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ArticleFirst

Index of articles that describe the Table of Contents pages of journals

Why select this database?

  • The ArticleFirst database describes items listed on the table of contents pages individual issues of numerous journals
  • Each record describes one article, news story, letter, or other item from a journal
  • Most records provide a list of libraries that hold the journal title

Subjects included

  • business
  • humanities
  • medicine
  • popular culture
  • science
  • social science
  • technology

Database details

Database name ArticleFirst
Short database name ARTF
Available on FirstSearch, WorldCat Discovery, and WorldCat.org
Sources Over 16,000
Number of records 34,000,000+
Coverage 1990 to present
Update frequency Daily (British Library feed only)
Producer OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.

Indexes

Index labels and search examples

Use a colon after an index label (for example, au:) when you are not certain of your search terms. Use an equal sign after an index label (au=) for an exact match search. You can search with an index label from any search screen. The information you type overrides any default menu selections. The following examples show sample rather than actual searches.

Index labels and search examples - Table
Search indexes Labels Examples
Keyword         kw:   coffee and tea house+
Article type at: review
Article type phrase at= book review
Author au: coffee
Author phrase au=

coffee john

[last name first]

First page pg: x15
Identifier ii: report
Issue is: 20-may-1999
Language phrase ln= spanish
OCLC number oc: 30678983
Publication date pd:

20011120

(or)

november 20, 2001

Publisher pb: mcgraw-hill
Source so: kenya
Source phrase so= kenya coffee
Standard number sn: 1120-4826
Title ti: music w3 british
Title phrase ti= organ music with a british accent
Volume vo: 76b

Index use and structure

What follows is a list of FirstSearch indexes and the combination of USE and STRUCTURE attributes that can be used to access them.

  1. For any FirstSearch label where multiple USE attributes are listed all the attributes will provide the exact same search result sets.
  2. Any USE attribute that is not marked as a restrictor is available via the SCAN service.
  3. Restrictors are specially implemented indexes and are not available for scanning. Terms for these must be ANDed with other terms to limit the size of the result set. See the table provided for each restrictor to determine valid terms and their associated meaning.

FirstSearch indexes and USE and STRUCTURE attributes used to access them:

Index use and structure - Table
Index Description Use Attribute Structure Attribute Indexed Fields and Subfields
Keyword (kw) Any 5110 2 Includes fields in the following indexes:

Title

Source Phrase

Keyword All

(new index beginning 12/16/2001)
Any 1016 2 Includes fields in the following indexes:

Author

Title

Source Phrase
Accession Number (no) Control number-local 12 2 035/a
Article Type (at, at=)* Content-type 1034 1, 2 949/L
Author (au, au=) Author-name 1003 1, 2, 101 100/a

700/a
Issue Identifier (ii) OCLC Defined 5043 2 980/c
Issue Number (is) OCLC Defined 5004 2 949/b,d
Language (ln=)* Code-language 54 1 983/8
OCLC No. of Journal (oc) OCLC Defined 5999 2 <001>
Publisher (pb) Name-publisher 1018 2 260/b
Publication Date (pd) Date 30 2 949/e, g
Page Number, First (pg) OCLC Defined 5006 2 949/f
Standard Number (sn, sn=) Identifier-standard 1007 1, 2 773/x,y

780/x,y

785/x,y
Source (so, so=) Title-host-item 1033 1, 2 773/s,t

980/2-8
Title (ti) Title 4 2 245/a,b

980/o
Title (ti=) Title 4 1 245/a

980/o
Volume (vo) OCLC Defined 5013 2 949/a
Year (yr) Date-publication 31 4, 5 008 <date>

* The data for the Article Type (1034) and Language (54) indexes should not be used for general searching. The data is only available with the oldest data and with less than 1/3 of the newest data.

Record display information

List of FirstSearch fields for ArticleFirst and the MARC fields to which they correspond:

Record display information - Table
Field Name MARC field
OCLC Number 001
Year 008
Standard SICI Code 024/a
Accession Number 035/a
Author 100/a

700/a
Author Affiliation 100/u

700/u
Title of Article 245/a
Additional Information 245/b
Journal Place 260/a
Journal Publisher 260/b
Journal Date of Publication 260/c
Number of Pages 300/a
Language of Serial 546/a
Citation 773/g
Journal's Uniform Title Main Entry 773/s
Journal Title 773/t
ISSN of Journal 773/x
CODEN of Journal 773/y
Dewey Classification of Journal 773/8
LC Classification of Journal 773/9
Preceding Journal's ISSN 780/x
Preceding Journal's CODEN 780/y
Succeeding Journal's ISSN 785/x
Succeeding Journal's CODEN 785/y
Instructions To Get Full Text 856/i
Full Text Format (e.g., ASCII, PDF) 856/q
URL to External Website or Link to Full Text Article (Direct Article Access) 856/u
OCLC DAA (Direct Article Access) 856/x
Database from which Full Text Article Is Accessed 856/8
Library Holdings 948

Detailed holdings information is available in FirstSearch Z39.50 Configuration Guide - Element Set Names.
Volume Number 949/a
Issue Number 949/b
Page of Record Citation 949/c
Supplemental Information 949/d
Non-traditional Date 949/e
Date Information (yyyymmdd) 949/g
First Page of Article 949/f
Julian Day 949/j
Article Type 949/L
Display Type 949/x
Issue Identifier of Journal 980/c
Article Title Information 980/o
British Library Shelfmark Number 980/x
Preceding Journal Title 980/2,3
Succeeding Journal Title 980/4,5
Journal's Uniform Title 980/6
Journal's Key Title 980/7,8
Language of Article 983/8

Restrictors

The following restrictor can be used only in conjunction with an index search.  It must be added to an index search with the Boolean AND to receive results:

Restrictor Type Input Use Attribute Structure Attribute MARC Tag
Year * All years

Single year

Range of years
--

19xx, 20xx

19xx - 20xx
31 5 008 <date>
Limit to Holdings OCLC institution symbol Enter symbol for OCLC institution 2 56 948

* Year is both an index and a restrictor.

Note: To find the OCLC symbol for an institution, please see the online version of OCLC Participating Institutions.

Sorting

Search results in the ArticleFirst database can be sorted by Author (1003), Title (4), Journal (1033) and Date (30).

General punctuation rules

Exceptions are made, but the following are generally correct:

General punctuation rules - Table
Punctuation Rule Punctuation Rule
" Delete and collapse $ Delete and collapse
' (apostrophe) Delete and collapse % Delete and collapse
. (period) Delete and collapse * Delete and collapse
, (comma) Delete and collapse + Delete and collapse
; Delete and collapse > Delete and collapse
: Delete and collapse < Delete and collapse
() Delete and collapse @ Delete and collapse
<> Delete and collapse ? Delete and collapse
{} Delete and collapse -- Delete and collapse
[] Delete and collapse / Substitute a space
= Delete and collapse - Retain and index
! Delete and collapse & Retain and index
# Delete and collapse

Searching tips

Keyword All searches (1016): The Keyword All search finds information in these fields: Author (100/a, 700/a); Title (245/a,b, 980/o), and Source Phrase (773/s,t, 980/2,,3,4,5,6,7,8).

Using limiters: You can limit searches by Year (31) and Library Holdings (56).

Journal browse functionality

In the FirstSearch service, this database also provides an option to browse the Journals List. The options include:

  • Retrieving a list of all the journal records
  • Retrieving a list of issues covered in ArticleFirst for a journal
  • Retrieving the Table of Contents for a specific issue

Alternatives for searching journal records in ArticleFirst are also provided in ArticleFirst journal browse functionality.

Copyright information

Copyright © 1992-[Current year] OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Certain records in this database are © COPYRIGHT THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The British Library owns the entire right in the records in this database that include the "BL Shelfmark" or "BL Stock Location" field. Any rights that subsist in the components of said database remain the property either of the British Library Board or the individual publishers contributing to the database. The said records in this database may not be used, sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner, form, or in any media to any person without the prior written consent of the British Library.

ArticleFirst journal browse functionality

Is this functionality useful to your service?

Not all users of ArticleFirst will find the journal browse functionality valuable to their users. Most users find the article searching in ArticleFirst more important, intuitive, and helpful to the average user. However, there are additional options in this database. The information below will allow you to offer users the ability to call up the complete list of journals in ArticleFirst, retrieve a list of the issues covered in ArticleFirst, retrieve the articles within an issue, and/or search for journal records in ArticleFirst by title and/or subject information. Included below is information on how FirstSearch has implemented the browse function as a possible template and one example of how this has been implemented.

Record display information

List of MARC fields in Issue records:

MARC fields in Issue records - Table
Field Name MARC Field
OCLC Number 001
Year 008
ISSN 022/a
Accession Number 035/a
Full Citation (volume, issue, part, and date) 245/a
Volume Number 949/a
Issue Number 949/b
Part Number 949/d
Date 949/e
Display Type 949/x
System-only Volume Number 983/p
System-only Issue Number 983/r

List of MARC fields in Journal records specifically created for this database. All valid MARC fields are also possible. In this database there are two types of Journal records. One is a record created based on a cataloged serial MARC record that may include all possible MARC fields present. The other is a record created specifically for this database. The fields that only exist for the specifically created records have an asterisk (*) after them.

MARC fields in Journal records - Table
Field Name MARC Field
Accession Number 035/a
Journal Library of Congress Classification Numbers 090/a (repeating)
Journal Dewey Classification Numbers 092/a (repeating)
Previous Title's CODEN 780/8
Previous Title's ISSN 780/9
Succeeding Title's CODEN 785/8
Succeeding Title's ISSN 785/9
Display Code (S) 949/x
Copyright of Journal*± 949/y
Journal Subject Fields* 953/j
Alternative Title's Information* 979/a,b
Backfile Begin Date* 979/d
Earliest Volume* 979/e
Publisher's Website URL* 979/f
Publication Status* 979/g
Publisher's E-mail Address* 979/h
Scope of Journal Note* 979/j
Journal Disclaimer*± 979/k
Publisher Terms*± 979/L
Last Year* 979/m
Last Volume* 979/n

* Field that exists only for a record created specifically for this database.

± Display the copyright (949/y), disclaimer (979/k) and publisher terms (979/L) with these displays of the journal record.

Journal record MARC fields

Journal record MARC fields present for both types of journal records are:

Field Name MARC Field
Journal Title 245/a
Journal ISSN 022/a
Journal Publisher 260/b
Journal Library of Congress Classification Numbers 090/a
Journal Dewey Decimal Classification Numbers 092/a
Display Code (S) 949/x
Accession Number 035/a

Search options

What follows is a list of FirstSearch indexes and the combination of USE and STRUCTURE attributes that can be used to access them. For any FirstSearch label where multiple USE attributes are listed all the attributes will provide the exact same search result sets. These indexes are divided into indexes that retrieve specific types of records: Articles, Issues and Journals searches. Each group of searches will retrieve only that group of records.
 

Record indexes

The following table contains a partial list of FirstSearch Article record Indexes and USE and STRUCTURE attributes used to access them.

Record indexes - Table
Index Description Use Attribute Structure Attribute Indexed Fields and Subfields
System-only Issue Number* OCLC Defined 6006 2 Based on 776/g
System-only Volume Number* OCLC Defined 6007 2 Based on 776/g
Keyword (kw) Any 1016 2

245/a,b

773/s,t

980/o,2-8

Author (au, au=) Author-name 1003 1, 2, 101 100/a

700/a
Standard Number (sn, sn=) Identifier-standard 1007 1, 2 773/x,y
Title (ti, ti=) Title 4 2 245/a,b

980/o
Year (yr) Date-publication 31 4, 5 008 <date>

* These indexes are only listed here. They can also be used to search for articles from an Issue record.

Issue record indexes

FirstSearch Issue record Indexes and USE and STRUCTURE attributes used to access them:

Issue record indexes - Table
Index Description Use Attribute Structure Attribute Indexed Fields and Subfields
Issue Record ISSN OCLC Defined 6016 2 022/a
Issue Record Volume OCLC Defined 6013 2 949/a
Issue Record Issue Number OCLC Defined 6014 2 949/b,d
Issue Record Year OCLC Defined 6015 2 008 <date>

Journal record indexes

FirstSearch Journal record Indexes and USE and STRUCTURE attributes used to access them.

Journal record indexes - Table
Index Description Use Attribute Structure Attribute Indexed Fields and Subfields
Journal Title Letter OCLC Defined 6022 2 245/a first letter
Journal Dewey Decimal Class OCLC Defined 6019 2 092/a
Journal Subject OCLC Defined 5657 1,2 600/a,c,d,v,x,y,z

610/a,b,v,x,y,z

630/a,v,x,y,z

650/a,b,v,x,y,z

651/a,v,x,y,z

953/j
Journal Title/Subject OCLC Defined 5116 2 245/a

600/a,c,d,v,x,y,z

610/a,b,v,x,y,z

630/a,v,x,y,z

650/a,b,v,x,y,z

651/a,v,x,y,z

780/t

785/t

953/j
Journal Title OCLC Defined 5246 1,2 245/a

780/t

785/t
Journal OCLC Number OCLC Defined 5977 2 001
Record Type (Using the data value of "s") OCLC Defined 6017 2 949/x
Journal ISSN OCLC Defined 5922 2 022/a

780/8,9

785/8,9
Journal Publisher OCLC Defined 5260 2 260/b

Searches used on FirstSearch for this functionality

This information is given as a template of search options that could be implemented. There are more searches and more options available then what is listed below.

When a user clicks on "Browse Journal and Magazine Titles" the search is "S" with the Record Type search (use 6017 & structure 2). This provides a long list of journal titles (245/a field). New user options appear on this screen including the option to retrieve records starting with a letter of the alphabet or to search the journal titles.

When clicking on a letter to bring up a list of journals starting with that letter, the search is the letter selected with the Journal title letter search (use 6022 & structure 2).

To search the journal titles, currently FirstSearch uses the Journal Title search (use 5246 & structure 2).

When a user selects a journal record to display, the full record display includes some new options for the user, including Search articles within this journal and Available issues.

To search this journal, FirstSearch provides the user with a place to search three basic article searches of Keyword (use 1016 & structure 2), Author (use 1003 & structure 2) and Title (use 4 & structure 2). All of these searches are added with the journal records ISSN (022/a) using the article standard number search (use 1007 & structure 2). Other article searches are listed in the regular Z39.50 documentation for ArticleFirst. Some of these may also be useful.

Available issues are retrieved by searching the journal records ISSN using the Issue ISSN search (use attribute 6016 & structure 2). The Issue records only have one useful display field, 245/a, which is the citation of the issue.

If a user selects an issue record to display, the issue data is searched to retrieve a list of the article records of that issue. The search needed includes the search for the ISSN, the year, the volume and issue number together. The issue's ISSN (022/a) is searched using the article standard number search (use 1007 & structure 2). The issue's year (008&lt;date&gt;) is searched using the article year index (use 31 & structure 5). The volume number (983/p) is searched with the article system volume search (use 6007 & structure 2). The issue number (983/r) is searched with the article system issue search (use 6006 & structure 2).