Effects of Mechanization on a Chemical Information Service

Abstract

The Index Chemicus, an abstracting and indexing service devoted to reporting new chemical compounds and their synthesis (a registry of all new chemical compounds), evolved to its present form through a series of incremental mechanization steps. These procedures produce effects on indexing, editing, printing, format, and timing of the publication. The paper recounts the chronologically arranged mechanization plan, its theoretic and systematic basis, indicating the specific benefits, problems, by-products, and future plans.