Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : June 2001

Using ABI/INFORM® and Business Dateline® for Technical Information

For decades business researchers have relied on the ABI/INFORM® database from ProQuest® (File 15/INFO) for management information, especially in the areas of human resources, banking, and accounting.

But that's only part of the story. ABI/INFORM covers business, as well as management, in every type of industry. From journals, such as Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration News, Robotics Today, and Wood Technology, researchers can glean information on product development, statistics, manufacturing processes, mathematical models, and even how to buy a backhoe ("How to buy the backhoe you need...or want" Construction Equipment; Boston; Feb 2001).

Let's explore some of these issues by taking a look at the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to case studies, industry overview articles, and general management information, we can find articles with industrial statistics, product forecasts, and information on manufacturing processes.

Bell & Howell Information and Learning (formerly UMI), provider of ABI/INFORM and the other ProQuest® databases, indexes every article in ABI/INFORM with a sophisticated system of classification codes and a controlled vocabulary of descriptors. Each classification code is a cascading group of four digits that signifies the primary subjects of the article in question; the controlled vocabulary provides a standardized thesaurus of terms for both primary and secondary subjects.

Search techniques

Users can combine classification codes and descriptors to target their searches by topic, industry, market, geographical area, or article type. For example, to locate statistical information on an industry, we can search the classification code for that particular industry and combine it with a term(s) from the ProQuest vocabulary. Let's research the pharmaceutical industry using its class code 8641.

?SELECT CC=8641 and STATISTICAL DATA/DE

(Dialog)

1_: 8641# AND STATISTICAL-DATA

(DataStar)

Here's a look at some of the headlines from our results list:

• "Valuation of the Chemical and Drug Industries" Weekly Corporate Growth Report, Santa Barbara; Apr 9, 2001; Jan Tudor



• "Annual Rx Survey: Behind the Numbers" Drug Topics; Oradell; Apr 2, 2001; Fred Gebhart



• "Pharmaceutical Prices End Year Down Slightly" Hospital Materials Management; Ann Arbor; Apr 2001; Anonymous

Other descriptors to use when searching for numerical data in ABI/INFORM:

Dialog Entry Format
RATINGS & RANKINGS
STATISTICS/DF
DEMOGRAPHICS/DF
MARKET RESEARCH
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
STATISTICAL METHODS

DataStar Entry Format
RATINGS-AND-RANKINGS
STATISTICS.DE.
DEMOGRAPHICS.DE.
MARKET-RESEARCH
STATISTICAL-ANALYSIS
STATISTICAL-METHODS

Obviously, results for the pharmaceutical industry would be incomplete without information on new drugs and the expected forecasts for those drugs. Again, let's use our pharmaceutical class code with several descriptors:

?SELECT CC=8641 and (PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT or PRODUCT 
INTRODUCTION or PRODUCT LINES 
or APPROVAL)/DE 

(Dialog)

1_: 8641# AND (PRODUCT-DEVELOPMENT OR PRODUCT-
INTRODUCTION OR PRODUCT-LINES OR APPROVAL).DE. 

(DataStar)

[Note that using the command /DE with the term APPROVAL will pick up articles indexed with descriptors REGULATORY APPROVAL and FDA APPROVAL.]

In researching new products and product development, users might also conduct a OneSearch® between ABI/INFORM and Business Dateline (File 635). Business Dateline includes full-text articles from local and regional U.S. business publications and newspapers. Since many of Business Dateline's publications are close to the source, they provide extensive coverage for companies headquartered in their city or state. Business Dateline is a good source for hard-to-find information on small or privately-owned companies and their products.

Here are some Business Dateline headlines from the above search on new products in the pharmaceutical industry:

• "New Drugs Prime Celltech for Growth" Rochester Business Journal; Apr 6, 2001; Smriti Jacob



• "Matrix Cancer Drug at the Finish Line" East Bay Business Times; Pleasanton; Mar 30, 2001; Leslie Mladinich



• "Japanese Firm to Develop Drugs Using HGS Data" The Washington Post; Washington, D.C.; Mar 27, 2001; Terence Chea



• "Allergan's Glaucoma Drug Gets Approval of FDA Health Analysts Like the New Product, Lumigan, but a Rival Alleges Patent Violations" Orange County Register; Santa Ana, Calif.; Mar 17, 2001; Bernard J. Wolfson

For researchers interested in the science of drug manufacturing, the ProQuest vocabulary includes terms such as:

QUALITY CONTROL
PRODUCTION METHODS
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

On DataStar the terms are as above, but with hyphens between words. On DataStar you do not need to enter the DE paragraph qualifier with hyphenated descriptors.

Searching one or all of these descriptors with the pharmaceutical industry class code will net articles on manufacturing topics, such as powder flowability results; the use

of isolator systems for product manufacturing; and methods for drying drug granules.

Finally, let's see what's ahead for the pharmaceutical industry. Who will be the big winners or losers in the next ten years? What type of changes will impact the industry? The following titles appear with the next search:

?SELECT CC=8641 and (FUTURE or PREDICTIONS or 
BUSINESS FORECASTS) /DE 

(Dialog)

1_:8641# AND (FUTURE OR PREDICTIONS OR 
BUSINESS FORECASTS).DE. 

(DataStar)

• "Improving Technology for Discovery" Chemical & Engineering News; Mar 26, 2001; Decicco, Carl P



• "Global Bioeconomy Shapes Pharma Future" Pharmaceutical Executive; Eugene; Jan 2001; Sibyl Shalo



• "Outsourcing Outlook: A Look at the Year Ahead" Pharmaceutical Technology; Cleveland; Jan 2001; Jim Miller



• "Forecast 2001: An e-healthcare Odyssey" Pharmaceutical Executive; Eugene; Dec 2000; Mark Adams

Users can research the future of a given market, too, by combining these descriptors with the industry class code.

As these examples show, ABI/INFORM (File 15/INFO) and Business Dateline (File 635) have much to offer scientists and technical researchers. For help in searching ABI/INFORM, Business Dateline, or any of the other ProQuest databases, call the Knowledge Center Help line in the U.S. at 1-800-3DIALOG (334-2564) or your local Help Desk.

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