More Details about Browse Index

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How does Browse Index work?

When you click Browse Index, STNEasy retrieves terms from the indexes of the databases in the category you have selected. Then it displays a scrollable list of the terms it found. Your term is listed, along with the 3 terms before it in the index and 7 terms after it. Scroll down to view up to 70 additional terms. Browse Index is similar to an "expand" in STN.

How do posting counts work?

When STNEasy retrieves terms from the indexes, it also counts the number of times the term occurs. This number is displayed to the right of the term, if you have "show database posting counts" turned on in your Preferences. The number shown is the total for all of the databases in the category.

Posting counts may not be available for all terms. When this is the case, N/A will appear in place of the number.

Sometimes I do not get answers for terms I selected from a Browse Index list. Why?

In categories such as Patents, only a focused portion of the CAplus database is searched. However, the entire database is included by the Browse Index feature. Therefore, terms may appear from CAplus that are not in the portion of CAplus being searched.

Tip: Browse Index can be used to check STN indexing conventions. For example, you can find out how to input patent dates. In step 1 of Advanced Search, select the category Patents. In step 2, select the data field Patent Date and enter the search term 2000. Then click Browse Index. From the index entries displayed, e.g., 19991229, 20000101, you can deduce that STN uses the 4-digit year followed by the 2-digit month and day.