Abstracts, Reviews, Compilations,
and Indexes Stored and
Retrieved Manually
1778
Chemisches Journal, thought to be the first chemical journal,
is established by Lorenz von Crell. Published 1778-84, subsequently renamed
Chemische Annalen and published 1784-1803. It already included some
abstracts.
1814
Thomas Thomson begins an annual retrospective review of chemical literature
in his Annals of Philosophy, a practice later adopted by other editors
like Berzelius.
1817
Leopold Gmelin publishes first edition of
his Handbuch der Anorganischen Chemie.
1820
The Pharmacopoeia of the United States is published, establishing
standard English and Latin names for drugs.
1830
In Germany Pharmaceutisches Centralblatt is issued as the first
chemistry-related abstracts journal. Becomes Chemisches-Pharmaceutisches
Centralblatt in 1850 and Chemisches Zentralblatt in 1856. The
Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft assumes responsibility for publication
in 1897.
1847
Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society of London (later Journal
of the Chemical Society) is first published. In 1871 it begins including
abstracts of the chemical literature.
1857
The Société Chimique de Paris is established. Begins
publication of Bulletin as well as Répertoire de chimie
pure and Répertoire de chimie appliquée, which
include abstracts.
1867
The Royal Society (London) begins publication of its Catalogue of
Papers.
1879
ACS commences publication of the Journal of the American Chemical
Society, including abstracts of foreign journals.
Index Medicus is first issued by the Library of the Surgeon
General, U.S. Army; John Shaw Billings, librarian.
1881
Friedrich Beilstein issues the first edition of his Handbuch der
Organischen Chemie, a ready reference to fifteen hundred organic chemicals.
1882
AAAS Committee on Indexing Chemical Literature is established.
1884
Lexicon der Kohlenstoffverbindungen, a formula index to Beilsteins
Handbuch der Organischen Chemie, is published by Victor von Richter.
Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies begins abstracting
section, "Index Notes," covering about one hundred journals in
the field of engineering. Becomes Engineering Index in 1896.
1889
First edition of Merck Index is published; at first it is just
a list of chemicals and drugs available from Merck & Co.
1893
AAAS Committee on Indexing Chemical Literature presents plans for an
international index to the chemical literature.
1895
First U.S. venture in chemical abstracting, the Review of American
Chemical Research (a supplement to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's
Technology Quarterly), undertaken by Arthur A. Noyes. In 1897 it
is incorporated into the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
1900
Edwin A. Hill publishes his system for ordering molecular formulas
in an index. It is first used by the Classification Division of the U.S.
Patent Office.
1907
First issue of Chemical Abstracts (CA) is published,
edited by William A. Noyes, Sr., in the United States, using volunteers
as abstractors (a continuing tradition in CA until the 1960s).
1909
Austin M. Patterson, professor at Ohio State University, assumes editorship
of CA, and its offices are moved from the University of Illinois
at Urbana to Columbus.
1917
Editor Evan J. Crane publishes first CA decennial index (1907-16),
which includes a new means of naming and indexing compounds developed by
Austin M. Patterson and Carleton C. Curran.
1918
The Beilsteins Handbuch der Organischen Chemie makes possible
substructure searching.
1920
CAadds annual formula index, first
to be used in an abstract journal. These formula indexes did not indicate
molecular structures, or functional groups, but served as very broad screens
for searching purposes.
1924
Eighth edition of Gmelin Handbuch der Anorganischen Chemie is
published, under sponsorship of Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft.
1926
British Chemical Abstracts begins. Becomes British Chemical
and Physiological Abstracts in 1938 and British Abstracts in
1946.
In the United States Biological Abstracts is first published.
1927
Nippon Kagaku Soran, a Japanese chemical abstracts journal,
is published.
1934
Samuel C. Bradford, mathematician and librarian at the Science Museum
in London, develops his "law of scattering" regarding differences
in demand for scientific journals. This work influences bibliometrics and
citation analysis of scientific publications.
1940
The Ring Index, by Austin M. Patterson and Leonard T. Capell,
is first published.
Bulletin Signalétique, a French abstract journal, is
first published.
1942
National Registry of Rare Chemicals established by the Armour Research
Foundation in Chicago.
1946
USDA Library offers to furnish copies of all articles cited in CA
to subscribers and members of the ACS. Project is halted in 1956 because
of copyright issues.
1947
Preparation of the CA fourth decennial index (covering 1937-46)
requires 1.6 million index cards, five miles of one-column galley proofs,
and several years to produce.
First volume of first edition of Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical
Technology is published.
1948
Gmelin-Institut für Anorganische Chemie und Grenzgebiete of the
Max-Planck Institut commences editing and publishing Gmelin Handbuch.
1952
The Institute of Scientific Information is established at the Soviet
Academy of Sciences in Moscow and in the following year begins publication
of Referativnyi Zhurnal, Khimiya, a chemical abstracting journal. In 1955,
the institute becomes the All-Soviet Institute for Scientific and Technical
Information, the centralized abstracting and indexing service for all scientific
fields.
1958
Kagaku Gijutsu Bunken Sokuho (Alerting Service of Scientific
and Technical Information) by Japan Information Center for Science and
Technology is published. Covers world science literature.
1960
CAS and the Union of American Biological
Societies (later, its information service known as BIOSIS--BioSciences
Information Service of Biological Abstracts) agree to exchange abstracting
services to avoid duplication of efforts.
1961
American Institute of Chemical Engineers publishes Chemical Engineering
Thesaurus, derived from the DuPont Technical Information Thesaurus,
developed by Mortimer Taube as a consultant to the Du Pont Company's Engineering
Information Center.
1969
Chemisches Zentralblatt ceases publication.
1970
BIOSIS, CAS, and Engineering Index begin study of overlap of journal
coverage.
1980
Gmelin Handbuch begins transition from German to English.
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