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Military Policy Research
User Guide
Contents
Section 1. Access for Non-Subscribers (free)
Section 2. Login
Section 3. How to Subscribe
Section 4. Changing the User Details
Section 5. Using Advanced Search
Section 6. Using the Archive
Section 7. Exploiting the Indexes
Appendix 1. Overview of LI Database Structure and Contents
Appendix 2a. The LI Category Index (in order of code)
Appendix 2b. The LI Category Index (in order of topic)
 

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Appendix 1: Overview of LI Database Structure and Contents
The Lancaster Index (LI) is a bibliographic database of open-source journal articles and monographs relating to defence and international security affairs. Nearly all of these are held on the shelves of the Library at the University of Lancaster, UK. The database comprises indexed and cross-referenced citations, usually with descriptive summaries or abstracts, of some 330 publications since the mid-1980s.

These include:

  • government publications
  • professional armed forces journals and bulletins
  • academic journals and occasional papers
  • research institute monographs
  • commercial and industry periodicals dealing with military industries and technologies

The database is updated weekly, at a rate of approximately 10,000 new citations per year. The current number of records in the database, along with the date of the last update, is stated on the Home Page.

Because of the quantity of material being published over a complex field of inter-related subjects, LI focuses mainly on the secondary sources - the full-length analyses in which authors have often carried out much research on the primary sources, and have provided detailed supporting references. These can themselves be a valuable resource to researchers, in pointing to further materials for study. The data format therefore includes a full bibliographic description (including all graphic and tabular material, plus a count of footnotes and literature references). Citations also include a concise abstract, or description of the contents, wherever that might assist a decision on research effort investment.

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