What are the search fields in the NTIS database?

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

• All Fields
• Subject/Title/Abstract
• Abstract
• Author
• Author affiliation
• Title
• Controlled term
• Uncontrolled term
• Contract number
• Country of origin
• Monitoring agency
• NTIS accession number
• Report number

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.

NTIS contains alphanumeric accession numbers ranging from 6 to 14 characters, and their format varies across records. These accession numbers represent unique NTIS order numbers.

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
• Year

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

The format of authors' names varies in the NTIS database. In some instances, the name appears with the last name, first name, and middle name. In some cases, it will be the last name and initial; in others, just the last name. Use the ‘Author Browse’ index to help you identify the possible variations.

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 yield false positives because many authors share 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, and company names as well as surnames.

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

This is the organization where the work was performed. Since 1980, NTIS has maintained a related index of author affiliation codes. Since the organizational names may vary, use of the ‘Author Affiliation Browse’ index is recommended.

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 "ExxonMobil."

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.

The ‘Availability’ field provides information on how to obtain the document. This field may also contain notes about the document format or the availability of the hard copy.

NTIS uses two sets of classification codes, COSATI and NTIS Subject Category Classification. Since 1986, only the NTIS Subject Category Codes have been used. They can be found in the database guide on the NTIS website.

This field contains the contract or grant number issued by the federal agency sponsoring the research. Although this field is searchable in NTIS, the contents are not displayed on the record page.

The controlled terms are assigned by indexers to describe the document's subject. At least three different sets of terms are used in the NTIS database. They include the subject lists from the US Department of Energy, the Department of Defense Technical Information Center, and NASA.

Controlled terms can be identified by using the ‘Controlled term Browse’ index.

This is the country where the publication or patent originated.

The document types are not entered into the NTIS database in standard formats and, therefore, are not available as a filter on the Quick search form. According to the National Technical Reports Library (NTRL), some examples of common document types are the following:

• Technical Report
• Conference Proceedings
• Journal Articles
• Patent
• Thesis

This is only a partial list, as there are 18 document types. Refer to the National Technical Reports Library (NTRL) website for further information.

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.

This field contains the acronym of the sponsoring organization and may also contain a report number.

The NTIS price codes field contains the cost of ordering the document from NTIS.

The content for this field is available via the ‘All fields’ selection in the Quick search field dropdown menu, as well as the ‘All’ field via Expert search. However, it is not available via an individual search code.

The NTIS database provides several note fields that might include information about the title, collaboration, sponsoring agency, document type description, format, etc.

Search for content from this field by searching for a phrase in the content.

Search for the date on which the patent application was filed. The date format for this field's search is an abbreviation of the month and year. The application date is displayed as the ‘Filing date’ on the record page.

The day the patent was issued. The date format for this field's search is an abbreviation of the month and year.

This is the number assigned by the sponsoring agency. It is usually a series of alphanumeric numbers.

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

• Abstract
• Controlled term
• Title
• Uncontrolled term

This helps maximize the relevance of your search results.

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.

Uncontrolled terms are indexing terms that do not come from the controlled vocabulary lists. They are assigned by indexers when no appropriate term is available in the controlled vocabulary. They often describe new technology and terminology.

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.

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.

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.