Index Islamicus is THE international classified bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world from 1906 onwards until present day. Material cited in the Index Islamicus includes not only work written about the Middle East, but also about the other main Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, plus Muslim minorities elsewhere. [The Index Islamicus is edited by Heather Bleaney, Pablo Garcia Suarez and Susan Sinclair]
Presently, Index Islamicus contains over 575,000 records, covering all the main Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, as well as Muslims living elsewhere, and their history, beliefs, societies, cultures, languages and literatures. It includes material published by Western scholars in the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences, specialist area- and subject-based areas, and by Muslims writing in European languages. Publications recorded are in the form of articles, books and reviews. All essays and papers contained in multi-author volumes are recorded, classified and indexed separately.
Periodicals
Over 3,000 journals are surveyed for inclusion in the database, together with conference proceedings, monographs, and multi-authored works. Journals and books are indexed down to the article and chapter level. Newspapers, news magazines, and government or official “grey” literature are excluded. Reviews from specialist periodicals in the field, and some relevant reviews from selected other titles are listed by title of work under review.
Classification
The well-known Index Islamicus classification scheme, uniquely and carefully geared to the field of Islamic Studies, allows one to quickly find all literature headed under a particular, broader subject area (e.g., Education, Philosophy, Shi’ism, Sudan, Palestine, Israel, as well as their subcategories).
Extensive indexes
Those who prefer more specific queries, have in the print edition at their disposal two elaborate indexes, facilitating quick and effective searches: the subject index guides the user to material on specialised subjects not covered by the classification scheme (e.g. Al-Azhar, mawlids, railways), and also to items relevant to one subject but classified under another. The name index lists not only authors, but also editors, translators, reviewers and personal subjects. So researchers interested in, for instance, Ibn Khaldun or Muhammad Iqbal or the Ayatollah Khomeini can quickly find publications both by and about them. The online edition offers a full text and advanced search opportunities.
Yearbooks
The annual yearbooks are published as part of the annual journal subscription, but are also available individually or as a set. It supersedes the issues published during a year, but also contains much data previously unpublished in Index Islamicus with additions from 1993 onwards.