Chemical Abstracts Collective Indexes

Loy Shiow Yong, Science Library Head

Chemical Abstracts Collective Indexes (CI) are now available on CD-ROM Windows version. The 12th Collective Index (12CI on CD) covers the period 1987 to 1991. The 13th Collective Index (13 CI on CD) covers the period 1992 to 1998.

On NUSNET, use Windows Shopping to buy CD-ROM on Windows. Go to Start, Programs, CD-ROM on Windows and select Chemical Abstracts.Select a database to start your search session.

The four commonly-used commands appear on the left-hand side of the toolbar. To begin a search, click on any of the search icons or access the Search menu from the Main Menu bar. You can search using:

• Index Browse (Browse icon)
  Allows the choice of search field to browse. To perform simple search for a single search field.
• Word Search (Search icon)
  Allows searching for multiple terms in multiple fields.
• Substance Hierarchy (Subst icon)
  Provides access to a list of CA index names for chemical substances. The organization of the hierarchy resembles that of the print CA Chemical Substance Index
• Formula Hierarchy (Form icon)
  Provides access to a list of molecular formula hierarchy. Their substance names are organized much like the print CA Formula Index.

Below are the searchable index fields that are provided when the Index Browse or Word Search is chosen:

Word	Single words from document titles, abstracts (CA on CD only), keyword phrases, organization location, General Subject Headings, and index modification phrases.
Author	Author names
Organization	Organizations, corporate sources, patent assignees, and corporate authors
Gen. Subj.	General Subject Index headings
Journal	Abbreviated journal titles
Language	Language of the source document
Year	Source document publication year
Patent No.	Patent country code and patent number (includes patent application number) from both patent document records and patent families
Doc. Type	Type of document
CA Section	CA section number and title as a bound phrase, CA section, and section cross-reference numbers.
Update	CA on CD entries are indexed for each year and month of the product, e.g. 1996-01, 1996-02. There are also entries that correspond to the CA volume and issue numbers, e.g. 124-04. CI on CD entries are indexed for each year, e.g. 1990-01, 1991-01.
CAS RN	CAS Registry Numbers
Compound	Compounds or chemical names
Formula	Substance molecular formulas
CAN	CA Abstract Number

Advanced Search Features

Two advanced search features available in Word Search are:

• Use of Boolean operators to combine multiple fields

• Save search queries for use in future CA on CD or CI on CD sessions

Other features available while displaying a document:

• Searching for terms found within the text to retrieve additional information pertaining to the topic.

• Searching for CAS Registry Numbers within the document, then proceed to search for more information concerning that particular substance.

Please observe the following when using Chemical Abstracts: