ABI/Inform®, produced by UMI/Data Courier, provides current
indexing and abstracting for approximately 1,000 business,
management, finance, and economics periodicals, covering empirical
research journals, popular business magazines, and industry-specific
trade journals. It can be used to find articles about companies,
products, industries, business conditions, economic trends, corporate
strategies, and management techniques. Coverage extends from
1971 to the present.
Every citation contains an abstract. Full-text coverage, which began
in 1991, is now available for about 550 titles. To limit results to
those with full text, type AND ART TEXT. To display abstracts or
text, type DISPLAY ABS or D TEXT.
ABI/Inform® Subject Searching
ABI/Inform® uses thesaurus terms (SU or TH) for specific subjects.
Subject categories (SC), geographic names (GN), and publication types
(PT) can be used to focus subject searches. In addition, you can use
the Keyword (KW) index to search for words from titles, subjects,
subject categories, company names, geographic names, and abstracts.
FIND KW ROBOTICS AND SC 15# (subject category:
energy/environment,including 1510 energy
resources, 1520 energy policy, 1530 natural
resources, 1540 pollution control)
FIND (SU WOMEN AND SU LABOR FORCE) AND PT STAT
(publication type: statistics)
FIND SU GREEN MARKETING AND SU TRENDS
FIND XS ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND SC 7500 (subject
category: product planning and development)
FIND KW ARMS CONTROL AND GN US
Subject Terms
The ABI/Inform® controlled vocabulary of topical subject terms
describes abstract concepts, specific technologies, and practical
techniques. The thesaurus also includes government agencies,
professional associations, and geographic names. To browse subject
terms online, use the BROWSE command (e.g., BROWSE SU DATA
PROCESSING). The LONG display for browse results contains broader
headings, related headings, "used for" terms (cross-references), and
scope notes.
Subject Categories
ABI/Inform®'s subject categories are a classification of broad subject
areas that define the business environment (e.g., economic conditions
and forecasts), management functions (e.g., market research),
industries and markets (e.g., health care industry), and organization
types (e.g., non-profit institutions). You can search subject categories
by words or numerical codes. Multiple categories in a search are
permitted. Some codes can only be used to limit a search. To see the
hierarchical list of subject category codes online, type SHOW SC.
Geographic Names
To search by country, region, or state, use the Geographic Name (GN)
index. Some common terms like "International" can only be used as
limits. For a list of searchable Geographic Names, type SHOW GN.
Other Special Indexes
Other special indexes include Company Name (CY) and Exact
Company Name (XCY); D-U-N-S Number (DU), the unique number
assigned to a business location by Dun & Bradstreet and indexed for
ABI since 1996; and Ticker Symbol (TS), assigned by the New York
Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, or Dow Jones Over-the-
Counter Stocks and indexed for ABI since 1986.
ABI/Inform® Indexes
Index Abbreviation and Function Example
Author Name AU, PA (last name, first f pa tyson, laura
initial or forenames)
Title Words TW f tw dispute
resolution
Exact Title XT f xt fast breeder
reaches
criticality
Journal Name JO (journal title words f jo harvard
or codes) business
review
f jo hbr
XJ (exact journal title) f xj business
america
Subject SU (subject words) f su elder care
XS (exact subject phrase) f xs automobile
fleets
Keyword KW (keywords from title, f kw nafta
abstract, subject terms, f kw bill gates
subject categories,
company names, geographic
names)
Subject SC (subject category name f sc 5140
Category or code) f sc security
management
Geographic GN (name of country, state,
Name region, or province) f gn ukraine
Company Name COMP, CY (company name) f cy procter
gamble
XCOMP, XCY (exact company f xcy starbucks
name) corp
D-U-N-S DU (business location number f su beverage
Number assigned by Dun & industry and
Bradstreet) du 15-536-6107
Ticker TS (assigned by different f su oil and ts
Symbol stock exchanges) tx
Language LANG (language of f su advertising
publication) and lang fre
Publication PT (each record may have f xs software and
Type more than one) pt forecasts
Date DATE (Date of publication; f (su women and
can specify ranges of su labor
up to 15 years) force) and
date 1975Ð1990
ID Numbers ID (a unique ABI/Inform® f id 00849146
identification number)
ISSN ISSN f issn 0199-2864
(Adapted from documents by Wendy Diamond [formerly of UC
Berkeley] and Alan Ritch [UC Santa Cruz].)
MELVYL® is a registered trademark of The Regents of the University
of California. ABI/Inform® is a registered trademark of UMI/Data
Courier.
2/21/96:mjm
Original Source: ftp://dla.ucop.edu/pub/melvyl/abiinform/abi_overview.txt