Index medicus

Index Medicus (IM) was a comprehensive index of medical journal articles, published between 1879 and 2004. It was initiated by Dr John Shaw Billings, head of the Library of the Office of the Surgeon General, United States Army. Publication began in 1879, and it continued monthly through 1926, with a hiatus between 1899 and 1902. In 1927 it was amalgamated with the American Medical Association's Quarterly Cumulative Index to Current Literature (QCICL) as the Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus (QCIM). The AMA continued to publish it until 1959; from 1960 it was published by the National Library of Medicine under the name Index Medicus®/Cumulated Index Medicus (IM/CIM). The last issue of Index Medicus was published in December 2004 (Volume 45). Its place has been taken by the Medical Subject Headings thesaurus.