What are the search fields in the Compendex database?

You can create a Quick search query by selecting the following individual fields from the dropdown:

• All Fields
• Subject/Title/Abstract
• Abstract
• Author
• First author
• Author affiliation
• Title
• Standard ID
• ICS Classification code
• Ei Classification code
• CODEN
• Conference information
• Conference code
• ISSN
• Main heading
• Publisher
• Source title
• Controlled term
• Uncontrolled term
• Country of origin
• Funding number
• Funding acronym
• Funding sponsor
• Funding information

Refer to the descriptions in the sections below for further information about these individual fields.

This field contains a brief summary of the entire document. To search for an exact phrase in this field, enclose it in braces or double quotation marks.

The Compendex accession number is displayed on the record page, and it is directly searchable in an Expert search.

For the current Compendex file, the accession number is a unique 14-digit number assigned to each record. The first four digits of the accession number are the production year and the fifth and sixth digits of the number represent the week (e.g., 01 - 52) that the record was produced. The remaining digits of the number serve as the record's identification number. Thus, in the example below, the record was produced in Week 18 of 2010.

The Engineering Index Backfile is a static database that includes digitized records of printed volumes from the Engineering Index dated from 1884 to 1969. For this backfile, the accession number is a unique 11-digit number assigned to each backfile record. The first four digits of the accession number represent the year in which the corresponding printed volume for the record was published. The remaining numbers represent the identification number in sequential order. Thus, in the example below, the record was produced in 1934 and is the 200th record for that publication year.

The ‘All’ field is a composite field that includes all other fields in this FAQ (except those listed in the bullets below). Therefore, using this field in a search query retrieves results from all the other fields listed in this FAQ except for the following: 

• Document type
• Funding acronym
• Funding information
• Funding number
• Funding sponsor
• Numeric data codes 
• Treatment type
• Year

You may use the ‘All’ field in Expert search as shown in the examples below.  

Author names are cited as they appear in the original document. Surnames appear first, usually followed by a comma and the remainder of the name as it appears in the original document.

Since author names may be cited in a variety of formats, Engineering Village recommends using the ‘Author Browse’ index for optimal author search results.

When an author's initials are not known, you can use an asterisk (*) as the truncation symbol to create your search query. However, be aware that this strategy may lead to false hits because there are many authors with the same last name and first initial.

When records are displayed, author names are linked. Click an author link to retrieve records by that author from the entire date range of the database.

If a single word surname is entered as the author's last name, all the forms of that name will be retrieved.

Note that only authors whose names are presented in the format as the search query will be retrieved. The number of initials for an author's name may vary. For example, searching Smith, A. B. will not retrieve articles in which the author is cited as Smith, A.

If you perform an exact author search to further refine your search, only records that match the entire name will be returned.

Periods and commas are ignored by the search engine, but hyphens are significant in exact searches.

Exact search queries are the default search for implicit author links.

The Author field may contain schools, societies, company names, and surnames.

In some names in older records, a suffix may be included, e.g., Jr. or III.

Editors and compilers are also listed in the author field. They are distinguished from authors by the notations (ed.), (editor), or (compiler) in parentheses following the names.

To search for the name of a person who could be an author, an editor, or a compiler of a document, truncate your search term after the known part of the name. This allows for retrieval of the notations (ed.), (editor), or (compiler).

The formats and abbreviations used in author affiliations have changed over the years. Engineering Village recommends using the ‘Author affiliation Browse’ index. Author affiliations are displayed on the record page.

In the past, the official Compendex policy was to provide the institutional affiliation of the first author or editor, if it could be determined from the source document. Later, the affiliation of the corresponding author, who is often the first author, was displayed. Affiliations are now displayed for all authors. Email addresses are also provided, when available, for the corresponding author.

In addition to this policy change, in some affiliations (if determined from the source document), more than one level of the organization is cited.

Some commonly used abbreviations are the following:

• Academy - Acad
• Association - Assoc
• Bureau - Bur
• Center/re - Cent
• College - Coll
• Company - Co
• Corporation - Corp
• Department - Dep
• Division - Div
• Incorporated - Inc
• Institute - Inst
• Institution - Inst
• International - Int
• Laboratory - Lab
• Limited - Ltd
• National - Natl
• Published - Pub
• Publisher - Pub
• School - Sch
• Society - Soc
• University - Univ

Corresponding non-English terms (e.g., "Akademy") may also be abbreviated.

Other variations in affiliation names may occur for some of the following reasons:

• An organization's name may be given in different forms in different source documents.
• Variations may be due to language.
• An organization's name may change over the course of time. For example, "Mobil" is now named "Exxon Mobil."

When conducting an exact search for this field, hyphens and spellings are significant as only exact matches of the entire affiliation name will be contained in the search results.

CAS Registry Numbers are numerical identifiers assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service to chemical substances. On the record page, click the link(s) for the CAS registry numbers (with their associated chemical names as applicable) to search for all Engineering Village records that contain those CAS registry numbers.

The Compendex classification scheme is a numerical hierarchy of general subject categories. The numerical hierarchy ranges from the 100 series to the 1500 series.

These subject categories are used to place a term in context when its meaning can vary with usage. As an example, windows can refer to building materials or software. The classification codes for ‘Buildings and Towers’ (402 Series) and ‘COMPUTER SCIENCE AND DATA ENGINEERING’ (1100 Series) will limit your search to the proper subject area. Classification codes can be found on the record page and in the Thesaurus search results.

Searching by classification code can retrieve a large, relevant set of results without using synonyms. The Classification code field is not searchable in the Engineering Index Backfile.

New and updated classification codes, along with their corresponding descriptions, were added to this field in early 2025. However, documents published before 2008 have retained the same classification codes and descriptions.

The CODEN is a unique six-character alphanumeric identification code for the source title. CODENs can be used to limit results to a specific source. CODENs are administered by the International CODEN Service at CAS.org (Chemical Abstracts Service). You can see a source's CODEN on the record page.

A Conference code is a number assigned to a conference proceedings record, and every paper from that conference that is covered by Compendex. This allows you to locate every paper from a conference once you have found one paper. The conference code can be found on the record page.

The conference code was first used in 1982. Conferences covered in Compendex prior to 1982 do not contain conference codes.

Conference Information includes the name, date, location, and sponsor of a conference, as well as the conference code number.

Search the Country of Origin field to find documents from the author's affiliation country.

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a fixed string of numbers, letters, and symbols that uniquely identifies and consistently accesses a document.

This field contains the item type (e.g., book [bk], journal article [ja], article in press [ip], conference article [ca], erratum [er], preprint [pp], etc.) of the document. You may also search the document type via the ‘Document type’ dropdown filter on the Document results page after conducting a Quick search query.

This field contains the first author listed in the document. First author names may be cited in a variety of formats. Surnames appear first, usually followed by a comma and the remainder of the name (e.g., first name, middle name, and/or initials) as it appears in the original document. The First author field (FIRSTAU) field is built from the ‘Author’ field in Compendex. Refer to the 'Author' field description for specific search queries and display examples as they are also applicable for the First author (FIRSTAU) field.

This is the acronym of the grant funding sponsor.

Contains content from the Funding text, as well as from the Funding acronym, Funding number, and Funding sponsor fields.

This is the grant or award identification number supporting the work.

This is the sponsor or agency providing the grant or funding for the work.

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) developed the ICS classification code to classify Standards. The ICS is a hierarchical classification that consists of three levels. The highest level of the hierarchy contains 2-digits (e.g., ‘23,’‘45.’). Refer to International Classification for Standards for detailed information about these codes.

The ‘ICS codes’ field displays in the ‘Indexing’ section of the record page. The ‘ICS codes’ field can be searched via the ‘ICS classification code’ field in the Quick search field dropdown menu list and via the ‘ICS’ code in Expert search.

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was previously a 10-digit number and is now a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies a specific title and edition of a book or book series. The number can be used to find chapters from the same book or papers from the same conference. The ISBN appears on the record page. An ISBN is searchable in 'All Fields' for Quick or Expert search, or individually using the specific search code in Expert search.

The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is a standardized international alphanumeric code that is a unique and precise identifier for a serial publication. The ISSN format is an 8-digit number divided by a hyphen into two 4-digit numbers. The last digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. It can be used to limit search results to a specific journal or serial conference proceeding. The ISSN may be displayed with or without the hyphen, and can be searched with or without it. The ISSN is displayed on the record page. There may also be an E-ISSN displayed, which is assigned to the electronic version of a serial.

An issue is a single item within a volume. Search this field using an issue number as shown in the examples below. 

Most Compendex records are assigned a main descriptor, which is a subject classification that serves to represent the main topic of the document, which is the Main heading. Descriptors are referred to as controlled vocabulary terms, and all Main headings are also controlled vocabulary terms. The controlled vocabulary terms that follow the Main heading represent additional concepts found in the article.

Use the Numerical Data codes field (NU) to find documents via standardized numeric quantities and ranges. Refer to ‘What are the Numeric search fields?’ and ‘How can I improve my numeric search?’ for detailed instructions of how to search Compendex documents using this field.

Search this field to find documents that are available via Open Access. Open Access documents are only available from the Compendex and Inspec databases. There are four types of Open Access, and a document may have more than one Open Access status if it is available in different Open Access versions. Refer to the Open Access FAQ for further information on the various Open Access types and how to search them specifically.

In Expert search, use the search code ACT to search this field:

Search this field to identify publishers or find the journals published by a particular publisher.

In Expert search, use the code PN to search this field:

Search this field if you want to identify source titles, such as journals, books, or conference proceedings, from your area of study. Search the Source title by single words or phrases. When searching for a source title, it is recommended that you use the ‘Source title Browse’ index, as there can be several variations of a publisher's name. This index also includes books and conference titles.

To conduct an exact source title search, enclose the full title in braces or double quotation marks:

The specific identification number for a Standard. This field only applies to Standards documents.

Since Standard IDs may have various types of punctuation in them, enclose your Quick and Expert search queries with double quotation marks or braces.

This combined field retrieves results from any of the following fields:

• Abstract
• CAS registry number
• Controlled term
• Main heading
• Title
• Translated title
• Uncontrolled term

To search for an exact phrase, enclose the terms within curly braces or double quotation marks.  

Title searches for words that appear in the title (or English translation title) of the article. This is very useful if you are looking for articles on a very broad topic. Words in a title are often an indication of the importance of those terms to the article.

For example, "Chlorophyll" in the title likely yields articles where chlorophyll is an important aspect.

The ‘Treatment type’ specifies the slant or approach taken in a document. From the Document Results page after running a Quick search, you may limit your searches to the following 10 treatment types that are applicable to Compendex:

• Applications
• Biographical
• Economic
• Experimental
• General review
• Historical
• Literature review
• Management aspects
• Numerical
• Theoretical

Uncontrolled terms, also known as free language terms, are additional entry, or non-preferred subject terms. These terms are not assigned from the Ei Thesaurus, but are derived from the abstract and author keywords. New terminology is displayed in this field. The uncontrolled terms allow for further specificity in indexing that is not available using controlled vocabulary. Uncontrolled terms are periodically reviewed as candidates for eventual incorporation into the Ei Thesaurus.

Contents of this field may be searched in Quick search via the ‘Uncontrolled term’ field as well as the ‘Subject/Title/Abstract’ field. Additionally, these terms are searchable in Expert search using the FL search code.

This term is usually used to identify a single book within a collection that often contains multiple volumes. Search this field using a volume number as shown in the examples below.

You can restrict your document search to a specific publication year. You can also restrict your publication year searches via the ‘Add year range’ dropdown filter on the Quick search page and the ‘Date’ dropdown filter on the Expert search page.

There are only five fields searchable for subscribers to the Engineering Index Backfile, because patents have not been covered in Compendex since 1970. They include Assignee, Country of application, Filing date, Patent issue date, and Patent number.

These are searchable in ‘All Fields’ for Quick or Expert search, or individually using the specific search code in Expert search.

Assignee

The person or organization that has been assigned a patent.

Country of Application

The country or countries where a patent was applied.

Patent Application Date

The date on which the patent application was filed. Search for this field using one of the date formats listed below.

• 4-digit year - YYYY
• Month and year - Abbreviation for the name of the month spelled out along with the year
• Month, day, and year - Abbreviation for the anme of the month spelled out along with the day and year

These dates can be entered with the year preceding the rest of the date or with the month and day preceding the year.

Patent Issue Date

The date the patent was issued. Search for this field using one of the date formats listed below.

• 4-digit year - YYYY
• Month and year - Abbreviation for the name of the month spelled out along with the year
• Month, day, and year - Abbreviation for the anme of the month spelled out along with the day and year

These dates can be entered with the year preceding the rest of the date or with the month and day preceding the year.

Patent Number

The identification number assigned to a patent. Search for patent numbers either using commas or just numbers without commas.

See also Expert search fields and field codes for brief descriptions of these searchable fields and ‘How can I limit searches by database?’ for additional information about restricting your searches.