What are the search fields in the Inspec database?
Last updated on April 15, 2026
This FAQ describes the fields that are available for searching the Inspec and Inspec Archive databases.
All examples below using "wn" followed by a field code (e.g., "solar energy" wn AB) are Expert search examples.
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
- Classification code
- CODEN
- Conference information
- ISSN
- Publisher
- Source title
- Material Identity Number
- Controlled term
- Uncontrolled term
- Country of origin
- CPC code
- IPC code
- Funding number
- Funding sponsor
- Funding information
- Astronomical indexing
Refer to the descriptions in the sections below for further information about these individual fields.
Search Abstract to find terms in the Abstract field. To search for an exact phrase, enclose it in braces or quotation marks as follows:
Example:
"solar energy" wn AB
{graphical user interface} wn AB
(gold or fe) wn AB
To search for documents related to computers or computing, type comput* wn AB. Refer to Wildcards and truncation.
Note: The asterisk ( * ) does not work in a phrase search.
The accession number is a unique number assigned to each record in Inspec and eight other Engineering Village databases. It is displayed on the record page.
Inspec contains 5-digit to 8-digit numeric accession numbers.
Due to the loading of conference and standards archives with publications before 1969, the database includes documents with publication years much older than 1969.
Your institution's account settings determine the exact start year you will see in the ‘Published’ year drop-down of the ‘Date’ tab when running an Inspec search query. This feature allows you to exclude documents with older publication years that may not be relevant to your institution.
Inspec accession number examples:
- 19671539
- 20150899
- 1711450
- 21566792
- 16305104
- 20388905
- 11627
To search for an accession number in Expert search, use the following example search queries:
(11627 wn AN)
(20150899 wn AN)
Inspec Archive
The Inspec Archive is a static database that includes digitized records from the Science Abstracts journals dating from 1898 to 1968. The Inspec Archive accession number is a 10-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to each archived record and is formatted as follows:
The first four characters is the Science Abstracts volume year.
The fifth character is the Science Abstracts section letter (A, B, or C) as defined below:
- Science Abstracts (1898-1902)
- The letter A was assigned for 1898 to 1902 records since the Science Abstracts journals had not been divided into sections at that time
- Science Abstracts A:
- Physics Abstracts (1903-1968)
- Science Abstracts B:
- Electrical Engineering Abstracts (1903 - 1965)
- Electrical and Electronics Abstracts (1966 - 1968)
- Science Abstracts C:
- Control Abstracts (1966 - 1968)
The sixth through tenth characters are the Science Abstracts abstract number.
Inspec Archive accession number examples:
- 1899A01460
- 1911B01018
- 1933A01276
- 1957A01192
- 1962B14763
- 1966C01788
- 1968C07304
To search for an accession number in Expert search, use the following example search query:
(1962B14763 wn AN)
The ‘All’ field is a composite field that contains 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
- Treatment type
- Year
You may use the ‘All’ field in Expert search as shown in the examples below.
Examples:
(gold or fe) wn ALL
(20150899) wn ALL
"mercury concentration" wn ALL
Astronomical object designations have been indexed in the Astronomical object field back to 1995. It allows named or numbered objects to be retrieved more efficiently. Three types of designations exist:
- Name-based acronyms
Example:
LMC wn AI
R Sct wn AI
- Catalog-based acronyms including their catalog entry name. This number may be sequential (NGC 5548) or represent a position in the sky, (PG 0953+414).
Example:
"HR 3237" wn AI
{NGC 5548} wn AI
PG 0953+414 wn AI
- Positional information only
Example:
"4U 0115+63" wn AI
Refer to the Astronomical Catalogue Designations list for detailed information about Astronomical Object indexing in Inspec.
Inspec does not use authors' first names; only their initials. The database also includes any suffixes appended to the name. To search for an author name, enter last name, comma, then a space, initial(s) and suffix (if any) as follows:
Example:
Lowe, R. H. wn AU
Brown, A.C., Jr. wn AU
Author names can be truncated by using an asterisk (*) as a truncation operator.
Example:
Jones, A* retrieves the following:
Jones, A. A.
Jones, A. B.
Jones, A C
Jones, A. D. III
Jones, A. D. R.
Jones, A. D. W.
Jones, A. D.
Jones A. E.
Be aware that this strategy may lead to false hits because there are many authors with the same last name and first initial. Use of the ‘Author Browse’ index is strongly recommended in order to make selections from all the possible variations of an author's name.
Note that only authors whose names are presented in the format given are retrieved. For instance, searching for Templeton, J. A. does not retrieve articles with the author cited as Templeton, J.
Example:
Bers wn AU retrieves the following:
Bers, A.
Bers, D. M.
van Bers, N.
To further refine this search, add the asterisk (*) truncation operator after the first initial.
Example:
Bers, D* wn AU retrieves the following:
Bers, D. M.
Bers, D.
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.
Example:
{Bers} wn AU
retrieves no records as there are no records which contain only the name Bers (e.g., surname only with no first name and no initials) in them.
However, "Bers, D." retrieves records with the following author names in them (surname and initials):
Bers, D.
Bers, D.M.
Note that {Lin, J-P} wn AU only retrieves records in which the author's first name contains a hyphen. It will not retrieve records in which the author's name is listed as Lin, J P as this name does not contain a hyphen. Additionally, a search query for {Lu, J S} wn AU will not retrieve records in which the author's name is listed as Lu, J-S.
When records are displayed, author names are linked. Click an author's name to retrieve additional records by that author from the entire date range of the database.
The institutional affiliation at the time of publication is given for the first author of each record as given in the journal if it can be determined from the source document. The affiliation includes the organization's name, city, state, and country, where applicable. In some cases, more than one level of the organization is also cited.
As variations and abbreviations may have been used, it is a good idea to use the ‘Author Affiliation Browse’ index.
The Chemical indexing field is a system of controlled indexing for inorganic substances and material systems.
Every significant substance in a record is given one of three basic role indicators:
- element (el) - e.g., {Si/el} wn CI
- binary (bin) - e.g., {Al/bin} wn CI
- system (ss) - e.g., {Ga/ss} wn CI
Some substances may be assigned special roles. These are the following:
- interface system (int)
- surface or substrate (sur)
- adsorbate (ads)
- dopant (dop)
Detailed information about Chemical indexing can be found at the Inspec website.
The Inspec classification is divided into the following five areas:
- A (Physics)
- B (Electrical Engineering and Electronics)
- C (Computers and Control)
- D (Information Technology for Business)
- E (Production, manufacturing, and mechanical engineering)
Note: Inspec stopped assigning subject classifications under "Section D: Information and Technology for Business" after January 1, 2020. Section "D" codes remain searchable for data content that was indexed before this date. Refer to the other four classification sections for data content indexed after December 31, 2019.
The single letter and following digits indicate the levels of classification. The letter (A, B, C, D, or E) represents the discipline area of the database. The first digit represents the most general level of classification. The second digit represents the second level of classification, and so on down to the most specific (fourth) level classification. Not all codes have a fourth classification level.
Example:
A4000 wn CL
A4200 wn CL
A4255 wn CL
A4255N wn CL
Refer to the subject coverage of the Inspec classifications on the Inspec website for further details.
This field contains the classification used to order and cross-reference the records in the Science Abstracts. This field will include a numeric code when available. Thus, the content for this field contains either numeric classification codes or text.
Examples:
12.20 wn OC
14.60 wn OC
{Crystal properties} wn OC
"Semiconductor materials and junctions" wn OC
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.
Examples:
{MMBRF7} wn CN
{FOCHDJ} wn CN
{SLYHEE} wn CN
{CMREF6} wn CN
Conference Information includes the name, date, location, and sponsor of a conference.
Examples:
"Salt Lake City" wn CF
"ABC Annual Conference and Expo 2022" wn CF
"February 25, 2022" wn CF
"Engineering Society" wn CF
"Virtual, Online" wn CF
Controlled terms are a list of subject terms assigned by indexers to describe the content or subject area of the document in the most specific and consistent manner. The controlled vocabulary used to index records in Inspec is available in the Inspec Thesaurus online. These terms can also be browsed in the Inspec ‘Controlled term Browse’ index. These terms contain links on the record page. Click the links for any of these terms to retrieve documents spanning the default time period of this database.
These terms also appear linked on the record page. Click any of these terms to retrieve additional records on that subject spanning the default time period of the database.
Examples:
{cloud computing} wn CV
{social network} wn CV
{Data storage} wn CV
The CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification) system was jointly developed by the EPO (European Patent Office) and the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). Learn more about these classification codes on the Cooperative Patent Classification website.
Example:
{G01N3/08} WN PEC
N10B501/043 wn PEC
Search the Country of Origin field to find documents from the author's affiliation country.
Examples:
{China} wn CO
{Japan} wn CO
{United States} wn CO
The Discipline field contains single-letter codes for the five main subject areas covered by Inspec:
- Computers/Control Engineering - "C"
- Electrical/Electronic Engineering - "B"
- Information technology - "D"
- Manufacturing and production engineering - "E"
- Physics - "A"
Example:
"C" wn DI
A wn DI
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a fixed string of numbers, letters, and symbols that uniquely identifies and locates a document.
Example:
10.1016/j.ipm.2005.03.014 wn DOI
10.1007/s10878-022-00934-2 wn DOI
10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.05.107 wn DOI
10.1002/mame.202200405 wn DOI
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.
Example:
{bk} wn DT
{er} wn DT
{ip} wn DT
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 Inspec. Refer to the ‘Author’ field description for specific search queries and the display examples as they are also applicable for the First author (FIRSTAU) field.
Example:
Browning, K.L. wn FIRSTAU
Browning, K. wn FIRSTAU
Browning-Hanson, J. wn FIRSTAU
Harrold-Browning, A. J. wn FIRSTAU
This is the acronym for the sponsor or agency providing the grant or funding for the work.
Example:
NASA wn GFA
Contains content from the Funding text, as well as from the Funding number and Funding sponsor fields.
Examples:
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration" wn GFI
{National Science Foundation} wn GFI
"NNA15-BB-02-A" wn GFI
{Goddard Earth Sciences and Information Services Center} wn GFI
"This work was supported by PRESTO" wn GFI
This is the grant or award identification number supporting the work.
Examples:
1415/17 wn GFN
14ZR 1419501 wn GFN
MCE 14-4 wn GFN
TIC-CCS-1 wn GFN
This is the sponsor or agency providing the grant or funding for the work.
Examples:
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration" wn GAG
{National Science Foundation} wn GAG
"National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation" wn GAG
The International Patent Classification (IPC) codes pertain to a hierarchical classification for patents for different areas of technology. Learn more about these classification codes on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Espacenet websites.
Enclose the IPC code in braces to search as an exact phrase as shown in Example below. The ‘PID’ search code is only needed for Expert search queries.
Example:
International Patent Classification codes:
C23C16/18
H01L21/205
C09B
B82Y20/00
Search for these codes as follows:
{C23C16/18} wn PID
{H01L21/205} wn PID
{C09B} wn PID
{B82Y20/00} wn PID
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is 13-digit number, (formerly a 10-digit number), that uniquely identifies a specific title and edition of a book or book series. It can be used to find chapters from the same book or papers from the same conference. The ISBN appears on the record page. It can be searched with or without the hyphens.
Example:
978-1-62410-198-4 wn BN
9781624101984 wn BN
The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a standardized international alphanumeric code that is a unique and precise identifier for a serial publication. The format of the ISSN is an eight-digit number, divided by a hyphen into two four-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. It can be searched with or without the hyphen. 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 publication.
Example:
0035-8711 wn SN
00358711 wn SN
An issue is a single item within a volume. Search this field using an issue number as shown in the examples below.
Examples:
52 wn SU
6 wn SU
IV wn SU
special issue 4 wn SU
Note: It is most useful and effective to search the ‘Volume’ and ‘Issue’ fields when you have a specific ISSN to search. Thus, it is best to run a search query including an ISSN, volume, and issue. It is less effective because it returns too many results if you only search for volume or issue, as many sources may have the same volume or issue numbers, such as vol. 2, issue 1.
For example, if the ISSN is 1089-5639, and the volume you want to find is volume 113, and the issue is 52, then the search would be the following:
(1089-5639 wn SN and 113 wn VO and 52 wn SU)
Using the above example, you could also search only for the ISSN and volume, or ISSN and issue, but these options would be less useful because issue 52 could be from volume 110, 112, or 113, etc.
Search for the language of the document via this field. You may also search the language of a document via the ‘Language’ dropdown filter on the Document results list after running a Quick search or the ‘Language Browse’ index on the Expert search form.
Examples:
French wn LA
Dutch wn LA
Chinese wn LA
This field contains an internal Inspec code uniquely identifying the publication issue for serials or the entire publication for non-serials. It can be used to find papers from a specific journal issue once at least one paper from that issue has been located. It can also be used to find all the papers from conference proceedings or chapters from a book.
Example: "BE94-2017-136" wn MI
Use the Numeric 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 on how to search Compendex documents using this field.
Numeric data indexing standardizes the manner in which numeric values are expressed by the authors within their papers, as these values may be expressed in a variety of ways. Numeric data indexing solves these different citation styles by standardizing them into a consistent format. Numeric data can be searched via Expert search.
Example:
32 megawatts may be cited as follows:
32 M W
32000 kW
32 MWatts
There are two types of numeric value-based searches in Inspec: text-based, numerically indexed values, and true, numerically indexed values.
Text-based numeric data indexing (which is only available in Inspec) uses the field code "NI" and is composed of the following three elements:
- Quantity (e.g., temperature, wavelength, frequency): {power 3.5E+07 W} wn NI
- Unit (e.g., Kelvin, meter, hertz): "7.151E-10 M" wn NI
- Value (always expressed in scientific notation format), e.g., "Temperature 9.5E+01" wn NI
Refer to the Inspec website for detailed information regarding text-based numeric data indexing.
Numerically indexed data is available in Inspec and Compendex and includes 62 fields with the NU prefix. It is composed of four elements and the searches must be structured in the following order as shown below:
- field name (e.g., NU_TEMPERATURE, NU_CAPACITANCE)
- operator (greater than [GT], greater than or equal to [GTE], less than [LT], less than or equal to [LTE], or equals [EQ])
- numeric value
default unit (refer to Numeric index search fields chart, e.g., "K," "W," "eV").
Alternatively, you may use the optional units of measure (e.g., "Ci," "kW," "MHz")
Additional information
There are advantages for both types of numeric searches.
Text-based index Advantages:
The text-based indexed data contains more fields than the numeric search index such as "galactic distance," "gain," and "noise figure".
You can search for text populated in this field (e.g., "power," "stellar mass," and "temperature.")
Numeric index Advantages:
From the Quick and Expert search pages, you can use the Numeric filter which will convert the optional units of measure to the proper default unit for your search queries.
You can use various numeric operators such as GT (greater than) and LTE (less than or equal to) to find records contained within specific numeric ranges as opposed to only matching string text values in the text-based numeric index.
You can use numbers or scientific notation format as numeric values for your search queries. For example, to find all Inspec records that contain a frequency value that equals 20,000 Hz, both of the following queries would be valid:
NU_FREQUENCY EQ 2.0E+04 Hz
NU_FREQUENCY EQ 20000 Hz
Search the ‘Publisher’ field to identify publishers or find the journals published by a particular publisher. Refer to the ‘Publisher Browse’ index to search for all versions of a publisher's name.
Example:
'American Institute of Physics' can appear in the following formats:
AIP
AIP Press
American Inst. Phys
Search the Source title field if you want to identify source titles, such as journals, books, monographs, or conference proceedings, from your area of study.
Example:
Searching for polymer* retrieves citations whose sources will include the following:
Polymers for Advanced Technologies
Journal of Applied Polymer Science
To search for a specific source title, enclose the title in braces or quotation marks.
Example:
{X-Ray Spectrometry} wn ST
"Journal of X-Ray Science and Technology" wn ST
As variations of source title names sometimes appear, it is a good idea to use the ‘Source title Browse’ index. This look-up index also includes books and conference titles.
Searching the ‘Subject/Title/Abstract’ field retrieves results from any of the following fields: ‘Abstract,’ ‘Title,’ ‘Controlled term,’ or ‘Uncontrolled term.’
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.
Examples:
{transportation vehicles} wn KY
"steel products" wn KY
ms-17 wn KY
Esso wn KY
{petrochemical industry} wn KY
{7440-59-7} wn KY
To search for specific terms within the title, search the ‘Title’ field. Words in a title are often indicators of the main focus of the article. For example, ‘radio frequency’ in the title likely finds articles where ‘radio frequency’ is an important aspect of the article.
For example, "Chlorophyll" in the title likely yields articles where chlorophyll is an important aspect.
All titles in Inspec are in English.
Examples:
{Spectral Reflectance Reconstruction from Red-Green-Blue (RGB) Images for Chlorophyll Content Detection} wn TI
(Total Helium) wn TI
{Balloons for Mars missions} wn TI
- "Application and development of the block maxima method in analysis of silver price"
The ‘Treatment type’ specifies the slant or approach taken in a document. From the Results page after running a Quick search, you may limit your searches to the following 10 treatment types that are applicable to Inspec:
- Applications
- Bibliography
- Economic
- Experimental
- General review
- New development
- Practical
- Product review
- Theoretical
In Expert search, you may search this field using the field code TR and the following three-letter code values:
- Applications - (APP)
- Bibliography - (BIB)
- Economic - (ECO)
- Experimental - (EXP)
- General review - (GEN)
- New Development - (NEW)
- Practical - (PRA)
- Product review - (PRO)
- Theoretical - (THR)
Examples:
APP wn TR
EXP wn TR
Uncontrolled terms, also known as free language terms, are additional subject terms assigned by indexers. These terms are not selected from the Inspec Thesaurus, but can reflect new expressions and terminology used in a particular discipline. These terms enable greater specificity in indexing than controlled vocabulary. Uncontrolled terms may subsequently become part of Inspec's controlled vocabulary.
Example:
{irregular media} wn FL
"stationary phase methods" wn FL
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.
Examples:
52 wn VO
6 wn VO
IV wn VO
special issue 4 wn VO
Note: It is most useful and effective to search the ‘Volume’ and ‘Issue’ fields when you have a specific ISSN to search. Thus, it is best to run a search query including an ISSN, volume, and issue. It is less effective when you search only by volume or issue, since many sources may share the same volume or issue numbers, such as vol. 2, issue 1.
For example, if the ISSN is 1089-5639, and the volume you want to find is volume 113, and the issue is 52, then the search would be the following:
(1089-5639 wn SN and 113 wn VO and 52 wn SU)
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.
Examples:
2019 wn YR
2026 wn YR
1986 wn YR
Refer to 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.
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