IET’s Inspec Database reaches 15 million records

Inspec’s content coverage has grown by 5% over the past year, indexing the very latest research in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computing, information technology, manufacturing, production and mechanical engineering. Such sustained growth underlines the IET’s commitment to making essential engineering intelligence easily available to an international audience.

The landmark 15 millionth record focuses on biosensor technology. The paper, Biochip technology applied to an automated ABO compatibility test at the patient bedside, centres on the field of blood transfusion, examining the need to improve the bedside pre-transfusion ABO compatibility test, in order to eradicate the serious errors which occur through human error. The authors propose a prototype automated device which demonstrates the easy use of biochip technology to perform this test.

The article, by a team of researchers from Besançon, France, is published in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, published by Elsevier. It joins a timeline of great scientific achievements to have been featured by Inspec over the years, including:

• 1969 - First man on the moon
• 1971 - Mars 3 lander becomes first spacecraft to attain soft landing on Mars
• 1977 - First "home computers” appear on the market
• 1980 -1984 - Development of 3D printing technologies
• 1986 - High-temperature superconductivity discovered
• 1989 - Tim Berners-Lee writes proposal for what would become the World Wide Web
• 1992 - First confirmed detection of an extrasolar planet
• 2003 - Graphene first measurably produced and isolated in the lab
• 2008 - Three Gorges Dam opens - largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual energy generation
• 2012-2013 - Higgs boson discovery

Daniel Smith, IET Head of Academic Publishing: "15 million records is a major milestone. Inspec stands out from the crowd as it continues to expand its coverage of the highest quality research, year in year out. Not only do we aim to provide researchers with the information they really want, we also make it easily accessible through rigorous selection and categorisation, minimising time spent. It is our mission at the IET to further the progress of research and innovation, and Inspec plays a highly significant role in this process. This paper is a prime example of leading edge research, which is captured and made available to the world’s research community by Inspec on a timely basis.”