Library Briefings

Supporting science research

New electronic backfiles for journals from Nature to Duke Mathematical Journal

Northwestern University Library is pleased to announce online access to the complete backfiles of all journals of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (http://locus.siam.org/) and the Duke Mathematical Journal (http://projecteuclid.org/dmj100).

In addition, the Library has purchased the latest release of backfiles for the critically important weekly journal, Nature. These backfiles date to 1950 and thus include classic articles such as the Watson and Crick structure of DNA. At present, the Nature backfiles have been digitized from 1980–1986; additional backfiles are scheduled for release as follows:
1970-1979 Fall/Autumn 2005
1960-1969 Spring 2006
1950-1959 Fall/Autumn 2006

Some publishers add backfiles to the Library's ongoing subscriptions. This is the case with the American Institute of Physics. The Library's online package subscription to the AIP journals now includes complete backfiles for the following titles:

Applied Physics Letters (began 1962)
Chaos (began 1991)
Journal of Applied Physics (began 1931)
Journal of Chemical Physics (began 1933)
Journal of Mathematical Physics (began 1960)
Physics of Fluids (began 1958)
Physics of Plasmas (began 1989)
Review of Scientific Instruments (began 1930)

Finally, complementary to our increasing online access to journal backfiles, we are increasing the years covered by our online indexes. We have recently purchased online access to the index of engineering literature, Compendex, covering the years 1884 to 1968. This means Northwestern patrons can now search the database for the entire scope of its existence, from 1884 to present, at http://www.engineeringvillage2.org/.

Bob Michaelson