British Periodicals is a source for inbound OpenURL referrals and all contents and functional pages feature durable URLs, using OpenURL syntax.

British Periodicals supports both z39.50 and XML Gateway mechanisms.

Bibliographic records are available free of charge, in MARC21 (Machine-Readable Cataloguing) format, for the journals included in British Periodicals. These can be loaded into catalogue systems and contain durable links (in the 856) field to journal record pages in the database.

The British Periodicals metadata specification is essentially an extended version of the Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) metadata specification and includes information from article source (Author, Article Title, Journal Title, Journal Editor, Volume, Issue, Date, Pagination, Place of Publication), the Frequency of Publication of the periodicals included, the Content Type of particular articles (allowing users to search for Advertisements, Articles, Poems, Reviews, etc), and the presence within each article of graphic elements (Cartoons, Maps, Printed Music etc). The metadata also includes Journal Subject indexing (using Library of Congress Subject Headings).

British Periodicals has a range of search options. The Home Page has a one-box quick search option which allows users to search keywords from Article Title and Text, Article Author, Article Title or Journal Title. The quick search feature is available on every page of the site, making it possible to search the complete collection quickly and efficiently.

A more detailed "Article Search" screen offers further options, including:

• Select from a List
• Include Wellesley attributions (in institutions that have access to ProQuest's electronic edition of the Wellesley Index)
• Limit results by content types such as obituaries, advertisements, poems, recipes, graphics, letters, reviews and more
• Limit results by frequency of publication
• Narrow date selections
• Sort results by relevance, alphabetically or chronologically

The Search Results display allows users to filter results according to the following criteria:

• Journal Title
• Journal Subject
• Date
• Frequency of publication
• Journal Editor
• Article Type

It's possible to browse for journals in British Periodicals by title or to search for Journal Records by Title, Editor, Subject, Frequency of Publication, Date of Publication, and / or Place of Publication, using the Search Journal Records screen.

Search History and Market Lists allow users to review and combine searches during a session and mark up results of interest for exporting, saving and printing.

A My Archive feature allows users to save searches between visits in a personal, password-protected area.

Citations can be downloaded and emailed in various formats. Citations can also be exported directly to RefWorks, ProCite, EndNote and Reference Manager.

British Periodicals offers both product-specific reports and COUNTER-compliant usage reports.

Federated access management via the UK Access Management Federation, ATHENS.

Institutions can personalise British Periodicals by adding library branding.

Compliant with W3C Priority 1, some compliance with Priorities 2 and 3.

Key licensing details:

What is a Peppercorn payment?

We are often approached for an explanation of peppercorn payments and what this means for institutions. A 'peppercorn payment' is a legal device that ensures there is consideration in a contract and that as a result the contract is valid - further information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppercorn_(legal)

It is very unlikely that we will demand a peppercorn from your institution during the life of an agreement, but it is important to note that despite this being the only payment required, the responsibilities on all sides contained within that agreement are as serious as ever.

If you are unsure about anything in the licence please refer to our Guide to the Model Licence.

If you require any further assistance then please contact our Subscriptions Helpdesk at subscriptionshelp@jisc.ac.uk or call us on 01993 880044.