BIOSIS

BIOSIS was a non-profit company that published Biological Abstracts from 1926 to 2004.

In 1999, BIOSIS described itself as

 "a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to foster the growth, communication and use of biological knowledge for the common good. By accumulating the world's largest collection of abstracts and bibliographic references to worldwide biological and medical literature and organizing this information for easy access, BIOSIS provides vital sources of information for life scientists.
  BIOSIS processes approximately 550,000 items each year, from primary research and review journals, books, monographs, and conference proceedings. The BIOSIS information system, a pool of material totalling over 13 million citations at the end of 1997, is available in several formats. These include Biological Abstracts, the leading printed reference publication for life science information and Biological Abstracts/RRM (Reports, Reviews, Meetings) (BA/RRM), the companion printed reference to Biological Abstracts. BIOSIS also publishes Zoological Record, supplying a comprehensive collection of references to zoological research articles worldwide."

In 2004, BIOSIS assets were acquired by Thomson. BIOSIS Previews, which combines Biological Abstracts and Biological Abstracts/RRM, is offered by Clarivate and EBSCO.

History

In 1926, the Society of American Bacteriologists and the Botanical Society of America, acknowledging the need for greater integration of life science information, agreed to merge their two publications, Abstracts of Bacteriology and Botanical Abstracts thus creating Biological Abstracts. A not-for-profit company was formed. This was in competition with the Concilium Bibliographicum.

In 1964, the company's name was changed to BioSciences Information Service of Biological Abstracts (BIOSIS). It also published The Zoological Record from 1980 to 2004.

In 2004 the company was purchased by Thomson Scientific and it is now part of Thomson Reuters Science & Healthcare division. Sale proceeds were used to create the J.R.S. Biodiversity Foundation [1] in 2007.

Further reading

• "BIOSIS Previews" and "Biological Abstracts" Wkipipedia [2] [3]
• Burke, Colin B. Information and Intrigue: From Index Cards to Dewey Decimals to Alger Hiss. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-262-02702-1. For historical political background of bibliography of biology, esp. pp. 166–168, 235–237.