BIOSIS file reloaded and enhanced

BIOSIS was reloaded on October 19, 2003. The following changes were made as a result of the reload:

1. The Biosystematic Codes (BC) have been restructured and applied consistently across the entire database from 1969 to the present. As a result, over 240 Biosystematic Codes were changed.
   
   Additional information about the Biosystematic Code conversion, as well as a list of all old Biosystematic Codes, all changed Biosystematic Codes, and all changed Organism Classifier Terms, is available at: http://www.biosis.org/productupdates
   
   Because of the changes to the Biosystematic Codes, you should review your search strategies and make the appropriate changes if you currently have an automatic current-awareness alert (SDI) set up or any saved queries.
   
   
2. Additional context-sensitive indexing was extended to the entire database from 1969 to the present. All BIOSIS records now contain: Biosystematic Codes (BC), Concept Codes (CC), Organism (/ORGN) field, including Organism Super Taxa terms and Taxa Notes Superterms for appropriate records, and Index Term (/IT) field, including Major Concepts and other types of indexing terms.
   
   
3. The search and display of the Organism (/ORGN) field was improved, and the data for each group of organisms is located together. Biosystematic Codes (BC) and text terms are searchable using either the /ORGN or /BC field codes. Using either BC or ORGN displays the ORGN field.
   
   
4. The Diseases subfield in the Index Term field includes both the BIOSIS indexing terms and the corresponding MeSH terms for specific diseases, if available. Also, for many of the MeSH terms, MeSH Tree Numbers have been identified and are searchable in the Controlled Term (/CT) field.
   
   
5. Two new search fields were added: E-mail Address (/EML) and Other Source (/OS), which contains GenBank(r) and other sequence database numbers.
   
   
6. Simultaneous Left and Right Truncation is available in the Abstract (/AB) field.
   
   
7. A new display field, Entry Date (ED), was added with information regarding when the record entered STN and when the record was last updated on STN.
   
   
8. A thesaurus was added for the Concept Code (/CC) field. In addition, BIOSIS contains a thesaurus for each of the following fields: Biosystematic Codes (/BC), Controlled Term (/CT), Geographic Term (GT), and Organism (/ORGN). The content of the thesauri was reloaded to ensure that new terminology and relationships are reflected.
   
   
9. Four search and display fields are no longer available:
   Corporate Name (/CO), Correction Note (/NTE), Named Person or Institution (/NA), and Summary Language (/SL).
   
   Information previously found in the Corporate Name and Named Person or Institution fields is now available in the Index Term (/IT) field with other miscellaneous descriptors.
   
   Because of the elimination of search fields, you should review your search strategies and make any appropriate changes if you currently have an automatic current-awareness alert (SDI) set up or any saved queries.

For additional reload information and examples, enter HELP RLOAD at an arrow prompt in BIOSIS. The revised BIOSIS summary sheet is available on the WEB on our Database List.