To search a particular subject in B I O S I S
Previews
, it is important to understand that
subject areas are indexed through the addi-
tion of vocabular y terms called Added
K e y w o rds, subject codes re f e rred to as
Concept Codes, taxonomic codes re f e rre d
to as Biosystematic Codes, and taxonomic
categories known as Super Ta x o n o m i c
Groups.
A D D E D K E Y W O R D S
Added Keywords (also known as descrip-
tors) are English-language words added to
BIOSIS Previews
records for subject clarifi-
cation. The Added Keywords data element
p rovides one point of access to a specific
subject area. This data element contains
c o n t rolled and noncontrolled terms which
are drawn from the abstract or full text of
the document or are deemed essential for
the indexing of the document.
C o n t rolled terms are added to B I O S I S
P reviews
re c o rds when the corre s p o n d i n g
topics are discussed, whether or not the au-
thor explicitly states them in the original
source.
N o n c o n t rolled or natural-language term s
can be derived from any words appearing in
the abstract or full text of the document.
Allow for plurals, variant suffixes, syn-
onyms, etc., when designing a search strate-
gy using noncontrolled terms. Search the
Title and Added Keywords data elements
for specific subjects.
C O N C E P T C O D E S
Concept Codes represent broad subject ar-
eas in the life sciences. They are five-digit
codes assigned by BIOSIS indexers when
the specific subject area is a focus of the
document. There are 571 Concept Codes
used to index BIOSIS Pre v i e w s re c o rd s .
Use of Concept Codes can help focus your
search to a particular topic, eliminating the
need for multiple synonym entries. In addi-
tion, Concept Codes are weighted to indi-
cate the degree of emphasis placed on the
topic in the document.
B I O S Y S T E M A T I C C O D E S
Over 700 five-digit Biosystematic Codes
are used to index organisms in the BIOSIS
P re v i e w s
database. Biosystematic Codes
re p resent taxonomic groups above the
genus level.
In January 1992, the 81 Biosystematic
Codes for Bacteria were replaced by 140
new Biosystematic Codes to reflect the re-
vised classification scheme presented in
Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology.
S U P E R T A X O N O M I C
G R O U P S
Super Taxonomic Groups are broad cate-
gories of taxonomic groups (such as non-
human primates or invertebrates), which
elim inate th e need t o e nte r multi ple
Biosystematic Codes. They are available on
all search systems and allow you to quickly
s e a rch Biosystematic Code ranges. Check
the Search System Information section in
the BIOSIS Search Guide or the search sys-
tem documentation for information on
searching Super Taxonomic Groups.
15
U N D E R S TA N D I N G
S U B J E C T
I N D E X I N G
