Index medicus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Index Medicus (IM) was a comprehensive index of medical journal articles, published between 1879 and 2004. It was initiated by Dr John Shaw Billings, head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office, United States Army. This library later evolved into the United States National Library of Medicine.

Publication began in 1879, and it continued monthly through 1926, with a hiatus between 1899 and 1902. A similar index, the Bibliographia medica was published in this period^[clarify] by the Institut de Bibliographie of Paris. In 1927 Index Medicus was amalgamated with the American Medical Association's Quarterly Cumulative Index to Current Literature (QCICL) as the Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus (QCIM), which the AMA continued to publish until 1959. From 1960 to 2004 it was published by the National Library of Medicine under the name Index Medicus/Cumulated Index Medicus (IM/CIM).

The last issue of Index Medicus was published in December 2004 (Volume 45). The stated reason for discontinuing the printed publication was that online resources such as PubMed had supplanted it.^[1] The Medical Subject Headings thesaurus continues to be published.^[2]