Helping you to find the information you need without having to wade through the information you don't
Field Descriptions
In order to search the database, type keywords into the main search query box at the top of the search page. This will search the following fields:
Title
Abstract
Index Terms
Non-Polymer Terms
Locations
Trade Names
Copyquest Order Number
The search boxes in the lower half of the
screen can be used with or without the main search query box to refine a
search. Details about these extra search boxes and searching in specific
fields can be found below. Your results can be ranked by relevance or by date. By relevance means that the system takes
into account whether all the words are mentioned in the record, the
number of times they are mentioned, and which fields the words appear
in. The records which score highest will appear at the top of the summary list. Alternatively the results can be ranked by date, with the newest at the top. This may take slightly longer to create the list.
This field contains an informative abstract
that fully summarises the contents of the original article with particular
emphasis on the rubber and/or plastics aspect of the article.
To search on terms in this field use the format 'injection moulding':abstract.
The English spelling of American words is used in this field and therefore
should be used when searching on terms in the abstract field, unless the
word is part of a company name or a trade name.
The length and scope of the original article can be determined by the
inclusion of words such as "detailed", "outlined", "in depth", "review", or
"brief", used in the abstract. If the original article is extremely short
then "This abstract contains all the information in the original article"
will be included at the end of the abstract. These latter articles should
not be ordered via our document delivery service.
The number of references used by the original article is also given at the
end of the abstract e.g., "3 refs."
As in the title field Greek characters are spelt out in full and are given
in the lower case. No square [ ] brackets are allowed in this field and
"greater than" or "less than" is used instead of "<" or ">". Similarly
figures to the + or -10 are entered as the number in full using the
requisite number of zeros before or after the decimal place.
Address
This field contains the address of a company/organisation/institution and may include the postcode and country.
To search on terms in this field use the format lincolnshire:address.
Records discussing adhesives, sealants or adhesion technology are given 5 letter codes which highlight the important aspects of the article and aid the database user to retrieve records with a high relevance to their area of interest.
To search on terms in this field use the
format
adals:adhesive_codes.
Affiliations/ Corporate source
This field shares a search box with the company names and corporate editor fields on the search page and states the company, organisation or institution for whom the author works. It can also be the company, organisation or institution responsible for the journal paper, trade literature etc. if no author is given. For patent records the corporate source/affiliation corresponds with the patent assignee field.
Simply enter the term in the company search box. If the name contains more
than one word don't forget to enter it surrounded by single quotes e.g.
'rapra technology ltd'.
Alternatively, search in the main search query box using the format 'rapra technology ltd':affiliations.
If you can't find a University under the first name under which you look try
lateral thinking and look for it under the town/city name as well as the
University name. For example, De Montfort University is indexed as "Leicester,De
Montfort University", which contrasts with Johns Hopkins University which is
simply indexed under "Johns Hopkins University" (i.e., no town/city is
mentioned). Please also note that 'university' may be spelt in the language
which it appears in the original article. For example, Paris II University
is entered onto the database as "Paris II,Universite" whilst Paris
University appears simply as "Paris,University". There are generally no
spaces after a comma in this field.
Application Data
The Application Data field is only relevant for patent records. This field lists the filing number (including a country code) and filing date of each separate country in which a patent application is made for a particular invention. Filing numbers are usually completely different from the numbers applied on publication of the patent application. These later numbers are known as publication numbers or, less accurately, as patent numbers.
This field has its own search box on the search page and contains the names of the writer or writers of the particular article. It is entered in the format of Surname first and then first names abbreviated to initials. If you wish to search for articles written by Margaret Ruth Beever enter 'Beever M R' in the author search box.
Alternatively, search in the main search query box using the format 'barrall g':authors.
To search on terms in this field use the format '35, No. 11, 1994, p.2335-47':citation.
This field contains the exact reference of the article within a journal, book or conference etc. The above citation is from a journal paper and tells us the volume of the journal, the number within the volume, the year of publication and the page range of the article. A page range given as 24/8 implies a discontinuous page range e.g. there may be an advertisement page in between p.24 and p.28 or the article may start on p.24 and then conclude on p.28. If there is an additional number (or number and letters) at the end of the citation then this is for the Rapra Library's purposes only.
Classification codes are an extremely useful method for narrowing down a search if the information retrieved is overwhelming or not specific enough.
The original version of the code for the
systematic classification of scientific, technological and commercial
information on rubber was devised by the late T.R. Dawson for the use of the
Information Centre of the Research Association of British Rubber
Manufacturers known today as Rapra Technology Ltd. In the early 1960's Rapra
widened the scope of its information service to incorporate all plastics.
This necessitated a revision of the classification and in 1964 Rapra, in
collaboration with the British Plastics Federation and other industrial
organisations developed a new code. In the intervening years many amendments
and improvements have been occurred and the latest version of the code was
published in 1994.
The code employs a mixed notation of numbers and letters for the
identification of classes and is arranged in a decimal order, with numbers
taking precedence over letters.
To search on terms in this field use the format 6P21:class_codes.
The classification code can be downloaded for free. The file size is:
Further details about using the code can be
found in the Users Manual, which can also be downloaded for free. The
file size is:
Company Names
This field shares a search box with the
affiliations and corporate editor fields on the search page and states any companies,
organisations or institutions which are mentioned in the body of the
article, for example if the article is talking about a joint venture between
Dow and ICI, or talking about the new product from BICC.
Simply enter the term in the company search box. If the name contains more
than one word don't forget to enter it surrounded by single quotes e.g.
'rapra technology ltd'.
Alternatively, search in the main search query box using the format 'rapra technology ltd':affiliations.
If you can't find a University under the first name under which you look try
lateral thinking and look for it under the town/city name as well as the
University name. For example, De Montfort University is indexed as "Leicester,De
Montfort University", which contrasts with Johns Hopkins University which is
simply indexed under "Johns Hopkins University" (i.e., no town/city is
mentioned). Please also note that 'university' may be spelt in the language
which it appears in the original article. For example, Paris II University
is entered onto the database as "Paris II,Universite" whilst Paris
University appears simply as "Paris,University". There are generally no
spaces after a comma in this field.
This is a unique number assigned to each and every record in the Polymer
Library The numbers are assigned to the records by Rapra and they assist in
the ordering of full documents from our Document
Delivery department.
To search on terms in this field use the format 875632:copyquest_order_number.
This field shares a search box with the
company names and affiliations fields on the search page and states the
corporate body responsible for a publication e.g., the organising body for a
conference or the affiliation of the personal editor for a book.
Simply enter the term in the company search box. If the name contains more than one word don't forget to enter it surrounded by single quotes e.g. 'rapra technology ltd'.
Alternatively, search in the main search query box using the format 'rapra technology ltd':corporate_editor.
The Designated State field is only relevant for patent records. It is a two letter code that represents the states in which the applicant declares an interest in filing their multinational patent application. Such multinational applications would include European Patent applications, PCT applications and the new Eurasian applications in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
To search for a particular document type e.g. patents only, select the required document type from the drop-down menu on the search page. Document types covered by the database include journal articles, books, book chapters, patents, reports, conference papers, complete conferences, directories, standards and trade literature.
Alternatively, search in the main search query
box using the format book:document_type.
Fax
This field is only relevant for address
records and contains the fax number of the company in the record.
All fax numbers are entered as one long string of numbers and should be
searched on with no spaces or hyphens. If the number starts with a zero we
do not put this in.
To search on a term in this field use the
format 1939251118:tel.
Index Terms
To search on terms in this field use the format 'injection moulding':index_terms.
When searching a database the records retrieved need to be the most relevant to our needs. Searching the Database using the index terms field increases the chances of finding relevant records.
The index terms are "Keywords" that
summarise the important aspects of the original article with respect to the
rubber and plastics industry. These words may not necessarily be mentioned
in the abstract field but they are still important terms in respect to the
whole original article.
Certain terms such as "RUBBER; THERMOPLASTIC; THERMOSET; PLASTIC; ECONOMIC
INFORMATION; STATISTICS; COMMERCIAL INFORMATION; COMPANY; INSTITUTION;
REVIEW; THEORY; DATA; SHORT ITEM; PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT; TECHNICAL;
COMPOSITE; REINFORCED PLASTIC; GRAPH; TABLES;" are considered for every
article and if any of the terms are irrelevant, they are deleted. Additional
relevant keywords are then added to the list as appropriate.
Certain index terms are linked to one another by connections. For example
Rapra has linked all American spellings with their English counterparts.
Hence it is only necessary to search on either
moulding:index_terms or molding:index_terms
to retrieve all records that talk about this process. This is in contrast to
the abstract or title field where it is necessary to search on both the
American and English spelling of moulding to get a complete recovery of
records that talk about this process. Synonyms of words are also linked in
this way, for example PVC and polyvinyl chloride. Broader terms and narrower
terms of the search term can also be found e.g. moulding is a broader term
of injection moulding.
All the indexed terms and their associated connections are listed in the Rapra Abstracts Thesaurus.
The IPC field is only relevant for patent
records and contains the International Patent Classification.
It usually takes the format "C08L33/04". One patent record may have more
than one IPC related to it. The IPC is an internationally agreed subject
classification which patent examiners apply to patent applications which
come before them. Some countries use the IPC whilst some use both the IPC
and their own classification to classify patents.
Journal Name
To search in this field use the format
'journal of applied polymer science':journal_name.
This will find all the records on the database that originate from the
specific journal.
Please view our Journals Holdings list for
details of all journals abstracted by Rapra for inclusion onto the database,
and the specific spelling/format of the complete title.
Language
All abstracts on the database are in English. However, the original article that they were taken from may have been written in a foreign language. The languages included on the database are shown in a drop-down menu on the search page. To find articles written in, for example, Portuguese, simply select this from the menu. It is possible to refine your search to just documents originally written in English, French or German by selecting the English or French or German option.
Alternatively, search in the main search query
box using the format french:language.
Locations
The information in this field is one of either
three things: either the country or geographic region being discussed in the
article, the location of the author/corporate source or both of these.
To search on terms in this field use the format france:locations.
To search on terms in this field use the format 'silver chloride':non_polymer_terms.
When searching a database
the records retrieved need to be the most relevant to our needs. Searching
the Database using the non-polymer terms field increases the
chances of finding relevant records.
The non polymer terms are chemicals etc. (non polymeric in structure) that
are important to the body of the article. These chemicals may not
necessarily be mentioned in the abstract field but are mentioned in the
original article. For example if we are interested in the monomer vinyl
chloride we can type vinyl adj
chloride:non_polymer_terms.
American spellings, e.g. sulfur and aluminum, synonyms and broader and
narrower terms are linked to one another. Hence it is only necessary to
search on either sulphur:non_polymer_terms or
sulfur:non_polymer_terms to retrieve all
records that talk about this element. This is in contrast to the abstract or
title field where it is necessary to search on both the American and English
spelling of sulphur to get a complete recovery of records.
All the non-polymer terms and their associated connections are listed in the Rapra Abstracts Thesaurus.
To search on terms in this field use the format 'US 5821396 A 19981013':patent_number.
Every patent throughout the world has a number
unique to itself. This is its patent number and is a quick and easy way of
referring to a particular patent.
For the patent number above, the US tells us that the patent is an American
filed patent. The following 7 digit number is the publication number or the
patent number. The last 8 digits refer to the date the patent was filed.
Rapra has only taken US, EP (European) and WO
(world) patents filed between 1994 and 2001, with the exception of
adhesive-related patents which are ongoing.
Personal Editor
This field contains the personal editor
responsible for the publication e.g., the person responsible for editing a
book.
To search on a term in this field use the
format 'brunt g c':personal_editor.
Priority Data
The priority data field is only relevant for patent records. This field gives information on the first filing of a patent application anywhere in the world. The information will normally consist of the filing number including the country code and a filing date. The importance of the priority data is that the date of filing is the first date for which any sort of legal protection for an invention can be claimed.
This field has its own search boxes on the search page and contains the year that the journal/conference etc. was published. If the journal gives the publication year as 1997/1998 then the more recent year is used.
Simply enter the years in the date range search boxes, for example, 1995 to 2000, this will find everything from the beginning of 1995 to the end of 2000. If you wish to search for everything from 1998 onwards you could simply type 1998 into the first box, similarly, if you wish to search for anything before 1996 you could just type 1995 into the second box. If you only want documents from 1997, type 1997 in both boxes.
Alternatively search on terms in this field
using the format
2003:publication_year.
Publication Name
This field contains the full name of a conference or a book when the record relates to an individual paper from a conference or chapter from a book.
To search in this field use the format 'antec 2002':publication_name. This will find all the records on the database that originate from the Antec 2002 conference.
There are three types of record within the database: abstract records, address records and trade name records.
To search for a particular document type e.g. abstracts only, select the required document type from the drop-down menu on the search page.
This field contains the name of a series of books/reports etc.
To search on a term in this field use the format 'rapra review report':series_name.
Every Standard published has a number allocated to it which is unique to itself. This is its Standards Number and is a quick and easy way of referring to a particular Standard.
To search on a term in this field use the format 'BS CECC31701(1988)':standards_number.
This field is only relevant for address
records and contains the telephone number of the company in the record.
All the numbers are entered as one single string and should be searched on
without spaces or hyphens. If the number starts with a zero we do not put
this in.
To search on a term in this field use the
format 19392501383:tel.
Telex
This field is only relevant for address
records and contains the telex/email address/website address of the company
in the record.
To find the email address for a particular company enter the company name in
the company names box and type 'e-mail':telex
in the main search query box. Similarly, to find a company's website type
website:telex.
To search on a term in this field use the format 'injection moulding':title.
Since 1998 all the titles of the articles
included on the database have been entered exactly as they appear in the
original article. The exception is that, if an article has "A" or "THE" at
the start of its title then this may have been ignored. Prior to 1998 the
spelling of some words may have been changed from American English to
Anglicised English.
When searching in the title field, Greek characters should be spelt out in
full and are generally given in the lower case. No square [ ] brackets are
allowed in this field and if the article is part of a series and the part
number is given as "part 5" then in most cases this will have been changed
to Roman Numerals i.e. PART V.
This field has its own search box on the search page and contains the trade names for rubber or plastics materials, products or processes mentioned in the original article or trade name record. For example, "Teflon" is the well known trade name for polytetrafluoroethylene, "Lycra" is the trade name for spandex elastic fibres that contain thermoplastic polyurethane rubber and "Kevlar" is the trade name for aramid fibre. Simply enter the term in the trade name search box. If the trade name contains more than one word don't forget to enter it surrounded by single quotes e.g. 'rapid mat'.
Alternatively, search in the main search query box using the format kevlar:trade_names.
This field has its own search box on the
search page and contains the update number for when the record was added to
the database. The latest update number is always displayed at the top of the
search screen. This can be particularly useful for carrying out your own
current awareness search to find only the most recent additions to the
database. The database is updated approximately every two weeks.
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