IETThe Inspec Thesaurus is the controlled indexing vocabulary for the Inspec database, one of the most comprehensive and long-running abstracting and indexing services for physics, electrical and electronic engineering, computer science, information technology, and related disciplines. Maintained by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the thesaurus provides the terminological backbone that enables structured searching and subject retrieval across millions of bibliographic records spanning over a century of scientific literature.
Background
The origins of the Inspec Thesaurus are closely tied to the Science Abstracts series, first published jointly by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and The Physical Society of London in January 1898. That first year saw 1,423 abstracts published at monthly intervals, divided into sections covering general physics, light, heat, sound, electricity, electrochemistry, and various branches of electrical engineering. By 1903, the growing volume of material necessitated splitting the publication into two parts: Section A (Physics) and Section B (Electrical Engineering).
The modern Inspec database was established in 1967 as the electronic successor to Science Abstracts, initially distributed on magnetic tape. The thesaurus was developed alongside the database to provide systematic vocabulary control. For nearly fifty years, the IET has employed scientists to manually review items for inclusion in Inspec, hand-indexing the literature using their subject expertise to determine which thesaurus terms and classification codes should be applied to each record.
Purpose & Scope
The Inspec Thesaurus serves as the primary means of subject indexing for records in the Inspec database. Its subject coverage is extensive and includes:
- Physics and astronomy
- Electrical and electronic engineering
- Computing and information technology
- Communications and control engineering
- Manufacturing, production, and mechanical engineering
- Information technology for business
- Related interdisciplinary fields
The thesaurus enables content to be indexed far more accurately and in context than typical keyword-based search queries. This precision makes Inspec an essential tool for prior art searches, patentability assessments, and patent drafting, in addition to its traditional role supporting academic research. Each term includes broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms, supporting both precise and exploratory searching.
Structure
The Inspec Thesaurus is organized as a traditional thesaurus with hierarchical, equivalence, and associative relationships among terms. It is complemented by the Inspec Classification scheme, which provides a separate numerical classification code system. The IET periodically publishes updates documenting new terms, deleted terms, and reclassifications. These changes reflect the evolution of terminology in the thesaurus's core subject areas.
The thesaurus is supplemented by additional indexing aids including chemical indexing terms, treatment codes (indicating whether a paper is theoretical, experimental, review, etc.), and numerical indexing conventions for physical quantities.
Print Counterparts
Inspec has several print counterparts that reflect its broad subject coverage:
- Physics Abstracts (ISSN 0036-8091) -- covering physics, the longest-running section
- Electrical and Electronics Abstracts (ISSN 0036-8105) -- telecommunications, electronics, power, optoelectronics
- Computer and Control Abstracts (ISSN 0036-8113) -- computing and information technology
Governance & Maintenance
The thesaurus is maintained by the IET's Inspec team. Updates to the thesaurus are published alongside changes to classification codes, with supporting documentation available as PDF downloads. The IET expanded Inspec's coverage over the years to include interdisciplinary areas and, more recently, information technology for business, recognizing the growing integration of technology into management, economics, and social sciences.
Access & Licensing
The Inspec Thesaurus is a proprietary resource. Access to the full thesaurus is available only to Inspec subscribers, either through the Inspec database on platforms such as Engineering Village (Elsevier), EBSCO, or Ovid, or through the IET's own Inspec Direct service. The IET provides supporting documentation including content and coverage guides and thesaurus change logs as free downloads on its website.
Notable Implementations
Inspec is widely used in academic and research libraries worldwide, particularly in engineering and physical sciences faculties. The database indexes literature from thousands of journals, conference proceedings, books, reports, and dissertations. The Inspec Thesaurus is integral to subject searching on all platforms that host the database.