What are the search fields in the PaperChem database?

You can create a Quick search query by selecting the following individual fields from the drop-down:

• All Fields
• Subject/Title/Abstract
• Abstract
• Author
• First author
• Author affiliation
• Title
• ISSN
• Publisher
• Source title
• Controlled term
• Uncontrolled term
• 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 accession number is a unique identifier assigned to a document in a database. PaperChem uses 2- or 14-character numeric accession numbers.

The ‘All’ field is a composite field that contains all the other fields in this FAQ (except those listed in the bullets below) as its components. 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

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.

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.

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.

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 PaperChem classification scheme is a numerical hierarchy of general subject categories.

Searching by classification code can retrieve a large, relevant set of results without using synonyms.

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.

All companies for which information is given in the abstract are indexed.

A conference code is a number assigned to a conference proceedings record. This allows you to locate all papers from a conference once you have found one. The conference code is displayed in the Conference Information section of the record page.

Conference information includes the name, date, location, sponsor, and 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., patent [pa], journal article [ja], book chapter [ch], conference proceeding [cp], conference article [ca], 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) is built from the ‘Author’ field. Refer to the ‘Author’ field description for specific search queries and display examples, as they are also applicable to 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 number supporting the work.

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

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was previously a 10-digit number and is now a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies a book's title and edition within a 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. You may search this field with or without hyphens.

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.

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:

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

• Abstract
• Controlled term
• Title
• Uncontrolled term

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 retrieves articles in which chlorophyll is an important aspect.

The ‘Treatment type’ specifies the slant or approach taken in a document. In Expert search, you may search this field using the field code TR and the following three-letter code values:

• Applications - (APP)
• Biographical - (BIO)
• Economic - (ECO)
• Experimental - (EXP)
• General review - (GEN)
• Historical - (HIS)
• Literature review - (LIT)
• Management aspects - (MAN)
• Numerical - (NUM)
• Theoretical - (THR)

Uncontrolled terms, also known as free language terms, are additional entry, or non-preferred subject terms. These terms 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.

Contents of this field may be searched in Quick search via 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 in a collection that often contains multiple issues. 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.

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.