CHAPTER 14 TITLE (Fields 13 and 14)
14.1 MARKING OF TITLES
Identification of titles for the input typists is the responsibility of the
keyboarding contractor's editorial staff. Occasionally, indexers will select
from non-English language journals and will have to identify elements of titles
which are not obvious in the journal. The instructions to follow in this
chapter assume that the selection and marking of titles are being carried out by
the keyboarding contractor's editorial staff. The same rules should be followed
if the indexer is adding an article to an online journal. If the indexer is
adding an isolated article, no marks need to be made in the journal, since the
intellectual analysis of the title is immediately followed by typing it into the
computer.
14.1.1 All marks in journals must be made softly and lightly with pencil
only. Do not mark with felt-tipped pens or ball point pens. If the title is
clearly apparent on the printed page, do not mark it at all.
14.1.2 If running heads, journal rubrics, editorial comments or the like
precede or follow the title, the title itself is marked discreetly with half-
blocks.
Invited commentary
Treatment of diabetes and its complications
Since, as stated above, most titles are clearly discernible, it is not necessary
to mark off every title with half-blocks: mark only those where the typist would
be confused by words or phrases preceding the title and not a part of it. NLM
does not always acquire a second copy of some journals for indexing, hence, each
issue should be handled as if it were the collection copy, and the amount of
marking on journal pages should be kept to a minimum.
14.1.2.1 If what appears to be a journal rubric is printed under the title,
check the Table of Contents. If it is indeed a rubric, listed at the top of the
section in the Table of Contents, do not include it in the title. If, however,
it is printed as the second sentence or as a second phrase of the title by the
journal, include it in the title.
For example, if an article entitled "Isolation of enterobacteria from the
intestine" is followed on the next line in different typeface by the words
"Brief report", check the Table of Contents. If, in the Table of Contents,
there is a section in boldface labelled BRIEF REPORTS, under which is the entry
"Isolation of enterobacteria from the intestine", then the words "Brief report"
constitute a journal rubric and should not be added to the title. If, however,
the journal just lists articles, one of which has the title "Isolation of
enterobacteria from the intestine: brief report", then "Brief report" is part of
the title.
14.1.3 Correction of Published Typographical Errors
Occasionally we see typographical errors in the published titles of articles.
Some of these errors were made by the printer of the journal, others appear to
have been author-generated. If a word of medical, pharmacological or other
scientific significance is misspelled and subject to misinterpretation, it will
be corrected by the indexer during the indexing process. As discussed in
38.7.3, it is not necessary to wait for the journal to publish an erratum notice
before making the correction. The keyboarding staff are less likely to
recognize such errors. If one is suspected, it should be flagged for the
indexer and reviser to handle.
14.1.3.1 When the indexer discovers this kind of error, type the correct word
in situ and follow it with the rubric [correction of ...], with the original
word typed within the bracket.
For instance:
Effect of octopamine on adipose tissue metabolism in hogs.
The text of the article makes it very clear that the experimental animals used
were dogs. The title should be entered as:
Effect of octopamine on adipose tissue metabolism in dogs [correction of hogs].
14.1.4 It is much more common to see typographical errors which result in
minor obvious misspellings, such as those due to a missing or duplicated letter
or transposition of two letters. These are usually recognized by the dictionary
validation program during initial keyboarding and are usually easily corrected
by the keyboarding editorial staff. If there is doubt as to what the correct
spelling should be, it is flagged for resolution by the Quality Assurance staff
at NLM.
14.2 PUNCTUATION OF TITLES
The input typist will type the punctuation which appears in the original title,
English or foreign.
14.2.1 Punctuation supplied by the keyboarding editor
If a title is not punctuated by the publisher then the editor must supply it. A
change in type face or type size does not always denote a break in continuity of
thought requiring a need for punctuation. Read the title for sense before
inserting punctuation. In almost all cases the only punctuation which will have
to be supplied will be a period, semicolon or colon.
If the title of the article is not clearly punctuated, consult the table of
contents or journal cover for assistance in supplying punctuation. If the table
of contents is no help, rely on sense and good judgment.
If punctuation must be supplied, follow the rules listed below.
14.2.2 Period
The input typist will type a period at the end of the English title in Field 13
and at the end of the vernacular title in Field 14. (Panel 3 in the online
system)
In unpunctuated titles use a period to separate main titles from subtitles. Use
a period after the main title of a series of studies. Also use a period after
the numeral denoting the number of the sequence; note the capitalization.
Pathology of the placenta. XII. Tumors of the umbilical cord.
See also 14.2.4 below for use of the colon in unpunctuated titles.
14.2.3 Semicolon
Use the semicolon when the printed text uses it.
14.2.4 Colon
Use a colon when the printed text uses it. Supply a colon to separate
introductory words that are not complete and cannot stand alone, i.e., to
separate a parenthetical or explanatory word or phrase from the preceding
thought.
Kimmelstiel-Wilson syndrome: the urologist's hypertension.
If the part following the colon cannot stand alone do not capitalize the it,
unless, of course, it is a proper noun or adjective.
Clinical conference: a good means of teaching.
If the part following the colon can stand alone logically, rather than
grammatically, capitalize the first word of the subtitle.
Clinical conference: Drugs and insomnia.
14.2.5 Parentheses
Use parentheses when the printed text uses them. Do not put a period before a
parenthesis. Do not capitalize the first word within parentheses unless it is a
proper noun or adjective.
Parentheses in the vernacular should be retained in the transliteration and the
translation.
14.2.6 Quotation marks
Use quotation marks when the printed text uses them. Retain quotation marks to
indicate the titles of books, poems, movies, articles, works of art, etc., when
quoted within a title.
Marginal note on the description of the combat reaction in "Dr. Zhivago" by
Boris Pasternak.
14.2.7 Hyphens
Use a hyphen when the printed text uses it. If two dates are given, connected
in the text by either a hyphen or a dash, enter them with a dash, without a
space before or after it.
1975-1989 January 1-March 31
14.2.8 Dash
The dash is usually distinguished from the hyphen by its length and by the
context of the title. Use the dash when the printed text uses it. A dash is
used to indicate an important break in thought or to mean "namely", "in other
words", "that is", and similar expressions which precede explanations. Some
foreign language journals use fairly long hyphens for compound adjectives; these
should not be confused with, nor entered as, dashes.
Since the computer keyboards used for entering descriptive data and for online
indexing are not equipped with dashes, the input typist will convert each dash
into two hyphens with no space before, between or after the hyphens:
Cobalt--a trace element.
14.3 CAPITALIZATION OF TITLES
14.3.1 The rules governing the capitalization of words in title of articles
or translations of titles in Index Medicus are those governing capital- ization
in English.
The rules for capitalization are given in the Webster dictionaries supplied to
all indexers. Those rules not clearly covered in the English dictionary are
supplemented by the rules in the Government Printing Office Style Manual (GPO
Style Manual).
In English titles, the editor indicates capitalization in the text by pencilling
two tiny light lines under the letter to be capitalized by the typist. Care and
neatness are necessary to avoid defacing the journal. Input typists will
capitalize the first letter of every title; English, vernacular or
transliteration. It is therefore not necessary to underline the first letter of
the title.
Schistosomiasis in Sudan.
Some journals capitalize all nouns in English titles. The input typists will
capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. A title which is printed as:
Dietary Fat Regulates Pancreatic Lipase Gene Expression in Rats.
was correctly entered as:
Dietary fat regulates pancreatic lipase gene expression in rats.
If the indexer is adding the article online it is not necessary to mark the
capital letters, since they are being added immediately upon reading.
14.3.2 Capitalization of subtitles
Subtitles fall into two classes: preceded by a "part" designation (Part I, Part
3, Nota II, Parte VIII, etc.) or not preceded by a part designation.
14.3.2.1 If a subtitle is preceded by a period after the title, leave the
period and capitalize the word after the period.
If a subtitle is preceded by a colon after the title, see 14.2.4 above.
If a subtitle is preceded by a semicolon after the title, leave the semicolon
and do not capitalize the word after the semicolon.
If a subtitle is preceded by a dash after the title, leave the dash and do not
capitalize the word after the dash. If the title has a period or a question
mark before the dash introducing the subtitle, capitalize the word after the
dash.
If the subtitle is preceded by no punctuation, use the punctuation shown in the
table of contents. If the style is not detectable from the table of contents,
use a period after the title and capitalize the word after the period.
14.3.2.2 Part designations fall into several classes: the part designation
followed by a period, by a colon, by a dash, by a close parenthesis, or with no
punctuation following the part designation.
In all cases, retain the punctuation which follows the part designation and
capitalize the first word of the subtitle.
If the part designation is followed by no punctuation, supply a period and
capitalize the first word of the subtitle.
14.3.3 Corporate Names
A corporate name is the name of a society, association, institution, government
agency or department or bureau, university department, clinical trial study
group or other distinctive, more or less organized body. In English the first
letter of each element of a corporate name is capitalized except for
prepositions and other internal particles.
American Medical Association
Kansas State University Hospital Medical Center
Department of Molecular Biology and Biophysics
The German Testicular Cancer Cooperative Study Group
Foreign corporate names in vernacular titles will follow the capitalization of
the language, but foreign corporate names not translated in translated titles
will be capitalized according to the English rule given above. See also 14.6.8.
Société Française de Biologie Clinique
Sociedad Espana de Diabetes
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nuklearmedizin
Federation Nationale des Centres de Lutte Contre le Cancer
14.3.4 Geographic Names
Capitalize all geographic names in English and foreign titles. See also
translations of geographic names in 14.6.14.
14.3.5 Drugs and Chemicals
Ordinarily the names of drugs and chemicals are not capitalized.
The symbols for chemical elements are capitalized if they are a single letter;
the initial letter is capitalized for two-letter symbols.
Na K Fe Co P N
Do not capitalize the full names of elements.
sodium cobalt nitrogen uranium
Capitalize trade names of drugs appearing in titles. Do not include anything
for the symbol (r) for a registered trade name.
14.3.5.1 Some chemicals are written in the text with a letter, number or
other hyphenated prefix indicating the structural position of substituents. If
a title begins with such a chemical, capitalize the first letter of the name of
the chemical after the prefix:
beta-Methylheptadecanoic acid
cis-3-Bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexane
o-Nitro-p-phenylenediamine as a mutagen
p-Hydroxybenzoic acid analysis by chromatography
Here is a partial list of prefixes to be handled as in the examples above:
all Greek letters dl- m- p- syn- anti- endo- meta- para- tert- asym
erythro- n- rac- threo- cis- exo- o- sec- trans- d-
l- ortho- sym-
14.3.5.2 The rule for non-capitalization of Greek letters at the beginning of
titles applies only when the Greek letter is merely an indicator of position
within a chemical. If alpha, beta, gamma, delta, etc., are used as classifiers
they should be capitalized.
gamma Vinyl GABA
beta-Phenyl-gamma-amino butyric acid
Alpha 2 adrenergic receptors
Alpha-glucosidase
Beta-oxidation
Beta thalassemia
Beta blockers
Epsilon chain
1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine
14.3.5.3 There are single letters at the beginning of chemicals which have
two different meanings depending on capitalization: N or n, O or o, P or p, D or
d, L or l. These can be easily checked in the text: follow that capitalization.
Then apply this rule: if the text capitalizes the first letter of the chemical,
use the capital but do not capitalize the next word. If the text does not
capitalize the first word of the chemical, type it in lower case but capitalize
the first word.
If the above rules are not sufficient to make a decision, flag the article for
QA review.
14.3.6 Numerals
If numerals appear as the first element of a title, it is not necessary to
capitalize the word after the numeral.
12 cases of acne NOT 12 Cases of acne
3 rare types of blood NOT 3 Rare types of blood
1992 progress in biology NOT 1992 Progress in biology
These examples follow the "first up" rule in the GPO Style Manual, which states
that whatever stands as the first word of a title or sentence, whether the
concept is capitalized or not, is considered the first element, and the word
following it is not capitalized. Note that we do not apply this rule for
chemicals in the examples given above.
14.3.7 Titles of Books, Poems, etc.
For titles of books, poems, articles, works of art, etc. quoted within a title
or translation, capitalize the first word of the title, and any proper nouns,
following standard cataloging rules. Journal titles should be capitalized at
all significant words.
Men in White and Yellow Jack as Mirrors of the Medical Profession. (The
underlined titles were in italics.)
was correctly entered as:
Men in white and Yellow jack as mirrors of the medical profession.
A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens and the birth of orthopaedics.
was entered as:
A Christmas carol: Charles Dickens and the birth of orthopaedics.
Note that only the first word and the proper nouns of each title were
capitalized.
14.3.7.1 Letters to the editor sometimes are titled with the title and
bibliographic reference of the item being commented on. If the bibliographic
reference is printed as part of the title, it should be included exactly as
written, even if it is not in Index Medicus format.
Re: Biologic Width and Crown Lengthening, (Letter to the Editor)(J Periodontol
1993;64:240-241)
was entered as:
Re: Biologic width and crown lengthening, (letter to the editor)(J Periodontol
1993;64:240-241) [letter]
The author of the original item may also appear in the letter title:
RE: S. Iwarson: New Vaccines against Hepatitis A Enter the Market--But Who
Should Be Vaccinated? (Infection 20 [1992] 192-193)
becomes:
Re: S. Iwarson: New vaccines against hepatitis A enter the market--but who
should be vaccinated? (Infection 20 [1992] 192-193] [letter]
If the title, author and/or bibliographic reference are on separate lines, take
only the title as given.
RE: NEPHROSCOPY IN CHRONIC UNILATERAL HEMATURIA
Ruben F. Gittes and Steven Varady
J. Urol., 126:297-300, 1984
where Gittes and Varady were the authors of the original article, not the letter
in hand, is entered as:
Re: Nephroscopy in chronic unilateral hematuria [letter]
In the above examples, our rules on capitalization were followed, but the format
of the bibliographic reference, if used, was not changed from that given in the
journal. Re should be entered as Re:, not RE:. Sometimes Re: is replaced by
Correspondence re:.
14.3.8 Scientific Names
All scientific names in biological taxonomy will be capitalized except species
and variants.
Arthropoda (a phylum)
Crustacea (a class)
Carnivora (an order)
Myxococcaceae (a family)
Clostridium (a genus)
Aconitum wilsoni (a genus and species)
Shigella flexneri (a genus and species)
Common or derivative terms from scientific names will not be capitalized.
arthropod crustacean carnivore
The names of bacteria and other micro-organisms will be capitalized when in the
Latin plural; they will not be capitalized when in the English plural.
Salmonellae (Latin) but salmonellas (English)
Sarcinae (Latin) but sarcinas (English)
Mycobacteria (Latin) or mycobacteria (English)
In examples of the last type, follow the form within the text.
In translations, follow the form of the vernacular, i.e., if in Latin,
capitalize; if in the vernacular, don't capitalize.
The personal names or initials following the names of species, such as those of
the discoverer or classifier, are capitalized.
Eremitalpa granti Broom
Dipylidium caninum L. (for Linnaeus)
Dermestes lardarius Linn. (for Linnaeus)
14.3.9 X-rays
Special attention is drawn to the words X-ray, X-irradiation, X-irradiated, etc.
There is no consistency in the way this is printed in titles in any language
although Webster says "usually capitalized". Sometimes a text gives x-ray,
sometimes X-ray. No attempt will be made to make this uniform: follow the text.
14.3.10 Routes of administration of drugs
The abbreviations for intravenous administration, intramuscular, subcutaneous
appear variously as i.v., I.V., iv, IV, etc. Different medical dictionaries
give different forms. We will be consistent and always use lower-case letters,
with periods: i.v., i.m., s.c.
14.3.11 Adjectives derived from proper nouns
Anatomic or other descriptive words based on proper nouns will generally be
lower case, but follow the format used within sentences in the text. The intent
is to be consistent with the abstract text which is added to the online record.
harderian glands bancroftian filariasis
gram-negative bacteria
If the proper noun is used in the possessive case it remains capitalized:
Harder's glands
Henle's loop (or loop of Henle)
Gram's stain
Heinz granules
14.4 TYPOGRAPHY
The following instructions for typography apply to both titles and English
abstracts.
14.4.1 Accents and Diacritical Marks
All titles in the vernacular must be supplied with accents as required by the
rules of the language. Accents will be supplied for words to be printed in
lower case only. No accents are needed for capital letters. Accents not
supplied by the publisher may sometimes be determined by examining the table of
contents or the text of the article.
The keyboarding contractor's editorial staff will use a soft pencil to mark all
accents neatly and lightly, placing them directly over the letter to be accented
so there is no doubt in the typist's mind.
The indexer working online should carefully check that the vernacular title has
been entered accurately and that accents and diacritical marks are correct.
The following accents and diacritical marks are available:
accent grave ` tilde ~
circumflex ^ macron Ż
accent acute ´ umlaut ¨
angstrom ° breve
cedilla ¸ Swedish o ř
Polish l
If the text uses open and closed quotation marks (" or ") they will be input
simply as straight quotes: ".
14.4.2 Ampersand
In English titles, retain the & as printed and do not convert it to "and". In
translated titles, however, translate & as "and".
14.4.3 Greek letters
Individual Greek letters appearing in titles and abstracts must be converted to
their named equivalents.
? convert to alpha ? convert to nu
ß beta ? xi
? gamma ? omicron
d , delta p pi
e epsilon ? rho
? zeta s sigma
? eta t tau
? theta ? upsilon
? iota f phi
? kappa ? chi
? lambda ? psi
µ mu ? omega
Greek letters and arabic numerals often appear in juxtaposition in chemical
terms. When the Greek is converted to the form above, separate the numeral and
the transliteration with a space only: do not use a hyphen. Note below also the
spacing with regard to the commas.
17-hydroxyprogesterone:
17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone
9,11-dichlorocorticoids:
9 alpha,11 beta-dichlorocorticoids
1,-cyclohexaneacetic acid:
delta 1,alpha-cyclohexaneacetic acid
7-keto-8-euphenol:
7-keto-delta 8-euphenol
The spelled-out Greek-letter prefix of a chemical will not be capitalized at the
beginning of a title. Instead, the word after the Greek-letter name will be
capitalized. See 14.3.5.1.
See 14.7.10 for the transliteration of Greek words appearing in titles.
14.4.4 Bold print, italics and underlining
Bold print and italics appearing in the titles of articles cannot be reproduced
as such in Index Medicus or MEDLINE citations. Standard type will be used for
all printing. Although underlining could physically be reproduced, our policy
also does not copy it from titles or abstracts.
14.4.5 Numerals
Since it is the policy of Index Medicus to copy titles in English and the
vernacular as they appear in the text, all numerals - whether arabic or roman
will be copied as they appear regardless of length or unwieldiness.
Penicillin chemistry. 3 is typed Penicillin chemistry. 3.
Copper metabolism. III is typed Copper metabolism. III.
Moreover, if the numerals are written out (two hundred sixty-four, for example)
these will not be converted to figures. This extends even to unusual cases
where numerals are written out after the word Part (or any synonym) denoting one
of a series of articles.
Penicillin chemistry. Part three.
is typed Penicillin chemistry. Part three.
The computer keyboards used by indexers do not carry fractions (1/2, 1/4, etc.).
If a fraction is required for a title, use arabic numbers separated by a slash
(1/2, 1/4, 3 1/2, 6 1/2, 8 2/3, 16 2/3, etc.). Do not convert fractions to
decimal numbers.
Roman numerals in English and foreign titles will be typed in upper case
letters: I , II , V , XIX , XLIII.
14.4.6 Articles in Parts
All parts of articles published in series are indexed separately for Index
Medicus and MEDLINE. The part is generally numbered in the title and usually
constitutes a subtitle to the main title.
The word "part" and its synonyms or counterparts in all languages (parte, note,
nota, series, Mitteilung, comunicacion, etc.) will be retained in both the
English and vernacular titles in accordance with the policy of not tampering
with titles.
Such words, however, add nothing to the translation and may be omitted from it.
Be sure to retain the roman or arabic numeral denoting the part in hand as it is
useful in showing priority or sequence. Remember to leave the roman number
roman and the arabic arabic.
14.4.6.1 Occasionally part designations are spelled out in words as in the
following example:
DIET AND CANCER--AN OVERVIEW
(Second of Two Parts)
This should be input as
Diet and cancer--an overview (2).
If the part designation had not been enclosed in parentheses, it would have been
entered:
Diet and cancer--an overview. 2.
This is one of the few times that editors are permitted to modify text.
14.4.7 Signs and Symbols
Only the following signs and symbols are available to Index Medicus titles and
may be typed as they are printed in the title of the article indexed:
@ + : & * / % = - O > < #
14.4.7.1 Angstrom (°)
Although the angstrom symbol is available, its use is restricted to a position
over a letter, as in the Scandinavian languages (e.g., ĺ). It is used only over
lower case letters. It cannot be used alone as in 90°. The circle for degree
(°) must be spelled out, as 90 degrees, 32 degrees, etc. The indexer must
supply the appropriate translations for the word "degrees" in foreign language
titles.
This symbol is also used with various meanings other than "degree", frequently
to designate the base state in scientific formulas. The indexer or reviser who
understands the subject matter will have to determine the best words to convey
the context. If in doubt, flag for Quality Assurance.
14.4.7.2 > and <
These symbols, which stand for "greater than" and "less than", may also be used
to create arrows by combining with two hyphens: --> and <--. Thus chemical
reactions, carbohydrate formulas and amino acid sequences are translated as
follows:
Hb Al-Ain Abu Dhabi [18(A16)GlyAsp]
will be typed as Hb Al-Ain Abu Dhabi [alpha 18(A16) Gly-->Asp]
In genetic formulas
Partial Trisomy 22q12qter in Prenatal Diagnosis
will be typed as
Partial trisomy 22q12-->qter in prenatal diagnosis.
When the text has "greater than or equal to" represented by , type "> or =".
Similarly, "less than or equal to" () is "< or =".
A chemical equilibrium is typed <==>
and a reversible reaction is <-->.
14.4.7.3 Other signs and symbols
The following signs and symbols occur in titles and abstracts. When they occur
in the English language, their meaning must be spelled out as below, since the
MEDLARS programs cannot reproduce any of the symbols in the Index Medicus
citation. If the symbol appears in a foreign title, the vernacular name for the
symbol will be supplied by the indexer proficient in the language. Naturally in
the translated title the English below will be used.
male female o hermaphrodite
approximately
Pluses and minuses + or - or ± or :
Type these symbols, whether in linear or subscript or superscript position on
the same line as the letters or numbers to which they are affixed. + may be
typed as +, - may be typed as -, but ± must be typed as +/- and must be typed
as -/+.
Similarly, cationic and anionic forms will have the positive or negative charges
typed on the same line.
K+ = K+ Cl- = Cl- Mg2+ = Mg2+
14.4.8 Subscripts and Superscripts
The MEDLARS programs do not print subscripts and superscripts, so these must
appear on the same line as the letters or numbers to which they are attached.
Most subscripts and superscripts appearing perforce on the same line will be
clear to the reader as they appear in context but others, we realize, may give
pause for thought. Index Medicus practice is based on the need for
intelligibility within the printing limitation. We shall use a space or a
hyphen or parentheses only when necessary to avoid a possible misreading or
misunderstanding. See the discussion on numbers with numbers in 14.4.10 below.
106 cannot be typed as 106 or 10-6: 10(6) does the least harm.
14.4.9 Combinations of numbers and letters
In general, a letter with a number sub- or superscript or a number with a letter
sub- or superscript or a letter with a letter will be typed on the same line
without hyphens and without spaces, in the order in which they appear in the
text.
CO2 = CO2 H2O = H2O 132Cs = 132Cs
NH4Cl = NH4Cl CCl4 = CCl4 I131 = I131
O2 = O2 226Ra = 226Ra P32 = P32
Rh0 = Rh0 A1Leb = A1Leb Dia = Dia
162fg = 162fg ET = ET ces = ces
For complex readings such as is often seen in blood-group titles or in genetics
titles, type with spaces as in the examples here:
Phenotypes OHm, OBHm and OABHm
This will be input at O Hm, O B Hm, O AB Hm.
If a letter (or number) has both a subscript and a superscript, enter them in
the order in which a physician or scientist would say them during oral
communication. If this is not known, flag for Quality Assurance to review. In
general, the superscript will be entered first, followed by the subscript.
Arrows pointing directly up or down ( or ) will be omitted.
14.4.10 Combinations of numbers and numbers
Type all numeral sub- and superscripts on the same line as the numbers to which
they are affixed, enclosing them within parentheses, without a hyphen or a
space:
106 = 10(6) 10-6 = 10(-6)
106 = 10(6) -610 = (-6)10
14.5 INCLUSIONS IN TITLES
14.5.1 Rubrics
Several common rubrics used by editors to characterize their
material will be standardized by NLM and will qualify the titles of much we
index. These are editorials, letters to the editor, clinico-pathological
conferences, interviews and news. These are to herald indexable material to be
differentiated from what is or could be called "original articles".
Although we index material on the basis of subject content regardless of form,
the realities of research sometimes make it necessary to inform the Index
Medicus user of the relative length or substance of a citation retrieved without
injecting a value judgment. Hence the informative, descriptive rubrics as a
part of the title cited. The user of MEDLINE is able to identify the type of
material with the PT (publication type) field.
14.5.1.1 The indexer will make a part of the title of an article these
rubrics thus:
[editorial] [clinical conference] [interview]
[letter] [classical article] [news]
The rubric is typed within square brackets. For a translated title, parentheses
are used, since the translation itself is delineated by square brackets. See
14.5.1.3.
Editorials, letters and clinico-pathologic conferences entered the system as
rubrics in 1974, interview and news in 1979. A fifth, [proceedings], was used
from 1974 through 1981. The rubric for classical articles was added in 1988;
see 14.5.1.10 and 32.9 for a full discussion. The identity of any one of these
is usually clearly indicated by the editor of the publication in the form of
stereotyped rubrics which will give the indexer no trouble.
Additional rubrics for comments, corrected and republished articles and
retractions are added to titles by the Quality Assurance Unit at the time the
citation is linked to a previous MEDLINE citation. See 17.23, 17.27 and 17.69
for an explanation of these publication types.
14.5.1.2 The dataform indexer will type each of the rubrics as appropriate in
Field 13:
[letter]
When the typist sees a rubric in Field 13, it will be typed after the title from
the text, following the normal handling of titles, with the proper
capitalization. The title with the rubric will appear in the citation thus, for
example:
Where are we headed? [editorial]
Primary medical care [letter]
It is not necessary to put a period at the end of the title when it is followed
by a rubric. All other terminal punctuation is retained.
14.5.1.3 The rubrics will be typed for English or translated titles only.
For foreign languages, ignore the rubric in the vernacular, ignore the rubric in
the transliteration, but use the rubric in the translated title, typed within
parentheses:
[Medico-social ecology (letter)]
[Gastroscopy: hazards (editorial)]
14.5.1.4 Editorials
Only substantive editorials are indexed. See 4.6.5, 14.5.1.11 and Figure
14.5.1.11.
If the rubric is in the text before the title, the editor will mark the journal
after the rubric, then type the rubric as described above.
Printed text with editor's marks:
EDITORIAL
WHERE ARE WE HEADED?
Typing on Panel 3:
Where are we headed? [editorial]
"Editorials" or "guest Editorial" will be typed in Panel 3 as [editorial].
If EDITORIAL is the only title printed in the journal, the indexer will create a
very brief title constructed from the first few, most meaningful words in the
first sentence of the editorial as printed, and then add [editorial]. See below
for identical instructions on untitled letters.
See 17.33 for discussion of EDITORIAL (PT).
14.5.1.5 Letters
Only substantive letters are indexed. See 4.6.6, 14.5.1.11 and Figure
14.5.1.11.
Letters labeled by the editor as "Correspondence" will read on Panel 3 in Field
13 as [letter]. Likewise "Letters" and "Letter to the Editor" will be converted
to [letter] and typed that way on Panel 3.
If LETTER is the only title printed in the journal, the indexer will create a
very brief title constructed from the first few, most meaningful words in the
first sentence of the letter as printed, and will then add [letter]. The same
procedure is followed for untitled editorials.
Most letters are written as comments on articles previously published in the
journal in hand. If this is so, remember to flag the letter for pro- cessing by
the Quality Assurance Unit as a COMMENT (PT). See 17.49 on LETTER (PT) and
17.23 and Chapter 39 on COMMENT (PT).
If a substantive letter is followed immediately by the response of the
original author whose article generated the correspondence, include the response
in the pagination of the letter taken and ignore the author- respondent. In
other words, if A. White writes a letter commenting on B. Redd's article and
White's letter is followed by Redd's reply, index White's letter with White as
author and do not cite Redd: merely include his reply in the paging assigned to
White-plus-reply. If the original author's reply was given a separate title, it
should not be indexed separately. Include it with the commenting letter as
described above.
For many years, if a journal grouped several letters under one title, we
treated those letters as a single unit and did not cite any of the authors of
the individual letters. Effective with 1992 publication dates, such letters are
indexed separately, citing each individual author and using the same journal-
supplied title for each letter. If there is a response from the original author
at the end of the group of letters, the pagination for each letter should
include the response as a discussion.
Example: The original letter was by Redd. The journal has grouped several
comments under a single bold print title, with Redd's reply at the end.
Text of letter by White: 15
Text of letter by Greene: 15-6
Text of letter by Black: 17-8
Response by Redd to all three: 18-20
Indexing:
Letter with White as author: 15; discussion 18-20
Letter with Greene as author: 15-6; discussion 18-20
Letter with Black as author: 17-8; discussion 18-20
Redd was not cited as an author.
Note that it is not necessary to use "discussion" in the pagination for a single
letter with its reply, even if the reply is on the next page.
14.5.1.6 Proceedings
The use of [proceedings] as a rubric was discontinued with 1981 Index Medicus.
Prior to that time, this rubric was used to identify indexable material
presented at society meetings. When individual proceedings were no longer
indexed, all of the proceedings or abstracts presented at a meeting were covered
by an overall. As of 1991, MEETING REPORT (PT) or (prior to 1995) CONGRESS (PT)
is used in conjunction with OVERALL (PT) to cover proceedings as a group.
14.5.1.7 Clinical Conference
This will probably be designated by the author as a "clinico-pathological
conference", the conventional CPC, but also under aliases such as
"clinicopathological case reports", "medical staff conference", "medical grand
rounds", "surgical grand rounds", "allergy forum", "nephrology consultant", etc.
All are characterized by the presentation of a patient's case, possible
diagnoses, and a final answer, frequently from the pathologist. Do not add any
of the above journal designations to the title. The rubric [clinical
conference] will suffice. If the identity as a clinical conference is an
integral part of the title (as in New England Journal of Medicine, "Case
records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Weekly clinicopathological
exercises. Case 12-1994"), add the rubric [clinical conference] as well. For
online indexing, the presence of [clinical conference] in the title will
generate the addition of CLINICAL CONFERENCE (PT). See 17.21.
If the clinical conference does not have a title describing the case in
question, create a brief title taken from the final pathological diagnosis given
in the text. See 18.11.8 - 18.11.15 for a discussion of the indexing of
clinical conferences.
14.5.1.8 Interview
An interview constitutes a "little article" and is therefore indexable. The
content is usually not at issue; only the title, which appears in many forms,
the person interviewed and the interviewer need be discussed.
Titles vary:
All about health care: Dr. Jane Doe interviewed by Tom Brown
All about health care: an interview with Dr. Jane Doe
All about health care
All titles are marked for input as they appear in the text, adding the rubric
[interview] if it does not already appear in the title.
All about health care: Dr. Jane Doe interviewed by Tom Brown
All about health care: an interview with Dr. Jane Doe
All about health care [interview]
An interview with Nancy L. Johnson and Patricia Schroeder [interview by Virginia
Hunter]
The person being interviewed becomes the author and his or her name should be
typed in Field 10 (Panel 3) in the usual form.
If the name of the interviewer appears in the title, it will be included as part
of the title. If the interviewer's name appears anywhere else, [interview] may
be modified to [interview by ...], with the interviewer's name as it appears in
the text. In such cases, first names are not converted to initials. Do not
type the interviewer's name in Field 10 (author field).
Text Form for title
Ann Belle Jones [interview by Ann Belle Jones]
Ann B. Jones [interview by Ann B. Jones]
A. Belle Jones [interview by A. Belle Jones]
A. B. Jones [interview by A. B. Jones]
If the interviewer is not identified by name use simply [interview]. See Figure
14.5.1.11.
Interviews will take INTERVIEW (PT). See 17.44. Do not handle the interview as
a biography of the person being interviewed.
14.5.1.9 News
Material in sections of journals labeled by the editor as "News" is indexed if
substantive. While most news is ephemeral, substantive news will generally be
on a timely, important, sometimes controversial subject of interest to both the
public and scientific research community. Substantive news will usually extend
beyond the size of a one- or two-inch item. However, brief news items will be
selected if they are about AIDS. See also Figure 14.5.1.11. NEWS (PT) will
also be added. See 17.55.
14.5.1.10 Classical article
Articles reprinted under publishers' rubrics such as Classics, Classic pages,
Classical reprint, Landmarks, etc., are indexed since they are important to
modern readers as historical milestones in the history of medicine.
The rubric [classical article] will identify all such articles and will appear
as part of the title in the Index Medicus citation. CLASSICAL ARTICLE (PT) will
also appear in the MEDLINE record. See 17.20.
The Index Medicus citation will appear in the Author Section under the name of
the classical author as author in the usual form. The title will contain, in
general, the title of the original work and often either the publication date of
the original work or the original journal reference with date.
The indexer will use discretion about omissions or inclusions in the title.
That is, a long subtitle of a classical article need not be picked up. In many
cases, the indexer should carefully review the title as identified by the
keyboarding contractor's editorial staff.
For example, a title which appeared as:
Historical and Practical Treatise on Vaccination
which includes a summary of the origins and results of the observations and
experiments on vaccines, with an impartial examination of the advantages and
objections that have been put forth concerning the use of the new method of
inoculation.
was correctly entered merely as:
Historical and practical treatise on vaccination [classical article]
The authors will also be covered by historical biography check tags (publication
type and dates).
For indexing of classical articles see 32.9+ and 32.16.14.
14.5.1.11 Guidelines for selection of rubricked items
See also section 4.6+.
Editorials
Substantive editorials from all journals will be indexed regularly. They will
be indexed as if non-depth. Editorials which are actually multi-page lead
articles with numerous references will be indexed with moderate depth. See
Figure 14.5.1.11.
Letters
A letter (from priority 1, 2 and 3 journals in any language) will be indexed if
it
- contains a case report
- reports adverse effects of drugs or procedures
- gives substantive data accompanied by bibliographic references
- comments on a previously published article provided it is substantive or
documented by bibliographic references other than the citation of the original
article
- reports progress or summary activity of official committees, study groups or
task forces
- notes a factual error on a previously published article (errors in dosage,
measurement, drug name, chemical formula, incidence of cases, etc.)
- provides additional reference(s) not cited in a previously published article
A letter will not be indexed if it
- is less than 125 words long. Shorter letters containing case reports or
reports of adverse effects must be taken.
- expresses undocumented or personal opinion
- is commenting on a book review, since the original book review would not have
been indexed
- is on parochial matters (provincial salaries for interns, local insurance
practices, fellowship shortages in obscure areas, etc.)
- contains humorous notes, medical jokes, personal anecdotes, trivial
reminiscences, poetry, etc.
Flag all letters not covered by the above guidelines for perusal by the
selection specialist. Exceptions are always made for worthy candidate letters
as well as for editorials and other indexable items.
See 14.5.6.2 for letters signed by corporate bodies.
14.5.1.12 Use judgment in indexing "articles" with above-mentioned rubrics.
All rubrics were designed to distinguish for the Index Medicus and MEDLINE user
a substantive article from a brief or even opinionated statement on a subject.
Non-substantive editorials, letters, news, etc. are not indexed at all, but the
editorials, letters, news, etc. which are indexed are identified as such by the
rubric device. The rubric itself makes no judgment: it merely identifies to our
readers the nature of the subject matter for their information. The readers may
use it or reject it. The rubrics must be accompanied by the corresponding
publication types.
Figure 14.5.1.11
Selection of rubricked items.
Item Action
[letter]
case report index
adverse effects index
substantive data index
substantive comment index
report of commission index
factual error-original author index, PUBLISHED ERRATUM (PT)
factual error-other authors index, COMMENT (PT)
supplying additional reference index
less than 125 words, unless case report do not index, flag for reviser
or adverse effects
non-substantive do not index, flag for reviser
personal anecdotes do not index, flag for reviser
[editorial] index only if substantive
[news] index only if substantive
[interview] index, flag for reviser
[overall] do not index, flag for
specialist
Hist Biog index, flag for specialist
Biog Obit
birthday or death notice do not index
as substantive article index, flag for specialist
with bibliography index, flag for specialist
These criteria apply to all priority journals and all languages. All indexable
items in this figure should be indexed non-depth.
14.5.2 Presidential addresses
Only substantive presidential addresses will be indexed. If the presidential
address carries a substantive title, use only that, omitting the words
"Presidential address".
If the "Presidential address" is the only title for the indexable article for
which the journal title makes it clear that the author is the president of the
body issuing the journal, then use a two-sentence title in which the first
sentence is "Presidential address" and the second sentence is created from the
first few lines of the article.
Addresses by officials presiding over congresses or conferences, when the
journal itself is not identified with a particular society, should use only the
conventional scientific title of the article. Do not include the words
"Presidential address" as part of such titles.
For indexing of presidential addresses, see section 35.10.
14.5.3 Memorial and award lectures
Articles written as memorial or award lectures will have the title marked to
include the memorial or award aspects.
Parrish lecture. New horizons in GI radiology.
The Smythe Award. Experiments on DNA in plants.
Instructions for indexing memorial lectures are given in 32.16.13.
14.5.4 Questions and answers
See 4.6.10 for selection of Questions and Answers. The title format for
Questions and Answers is variable, but the following represent the most commonly
seen formats.
a. If a standard title is printed above the question, use it.
b. If no standard title is printed, but the question consists of one relatively
short sentence, use it as the title.
c. If no standard title is printed above the question and the question is fairly
lengthy or more than one sentence long, a brief title should be created from the
words of the question. The created title need not be in the form of a question.
14.5.5 Series of articles
In a series of articles on one subject often the main title appears on only the
lead article and succeeding articles do not carry the main or "collective"
title.
If the title of the individual article when standing alone makes sense and
reflects the substance of the collective title, only the title of the individual
article need be marked off.
If the title of the individual article when standing alone does not make sense
and does not reflect the substance or meaning of the collective title, the
indexer must reproduce the collective title from the first article, from the
title page, from the table of contents or from the cover, and must type the
collective title with the individual title in Field 13.
The matter of a collective title usually arises when articles from symposia,
panel discussions, round tables, etc., are indexed. Regardless of the nature of
the source, follow the above procedure. This is based not on the identity of
the individual paper in relation to the whole, but on the sense of the title if
it is retrieved by itself as part of an online search. "Introduction" is
meaningless unless the indexer supplies the collective title informing the
reader about what the article indexed is an introduction to. "Metabolism" is
too general as a title when in reality the user should be oriented to "The
biology of the guinea pig. Metabolism."
If the title of an individual article can stand alone, but is introduced by Part
1, or I. or 1. or Part II, etc., omit the part designation.
Part I. Reduced Hepatic Blood Flow Does Not Limit Gluconeogenesis in Awake
Endotoxic Minipigs
should be entered as:
Reduced hepatic blood flow does not limit gluconeogenesis in awake
endotoxic minipigs.
14.5.6 Identity of Corporate Bodies
14.5.6.1 Frequently a title is amplified by some statement identifying the
article as the official report of a specific committee or special body.
Since a corporate name is never used as an author in Index Medicus (see 13.1.5),
show the identity of the committee or other body by making it a part of the
title. The keyboarding contractor's editorial staff will usually have been able
to identify such corporate bodies for the online indexing system. All major
elements of the corporate name will be capitalized as described in 14.3.3.
Effects of smoking.
Report of the American Medical Association
is entered as:
Effects of smoking. Report of the American Medical Association.
14.5.6.2 The corporate body must be included whether it appears as part of
the title, as part of a subtitle or in author position. If only a committee
name appears in the title, but the sponsoring organization is discernable from
the text, the name should be supplemented.
Committee on Nutrition
Imitation and substitute milks
could be identified from the text as issuing from the American Academy of
Pediatrics. It should be entered as:
American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition. Imitation and substitute
milks.
In the above example the committee name appeared at the beginning of the title.
Usually, the corporate body appears following the title or as a subtitle. In
such cases, the title from the text should end with a period and the corporate
name should be added at the end of the title.
14.5.6.3 When only the issuing body is shown in the title or author position,
the article is entered as Anonymous in Field 11.
When the members of the committee are printed in author position, include the
corporate name in the title as directed above and enter the personal authors in
the author field. If personal names are in a footnote or at the end of the
article, they are ignored.
If a letter is signed by a corporate body, supply the title of the letter in
Field 13, adding the corporate name as part of the title as above. If only the
corporate body signs the letter, enter it as anonymous. If members of the
corporate body sign the letter, include them in the author field as personal
authors in the usual way.
14.5.6.4 If the article title already contains most of the corporate name,
repetition of the corporate name would be redundant and would not add any
additional words which could be used for text-word searching. In such cases do
not repeat the corporate name.
A letter from the Recombinant Interferon-Gamma in Condylomata Acuminata Study
Group was titled "Recombinant interferon-gamma in condylomata acuminata". It
was input correctly as:
Recombinant interferon-gamma in condylomata acuminata.
14.5.6.5 If the name of a corporate body is abbreviated in a title, the full
name of the corporate body should be added if it can be determined from the
journal in hand, preceded by a period at the end of the title as it appeared in
the text.
Air pollution. AIHA report.
AIHA can be identified from the journal as standing for American Industrial
Hygiene Association. The title is input as:
Air pollution. AIHA report. American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Note that nothing was supplied except the full name of the corporate body.
Although the above example represents the simplest occurrence, there may be less
simple examples to be dealt with. At all times do as little tampering as
possible with the author's title: supply only the name; do not supply well-meant
additional verbiage.
For foreign corporate names, see 14.6.8.
14.6 TRANSLATED TITLES
The vernacular title of foreign articles appears in the Author Index of Index
Medicus. Exceptions in the case of several languages are given in 14.7.6. The
translation of the title of foreign articles appears in the Index Medicus
citation in the Subject Index.
14.6.1 Brackets
All foreign titles of articles indexed in Index Medicus are translated. They
are recognized by the fact that the translated title is enclosed in square
brackets. If a rubric is added to identify the type of item, it is enclosed in
parentheses, within the brackets (see 14.5.1.3).
[Treatment of gonorrheal arthritis]
[Insulin resistance (editorial)]
The translated title is typed without a period and enclosed in brackets. If the
title ends with another type of punctuation, it is retained.
[How safe is dental anesthesia?]
14.6.2 Capitalization
For translations follow the rules for capitalization within English titles (see
14.3). For capitalization of German titles, see 14.7.2.
14.6.3 Punctuation
Use the punctuation as it appears in the original title. For rules on
punctuation which must be supplied follow those given in 14.2.
Do not use a period at the end of the translated title, but retain any other
terminal punctuation. The same rule applies if a rubric is added. See examples
above in 14.6.1.
14.6.4 Style of Translation
Indexers should translate carefully, retaining the wording and word order of the
original title in the translated title, as far as possible, consistent with
acceptable English.
Use English that is clear, accurate, smooth and competent. Avoid
"translatorese" and so-called translations which are no more than
transliterations. A translation should read as if it were written originally in
English and should show no awkwardness.
Before leaving a translation, read it aloud to yourself. If it sounds un-
English, awkward, unsophisticated linguistically or medically, make the required
adjustment.
See Figure 14.6.4 for a list of examples of wrong and right translations for
commonly recurring words and phrases.
Figure 14.6.4
TRANSLATIONS
Wrong Right
according to Barr, as in by the Barr technique
clamping according to Barr
action mechanism mechanism of action
actual, as in actual status current
alimentation food or nutrition
apparatus, as in respiratory apparatus tract or system
association, as in the combination
association of iodine and iron
casuistic case, case record, case study
cerebrospinal liquor cerebrospinal fluid
certain various, several or omitted
changes of changes in
clinic, as in the clinic, clinical aspects,
in clinic, in the clinic clinical medicine
confronted by in relation to
consecutive to following
content in ascorbic acid ascorbic acid content
decennial decade
disturbances disorders
dosage, as in the dosage of hemoglobin determination
during the course of in the course of or merely in
during 40 years for 40 years or in the past 40 years
or in the last 40 years
-emia, as in glycemia, blood, as in blood sugar,
cupremia blood copper
encephalon brain
essays trials
fight against cancer campaign against cancer
or cancer campaign
frequency of disease incidence of disease
frequency of pulse pulse rate
ganglion, as in ganglionic lymph node metastasis
grave severe
gravid pregnant
hydro-electrolyte balance water-electrolyte balance
in connection with in relation to
in liver of the rat in rat liver
in men in the male or in man or in the human
in the course of in or associated with
in the organism (all right in the body
with microorganisms)
industrial, as in industrial milk commercial
infantile, as in infantile psychiatry child
interest importance or significance
intoxication, as in lead intoxication poisoning
investigations research or study
liquor fluid or liquid
medicaments drugs
medullary bone marrow or spinal cord
methodics methodology
middle, as in Middle Asia central
morbose, as in morbose states disease states
navigating personnel (in aviation) flight personnel
nervous, as in nervous physiology neural or nerve
newborns newborn infants
notions concepts
observations, as in 6 observations case reports
paludal malarial
palustral malarial
parotiditis parotitis
particularities peculiarities or character or nature
patients of cancer cancer patients
patients of geriatric surgery geriatric surgery patients
plasmatic plasma
polyradiculitis Guillain- Barré Guillain-Barré polyradiculitis
ponderal weight
primitive, as in primitive cancer primary
professional, as in professional occupational
dermatitis
prophylaxis prevention
provoked, provocation induced, induction
psychopharmacon psychopharmacological agent
reaction, as in psychological test
reaction
re-adaptation rehabilitation
reanimation resuscitation
re-education rehabilitation or retraining
revision of the literature review of the literature
sanitary, as in sanitary health or medical
personnel or sanitary aspects
sensibility sensitivity
seric serum
signification significance or meaning
syndrome of ileus ileus syndrome
tensio-active surface-active
tissular tissue
traps pitfalls
traumatisms injuries
utilization use
vegetative, as in vegetative autonomic
nervous system
14.6.5 Introductory Words and Phrases
Many foreign titles begin with stereotyped introductory words and phrases which
are meaningless or which, at best, contribute little to the substance of the
title. We see again and again Sobre, Su, Sur, Über, Zur - all meaning "On" -
and such phrases usually translated from all languages as "Considerations on",
"Contribution on", "Contribution to the study of", "Apropos of", "Notes on", "On
the question of", "On the problem of", "Observations on", "Remarks on",
"Research on", "Study of", "Studies on". Such stereotyped words and phrases are
to be omitted from the translations of the titles in all languages. These
phrases are of no significant value in text word searching.
In Figure 14.6.5 we give some examples to illustrate the intent and pattern
adopted by Index Medicus: the substance remains while the unnecessary verbiage
is dropped.
However, do not omit "Mise en évidence", which should be translated as
"Demonstration".
Occasionally the indexer will come upon a title with introductory words about
which there is some doubt. In cases of doubt, include the word or phrase in the
translation, rather than excluding it.
Note that the rule on the omission of words refers to words and phrases at the
beginning of foreign titles or subtitles. The rule does not apply to these
words in other contexts elsewhere in the title.
Figure 14.6.5
Vernacular Title Translation
Ŕ PROPOS DE la maladie de Crohn Apropos of Crohn's disease
IM form: Crohn's disease
A PROPOSITO DI un caso clinico Apropos of a clinical case
IM form: Clinical case of ...
BEITRAG ZUR Tuberkulose Contribution on tuberculosis
IM form: Tuberculosis
BEMERKUNGEN ZUR Tuberkulose Observations on tuberculosis
IM form: Tuberculosis
CONSIDERAZIONI su un caso di.. Considerations on a case of..
IM form: Case of
CONTRIBUTION Ŕ L'ÉTUDE DES tumeurs Contribution to the study of tumors
IM form: Tumors
ESTUDO DOS estados diabeticos Study of diabetic states
IM form: Diabetic states
K VOPROSU O refleksov Apropos of reflexes or
On the problem of reflexes
IM form: Reflexes
O primenenii kofeina On the use of caffeine
IM form: Use of caffeine
OBSERVAÇŐES SOBRE a biopsia.. Observations on biopsy..
IM form: Biopsy ...
OSSERVAZIONI SULL'impiego del-l'acido Observations.on the use of acid
IM form: Use of acid ..
PRZYCZYNEK DO ZAGADNIENIA Contribution to the problem of
sezonowych wahan .. seasonal changes
IM form: Seasonal changes ..
SOBRE EL ESTUDIO de la biopsia.. On the study of biopsy..
IM form: Biopsy ..
SUL pancreas anulare On the annular pancreas
IM form: Annular pancreas
ÜBER die subcelluläre Verteilung On the subcellular distribution
IM form: Subcellular distribution
UNTERSUCHUNGEN ZUR FRAGE der Studies on the problem of oxytocin
Oxytocin-Resistenz resistance
IM form: Oxytocin resistance
W SPRAWIE alergii .. On the problem of allergy
IM form: Allergy ..
ZUR Diagnose des Zwergwuchses On the diagnosis of dwarfism
IM form: Diagnosis of dwarfism
ZUR FRAGE der Metastasierung von Gliomem On the problem of the metastasis
of glioma
IM form: Metastasis of glioma
14.6.6 Accuracy
Do not add to nor subtract from the original title. The single exception to the
principle of not omitting words was given in 14.6.5.
Refrain from unnecessarily changing the word order or from using a synonym when
the original word is perfectly good English. For example, "tuberculose
pulmonaire" is translated "pulmonary tuberculosis" and NOT "tuberculosis of the
lung". On the other hand, "tuberculose du poumon" should be translated
"tuberculosis of the lung" and not "pulmonary tuberculosis".
This concept of accuracy, however, does not mean that "algie faciale" should be
translated as "facial algia" merely because "algia" is in the medical
dictionary. Use intelligence and smooth English.
14.6.7 Latin
When a literary or historical Latin phrase is used in a title, it is usually
well enough known to remain untranslated and is indeed frequently
untranslatable. Leave such phrases (Ad astra per aspera, Nil nocere, In
flagrante delicto, In memoriam, etc.) untranslated.
Zur Standesatire in Bernardino Ramazzinis De Morbis Artificum Diatriba.
is translated as:
[Occupational satire in Bernardino Ramazzini's De morbis artificum diatriba]
When a Latin phrase like those above comprises the entire title of a foreign
article, enter the phrase in the title field in brackets and indicate the
language of the article in the usual way in Field 9.
When the Latin is a technical, anatomical, physiological, chemical or similar
word or phrase translated easily or naturally into English, use the English
form. For example, arteria carotis interna or corpus vitreum have no particular
advantage over internal carotid artery or vitreous body. Retain the Latin names
of diseases which are given in Dorland. Retain the Latin names of diseases not
in Dorland when a translation would be inexact, unwieldy or awkward.
14.6.8 Corporate Names
Corporate names will be given in the original language if the words are clearly
familiar to the American or English reader as English cognates. That is, retain
Institut Pasteur, Societŕ Italiana di Cardiologia, Instituto Nacional de
Cancerología and other such bodies equally clear. If the corporate name is not
obviously translatable by the American or English reader, it should be
translated: Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige and Akadmiia Nauk
Armianskoi SSR have little meaning for American users and should be translated.
If a foreign title contains a corporate name which was originally in another
language, translate the corporate name into English regardless of the linguistic
families involved. In other words, if a French title contains the name of a
German corporate entity in French, do not leave the name in French and do not
convert it to German: translate it into English. If a Russian title contains
reference to a French corporate name, translate the corporate name into English,
not into French.
In the case of inflected forms, as in German, the corporate name MUST be given
in the nominative form only in the translated title. If there is any doubt
about the spelling of the endings of the various grammatical cases within the
corporate name, the language expert for the specific language should be
consulted.
Translate international corporate names into English, using the official name of
the organization, for example, World Health Organization, not Organisation
Mondiale de la Santé. If the official name is not ascertainable from the text,
bibliographic references or personal knowledge, consult the Head, Index Section,
who will consult the Reference Section.
14.6.9 If the original title uses an abbreviation, as "Das ERG..." use the
abbreviation in the translation, "ERG..." and not "Electroretinography..." If
the original title spells out "Elektrokardiogram", translate as
"electrocardiogram" and not "ECG".
If the original abbreviation has a well-known English equivalent, substitute the
English abbreviation; e.g. DNA for ADN or DNS; AIDS for SIDA; ENT for HNO.
If the original abbreviation is not well known and the words are ascertainable
from the text, retain the abbreviation in the vernacular but translate the
abbreviation in full in the translation. Thus RS in a title, identified from
the text as Rekruiten-Schulung, will remain RS in the vernacular title but will
be translated as recruit training in Field 13.
Acronyms for corporate names (ENDE for Empresas Nacionales de Energ´ia, ENPI for
Ente Nazionale per la Prevensione degli Infortuni, etc.) will be left as they
appear in the title. Acronyms with well-known English equivalents may be
replaced by the English form in the translation (e.g. WHO is used for OMS).
14.6.10 Chemical Terms
In translating titles containing chemical terms, follow the original even though
the English is not precisely the same. For example, "sodio de feniletil-
acetato" should be translated "sodium phenylethylacetate" even though American
practice shows this to be sodium 2-phenylbutyrate. The translation should not
be confused with the subject headings, and the terminology used in a translation
does not have to match subject-heading terminology.
14.6.11 Ampersand
Do not use the ampersand ( & ) in the translated title: instead write out "and".
14.6.12 Numerals
Numerals in vernacular titles appear in Index Medicus citations just as they
appear in the journal: seis appears as seis, 6 appears as 6, VI appears as VI.
In translating numerals in titles, use arabic figures even when the original
writes out the number or uses roman numerals.
deux cas is written 2 cases
tres operaciones is written 3 operations
In translations, arabic numerals may be used at the beginning of a sentence (the
only deviation from GPO practice): it is not necessary to spell out the numeral.
Do not capitalize the word following the numeral.
[12 cases of acne]
[1990 progress in immunology]
In translations follow the approved form below (GPO Style Manual) to cover the
following type of expression often seen in titles; note TWO hyphens:
3-month-old infant
2-day-old infant
6-year-old boys
50-year-old primipara
3 1/2-month-old dog
but: lasting 6 months
If roman numerals are used in foreign titles to designate one of a series of
articles, retain the roman numerals in the translation.
In translating ordinals, use the customary arabic form in standard practice:
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 20th, 50th, 150th.
Foreign dates (seen usually in biographical matter) often differ from American
dates. 6.4.11 probably means 6 April 1911 in German and other European journals,
while in an American journal, if used at all, it would mean June 4, 1911.
To avoid confusion in the American reader's mind, always translate by spelling
out the date thus: 6 April 1911; This clarifies the month, it follows the order
of the text and avoids the internal comma.
14.6.13 Articles in parts in translations
See 14.4.5 and 14.4.6 for the handling of numerals and parts.
The various words for "part" in foreign languages will be retained in the
vernacular but will be omitted from the translation of the title and subtitle.
The identifying numeral, however, must appear in both vernacular and
translation. Use the roman or arabic just as it appears in the text: do not
interchange them. But a spelled-out numeral in the vernacular will be converted
to arabic in the translation.
As illustrated in 14.5.5, if the title begins with a number indicating that the
article is part of a series, the number should be dropped.
1. Dysmorphies oculo-faciales mineures
is translated as
[Minor oculo-facial abnormalities]
and entered in the vernacular title field as:
Dysmorphies oculo-faciales mineures.
14.6.14 Geographic names
In translations of titles, use the English form of place-names: do not use the
vernacular. Here are some examples:
United States not Etats-Unis
Moscow not Moskva
Marseilles not Marseille
Warsaw not Warszawa
Lyons not Lyon
Rome not Roma
Maritime Alps not Alpes Maritimes
Turin not Torino
Belgian Congo not Congo Belge
Milan not Mailand
Brussels not Bruxelles
Majorca not Mallorca
Ghent not Gand
Florence not Firenze
Zurich not Zürich
Vienna not Wien
14.6.15 Proper names
For names of persons use the spelling of the original name. For example,
convert the Spanish Gregorio Juan Mendel to Gregor Johann Mendel; convert the
French Guillaume Osler to William Osler. If in doubt, use as basic authorities
Dorland, Webster or, especially in the history of medicine, Garrison.
14.6.16 Quoted titles
For titles of books, poems, works of art, etc. quoted in foreign titles, use the
original titles if possible. If the original title of the work can not be
ascertained without involved research, leave it in the vernacular in your
translation. When an English title is well known, use it.
Les traitements inéprouvés dans Le pavillon des cancéreux d'A. Soljenitsyne.
was entered as:
[Untested treatments in Cancer ward by A. Solzhenitsin]
Note that only the first word of the quoted title is capitalized (14.3.7). The
translation of the author's name uses the direct transliteration from his native
Russian (14.6.15).
14.6.17 Rubrics
These are discussed in 14.5.1+. Such rubrics in the text will appear in
translated titles in Field 13 but will not be included in the vernacular title.
14.6.18 Translated titles supplied by the text
In some articles the vernacular title is supplemented by a translated title
supplied by the publisher. In most cases the publisher's translated title
appears immediately below the vernacular title or somewhat below it as in the
case of a title attached to an English abstract on the same page. Other
journals, particularly Russian ones, have an English table of contents following
the vernacular table of contents.
Many of these publisher-supplied translations are inaccurate in that they often
omit words from the vernacular or add to them. Sometimes too they are awkward
or contain transpositions or even incorrect translations. Occasionally the
publisher-supplied translation does not include the translation of the subtitle.
Indexers should not use such publisher-supplied translations; they should
provide their own translation of the vernacular title. Since indexers handling
foreign literature have language expertise, their translations are likely to be
superior to those supplied by foreign publishers.
Prior to 1984 under certain conditions publisher-supplied translations were
acceptable as the Index Medicus translations. In such cases, they were
identified as (author's transl) at the end of the title. As of 1984 all
translations of titles are supplied by indexers in accordance with Index Medicus
rules and good American medical usage and sense. Publishers' and authors'
translations are not acceptable.
An indexer may want to examine the publisher's or author's translation for a
helpful hint on a form or a word but the translation of the title must be the
indexer's and must be typed on the dataform or in the online indexing system
within brackets.
14.6.19 Selection of translations of articles
Sometimes journals publish an article in two or more languages. A complete
article may be followed by a full translation. An article is sometimes printed
in two columns, with one language in one column and the other language in the
other column. Sometimes the article and its translation appear on facing pages.
If an article is published in full in two or more languages in the same issue of
a journal,
- take the English title if one of the languages is English but do not put
brackets around it; ignore the vernacular;
or
- type the English translation of the original title in Field 13 in the usual
way if the languages are foreign;
- take whichever foreign title comes first as the vernacular title;
- in the language field specify the languages in which the article is written
according to the instructions in 11.3 - 11.5, using the three-letter language
symbols given there, in the order in which the texts appear;
- cite inclusive pagination for all of the texts, the original and the
translation(s).
14.6.19.1 If a translation of an article is published without the original in
the same issue, index the translation only if the original article was published
in a journal which is NOT in the List of Serials Indexed for Online Users. If
it is a translation of an article which originally appeared in a MEDLINE
journal, there is no point in republishing a citation to it.
The indexer is advised to distinguish carefully between a full translation of an
original text and an abstract or condensation of an original. The above rules
pertain only to full or complete translations. We do not index translated
abstracts or condensations.
14.7 VERNACULAR AND TRANSLITERATED TITLES (Field 14)
14.7.1 Most vernacular titles are picked by the keyboarding contractor
directly from the text and entered into Field 14. The same rules for
punctuation and capitalization are followed as for English titles entered in
Field 13 (see 14.2+ and 14.3+). Keep the punctuation given in the vernacular,
capitalize the first word of the title and those words which are capitalized
within the text of the article.
14.7.2 In German articles all nouns are capitalized and must be indicated
by the editor for the input typist. If the title is printed completely in
upper-case letters, consult the table of contents to determine which words
should be capitalized. If there is still doubt, flag for the German-reading
indexer to resolve. For titles in which the publisher supplies both lower-case
and upper-case letters, the editor marks the keyboarding dataform in Field 14
KEEP GERMAN CAPS
Vernacular titles in German frequently contain hyphenated words at the end of a
line of text. These words are not necessarily compound words, and should not
contain the hyphen. Check the table of contents to confirm whether it is
needed.
The indexer of German articles should be sure to review the vernacular title
online for accuracy and correct capitalization.
14.7.3 Sometimes a collective title to a series of articles needs to be
supplied in the vernacular as well as in English. The indexer who is fluent in
the foreign language will add the collective title to the beginning of the
vernacular title in Field 14 where needed. See 14.5.5 for a discussion of
collective titles.
14.7.4 Occasionally a foreign text has an English title but no vernacular
title. Fill in Field 9 with the required language symbol and type the
translated title within brackets in Field 13 (lest the user, seeing an English
title without brackets, thinks the text is in English). Type the English title
without brackets in Field 14. The addition of the English title is Field 14
satisfies the programming of the online indexing system, which requires that all
foreign language articles must have a vernacular title unless they are among
those listed in 14.7.6.
14.7.4.1 The opposite can also occur: an article in English may have a
foreign title. The language field takes only ENG. Enter the foreign title in
Field 13, followed by its translation in brackets. Do not enter anything in
Field 14. See 14.6.7 for Latin titles.
14.7.5 Although the keyboarding contractor supplies vernacular titles for
most foreign languages, indexers are responsible for entering transliterations
of titles in Field 14. The following languages are routinely transliterated in
Field 14: Greek and the Slavic languages Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and
Ukrainian.
14.7.6 The following languages cannot be reproduced in Index Medicus so
titles in these languages do not appear in the vernacular, only in translations:
Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Chinese, Georgian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese,
Korean, Persian, Pushto, Thai, Vietnamese. For these, the indexer will supply a
translated title for Field 13.
14.7.7 Transliterated titles in Field 14 will be translated in Field 13 by
all applicable rules on translations. All the rules of accent, punctuation,
capitalization and style which apply to English titles and translated titles
will apply to transliterated vernacular titles.
14.7.8 For signs and symbols which must be spelled out as words, the
vernacular name for the symbols will be supplied by the indexer proficient in
that language.
14.7.9 See Figure 14.7.9 for a table of Greek transliterations. 14.4.3
gives the table for transliteration of individual Greek letters appearing in
titles and abstracts.
14.7.10 See Figure 14.7.10 for a table of Slavic transliterations.
14.7.11 Rubrics such as editorials, letters, etc., are discussed at length
in 14.5.1 through 14.5.1.11. While these appear in translated titles, they are
not supplied in Field 14 for vernacular titles.
14.7.12 The various words for "part" are discussed in 14.4.5, 14.4.6 and
14.6.13. The words will be retained in the vernacular title and in the
transliterated title but they will be omitted from the translated title. Use
roman or arabic numerals just as they appear in the vernacular: do not
interchange them.
Greek Transliteration
a convert to a ? convert to n
ß b ? x
? g ? o
d d p p
e e ? r
? z s s
? e t t
? th ? u
? i f ph
? k ? ch
? l ? ps
µ m ? o
µ in chemical contexts is converted to mu
µl in chemical contexts is converted to microliter
µg in chemical contexts is converted to microgram
µm in chemical contexts is converted to micron or micrometer
mµ in chemical contexts is converted to millimicron
µµ in chemical contexts is converted to micromicron
µ alone can be interpreted differently in many disciplines. It is micron when
a unit of length; mean when in statistical settings, etc. When it stands alone,
consult with your reviser for conversion if you have any question.
Figure 14.7.9