Ei Thesaurus as author keywords.
\mLEwNhRY cZ )JvU9] Also important is that author keywords contain common words that represent the content of the article. For example, if an article is about the Nanjing Oil Fields, use the term Nanjing Oil Field as an author keyword.
d#+Ne f5 o]tfvGvU* -zYa@PW The purpose of an abstract is to tell the reader what the article is about. Then they can decide whether or not they want to see the entire article. Abstracts can only serve their purpose if they are carefully written and transmit important retrievable information. It is really a summary of the article.
423% K$710 ,
poc!n// This requires the ability to identify key concepts in the document: the ability to organize these concepts: and the ability to write abstracts clearly and concisely.
a$?d_BX ] 8wm1_qV There are 2 types of abstracts.
" 4#&tNQ xO :h[ Informative
u (3 uZ: k waZn ~ The informative abstract includes the objectives, methodology, results and conclusions of the reported research.
4tU oK[p l'4 <^q Indicative
;{0alhMZ 1o/(fy The indicative abstract indicates the contents of the document. It does not report on the methods or results.
3mofp`e 0`.&U^dG Following are some of the kinds of articles and the types of abstracts that would be appropriate.
9mk@\Gqqm UTE6U6 Most of the articles in Compendex fall into the first category. They are papers presented at conferences, reports of research or journal articles. In this case you would write an informative abstract that contains the subject and scope of the work, the methodology used, results and conclusions.
j~Fd8]@ G*EF_N. G0 In the case of a literature review, you would use an indicative abstract, and only give a description of the subject and scope of the work.
0kCo0{+n l"[.Q>d For a detailed state of the art review, you would also use an indicative abstract, give a description of the subject and scope, and also the conclusion reached.
B &B4 P h-Y>>l>PW0 Case Studies should have an informative abstract, just like the one for conference papers and journal articles. For example:
>lM/\HO2 U"|1 @W# Telephone interviews conducted in 1985 with 655 Americans, brought these results:
uQbag]&j Most (54-56%) think US aid to Israel and Egypt should be reduced; most (65%) favor US participation in a peace conference that includes the PLO; more than 80% consider it important
ShVR{gIs That the US should maintain friendly relations with both Israel and the Arab countries; 70%
N`7OJ)l Believe that the US should favor neither side; most (55%) think that the establishment of a Palestinian state is essential to peace in the Region.
v&G9HiH esZhX)dS H (K!{k Note that in this example the methodology (telephone interviews), the detailed results are given.
_;^x^ b=BNbmX INDICATIVE ABSTRACT
+JG05h%' x`+M#A()/ Telephone interviews were conducted in 1985. Opinions are expressed on whether (1) the establishment of a Palestinian state is essential for peace in the region; (2) US aid to Israel and to Egypt should be reduced; (3) the US should (a) participate in a peace conference that includes the PLO, (b) favor neither Israel nor the Arab nations, (3) maintain friendly relations with both. Respondents indicated whether or not they had sufficient information concerning various national groups in the region.
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T =9 QyO h In this example the methodology was given, but then simply a description of the results but not the actual results of the study.
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' OTHER QUALITIES
Has}oe[ CLZ j=J2 Length
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1Q>~ An abstract should be no longer than 1500 characters or 150 English Words.
837:;<T {q$U\y%Rq Writing Style
kuBtPZ !Z>,dN The writing style should be in English, clearly written and concise.
N Ub$PT ?uc]Wgw"s Quality
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-)<nox An abstract should not be too short and it should not repeat the information given in the title of the article. Do not use unnecessary phrases such as “It is reported that.”, or “Extensive investigations show that…”
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Eliminate or minimize background information (e.g., history or other commentary)
;
Yc \O:Qq F$4=7Njv Do not include authors future plans in an abstract.
cM9> V2:P ~0024B[G ]U~{?K'g@j :(OV{ u k >MXOUaW. w(_:+-rqQ< Good Publications + Good Articles = Good Scholarly Communication
6(?@B^S>2 -">Tvi4 In our global economy, it is very important that good scholarly communication takes place, not simply via informal communications on the web, but also through scientifically peer reviewed articles published in well-respected journals.
n% \\1 Am3j:|>* This is especially important now that China is interested in getting money (e.g. for IPOs) to support its scientist’s inventions and turn them into profitable enterprises.
+ AjV0 #n c99|+i50 Compendex attempts to facilitate this communication and information transfer by selecting good journals and conferences and indexing important articles. You can help by following our rules and increasing the likelihood that others around the world will know of your important work.
XFs7kT Y ^y ', l CHARACTERISTICS OF A WORLD-CLASS JOURNAL
B!`. ,3 4MDVR/Z7 • English language articles
p cUccQ • Peer review
`0W"[BY • Thorough and to international standards
ER-Xd9R • International editorial board
?$;&DoE 2=fLb7 • Must appear on ISI impact factor list
LjGLi>kI~ • Measurement of how often journals published in a specific journal are cited in other articles
q2 |z
\ `_/1zL[ • Coverage by major abstracting & indexing services
~7j-OWz9 – Compendex
jX ' pUO – INSPEC
$A74V [1^ – Chemical Abstracts
,1|=_M31 – Fluidex
\Qv:7;? – GeoRef
c|m? f v@2?X4n =&-.] | t • First class publishing processes
(?uK • Fast publication times
_}\KC+n 8 • Free, high-quality reprints to authors
q4@+Pi) • Editing
f]2gjQHM • Automatic indexing
#,lbM%a • No advertising
-KbO[b\V • ISSN
dUn ]aS • Listing in Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory
vm* 9 xs • Published by an official publishing house:
}Dc pe M? – University press
d_:tiHw$ – National press
H.n|zGQT B b; ;y|H • International circulation
=$~x] • International author base
u-n$%yDS • Awareness of leading edge developments
Z$Ps_Ik • Recruit an international editorial board
R(y`dQy<K • Recruit international authors
A ?~4Pe Editors and authors should attend international conferences to stay current with latest developments in their field and to meet potential authors and board members
