Researchers compile their academic life’s work into scholarly publications, but many may not fully understand each of the components needed to create a viable reference book project. eContent Pro presents a blog series “Understanding the Inner Workings of a Reference Book” to explain the importance of each part of a reference book and some tips on how to effectively secure them. The blog series will include pieces on Titles, Front Matter, Keywords, Abstracts, Citations, Figures, Indexes, and Back Cover Text. To discover the importance of having an index, read the following article.
Researchers and academics have often navigated through journals and books from an index. As most know, an index is an essential part of a book that allows readers to find key concepts and topics by listing the page numbers covering these key concepts and topics. Besides serving as a map for the book, having an index is extremely important for authors to include in their work for many reasons that eContent Pro will cover below.
Helpful to Researchers
An index helps readers, specifically researchers, easily find the contents in the book they’re looking for. It also allows readers to check if the book or journal covers particular concepts or topics that they’re researching. Indices are a systematic arrangement of entries and should have a consistent form throughout. Indices will have headings with logical meaning that readers will search for and should contain two or three topics per entry with the page numbers they appear on. An index having these features will make it much easier to navigate and find the key concepts and topics in the text.
Reputation
An author can enhance their book or journal’s reputation by having an index. Including a thorough and clear index can cause readers and researchers to view the book or journal as a reliable source of high-quality and accurate information in the research field. Organizing the index to properly locate all key concepts and topics while not including every minor concept in the index can bring validity to the book or journal. This will lead to a highly regarded reputation and a wider audience.
Accessibility
A book or journal with an organized and exhaustive index can lead to a wider audience that can access the research. The higher quality index produced, the more likely the book or journal is to be indexed in a known database. If a book or journal is indexed in a well-regarded database, the readership will increase greatly as the researchers use the database will have access to the book or journal. Well-regarded databases are extremely trustworthy, and readers will value the access to the research.
Indices enhance the overall value of the book or journal while possibly increasing the readership and reputation of the book or journal. This is a beneficial relationship between author and reader to include an index as the readers will have an easier time navigating the book or journal while the author’s work becomes more reliable as a source of quality information. Next time when writing, remember the importance of the back of the book, the index. Authors looking to ensure that they have selected the right key concepts to index can utilize eContent Pro’s scientific and scholarly editing that will have an expert in the manuscript’s research area evaluate the overall significance and relevance of the manuscript as well as the indexed terms.
