RILM: full name
parent company
years of coverage
number of journals indexed
number of citations
retrospective indexing
Repertoire international de litterature musicale
EBSCO
began 1967-present
1830 core journals
13,267 altogether
898,029 records
conference reports since 1835
Festschriften since 1840
Music Index: parent company
years of coverage
number of journals indexed
number of citations
retrospective indexing
EBSCO
online began 1970-present
print index began 1949
about 800 journals, many inactive
2,434,757 records, 1/2 of which are reviews
5000 earlier records have been inherited from EBSCO
IIMP: full and current name
parent company
years of coverage
number of journals indexed
number of citations
retrospective indexing
International Index to Music Periodicals
now called Music Periodicals Database
PROQUEST
began in 1995
620 journals, many no longer active
1.3 million records
80 important journals are retrospectively indexed, the earliest from 1874
BMS Online: full name
years of coverage
number of journals indexed
number of citations
retrospective indexing
Bibliographie des Musikschrifftums
print index covers 1950-1988
online index covers 1936-present (1936-1950 is spotty due to WWII)
180 journals since 1993
360,000 records
1950-1936 indexing is retrospective
RILM: full text online?
abstracts?
foreign language sources? How many?
limited to titles EBSCO has rights to
Yes, best source for abstracts
143 lagnuages, 178 countries
Music Index: full text online?
abstracts?
foreign language sources? How many?
about 419,000 full text online
few abstracts, only those inherited from EBSCO
42 languages
IIMP:full text online?
abstracts?
foreign language sources? How many?
direct online access to 140 journals full text
no abstracts except those inherited from ProQuest
32 languages; least international index
BMS: full text online?
abstracts?
foreign language sources? How many?
yes if the journal is published online
abstracts are brief in earliest records, available for all
focus on major Eastern/western European language sources.
RIPM: full text online?
abstracts?
foreign language sources? How many?
186 articles have full text available online or in their e-library
no abstracts
about 32 languages (lots of variants of English and Spanish)
RILM: What non-periodical types of records are covered?
Scholarly or non-scholarly?
Are reviews included?
Contains more record types (books, etc) than any other index
Focus is on scholarly research
Reviews are limited to substantial ones
Music Index: What non-periodical types of records are covered?
Scholarly or non-scholarly?
Are reviews included?
Mostly articles are covered, with a few books
Focus is non-scholarly. Everything is indexed, scholarly and non-scholarly, including magazines, reviews, pedagogical writings, letters to the editor.
Coverage of reviews is extensive, forming about half of the entire index
IIMP: What non-periodical types of records are covered?
Scholarly or non-scholarly?
Are reviews included?
Wide variety of documents due to ProQuest merger, used to be only articles
Contains a mix of scholarly and non-scholarly items
Coverage of reviews is extensive, forming about half of the entire index
BMS: What non-periodical types of records are covered?
Scholarly or non-scholarly?
Are reviews included?
How is the search engine?
Covers many non-periodical sources, including critical commentary, conference reports, collections of essays, and Festschriften.
Focus is on scholarly research.
Reviews limited to major scholarly reviews.
Search engine is not as good as the others.
RIPM: What non-periodical types of records are covered?
Scholarly or non-scholarly?
Are reviews included?
Only periodicals are covered, but includes everything in the journal, including pictures and ads.
Because these are historical sources, all now have scholarly significance.
Many reviews are included.
RILM: Strengths, distinctive features
Indexing is done by an army of volunteers throughout the world.
Unparalleled international coverage
Only scholarly research is included
The only index with good abstracts for every item
Covers the widest variety of publication types
Music Index: Strengths, distinctive features
Best coverage of reviews
Best coverage of pedagogical writings
Includes non-scholarly sources and perspective
IIMP: Strengths, distinctive features
Excellent retrospective indexing, 80 important journals from as early as 1874.
Indexes most important journals rather than all.
Best access to full text online.
BMS: Strengths, distinctive features
Covers print volumes as well as RILM
Focus on Europe.
1936-1988 has RILM quality materials
Started 17 years earlier than RILM (1950 vs. 1967), so fills in gaps in records
RIPM: Strengths, distinctive features
Indexes everything in the historic journals, not just articles.
Great retrospective coverage, going back the furthest in time.
RIPM:full name
years of coverage
number of journals indexed
number of citations
retrospective indexing
Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals
Covers 1760-1966
243 journals
800,000 citations
All entries are retrospective indexing