What content is included in Inspec Direct?
Inspec Direct provides direct access to query the Inspec database and Inspec Archive.
Inspec currently contains over 19 million records from over 4,000 global physics and engineering journals, patent documents, conference proceedings and videos, dating back to 1969.
A full list of indexed journals can be found on the IET’s website.
The Inspec Archive represents the digitised version of the original Science Abstracts series and extends the Inspec database from 1898 – 1968.
How can I subscribe to Inspec Direct?
See the How to get started section.
What do I need to know about searching Inspec Direct?
A search query is comprised of terms (single word terms or phrases) and search operators.
You can search for a single term (keyword) or a phrase on Inspec Direct, use Boolean operators, wildcards (truncation) or the advanced colon operator ( : ).
Operators are special characters and commands to aid in focusing a search to get a narrower, more relevant set of results.
See the Help section for more information.
What is Controlled indexing?
Controlled indexing means a controlled vocabulary (terms from the Inspec Thesaurus) has been applied to the record.
This assists in finding records in a consistent and time-effective manner.
Uncontrolled indexing means free-language terms or phrases have been assigned by Inspec indexers to the records.
These terms help to provide a wider description of the source record than provided by the original title or by controlled index terms.
These terms are located towards the end of an Inspec record.
I’m a publisher - how can I make sure my content is covered?
We are focusing on strengthening the scope and relevance of Inspec, expanding our coverage of quality titles in the core Inspec subject areas, as well as identifying new areas of research and content focus.
In 2018 we launched the Inspec Content Advisory Board, an external panel of subject experts who will help us shape our editorial policy to meet future research needs.
We will also be establishing an Inspec User Group to help support the development of our Inspec products.
If you are interested in participating in a Content Advisory Board or User Group, please contact us.