Abstracting and indexing

An abstracting service is a service that provides abstracts of publications, often on a subject or group of related subjects, usually on a subscription basis. An indexing service is a service that assigns descriptors and other kinds of access points to documents. The word indexing service is today mostly used for computer programs, but may also cover services providing back-of-the-book indexes, , and related kinds of indexes. An indexing and abstracting service is a service that provides shortening or summarizing of documents and assigning of descriptors for referencing documents. The product is often an abstracts journal or a bibliographic index, which may be a subject bibliography or a bibliographic database. Guidelines for indexing and abstracting, including the evaluation of such services, are given in the literature of library and information science. See alsoBibliographyGuide to information sourcesList of academic databases and search enginesSubject indexingReferencesExternal linksAmerican Society of Indexers: https://web.archive.org/web/20111128132758/http://www.asindexing.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1Society of Indexers (UK): https://www.indexers.org.uk/