Nuclear science references coding manual

This manual is intended as a guide to Nuclear Science References (NSR) compilers. The basic conventions followed at the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC), which are compatible with the maintenance and updating of and retrieval from the Nuclear Science References (NSR) file, are outlined. In Section H, the structure of the NSR file such as the valid record identifiers, record contents, text fields as well as the major TOPICS for which are prepared are enumerated. Relevant comments regarding a new entry into the NSR file, assignment of , generation of and linkage characteristics are also given in Section II. In Section III, a brief definition of the Keyword abstract is given followed by specific examples; for each TOPIC, the criteria for inclusion of an article as an entry into the NSR file as well as coding procedures are described. Authors preparing Keyword abstracts either to be published in a Journal (e.g., Nucl. Phys. A) or to be sent directly to NNDC (e.g., Phys. Rev. C) should follow the illustrations in Section III. The scope of the literature covered at the NNDC, the categorization into Primary and Secondary sources, etc., is discussed in Section IV. Useful information regarding permitted character sets, recommended abbreviations, etc., is given under Section V as Appendices.