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About RIPM's Publications

RIPM produces electronic publications in two general methods: those which are deeply indexed (Annotated) and those which are less indexed (Preservation).

Libraries may subscribe to a combination of the databases below:

RIPM Retrospective Index
OR
RIPM Retrospective Index with Full Text
Contains highly annotated indexes to journal content, prepared by scholars. Scanned full text available in the RIPM Retrospective Index with Full Text.
RIPM Preservation Series
A supplement to the RIPM Retrospective Index, the Preservation Series contains additional journals, searchable by full text and unannotated citations (citations forthcoming summer 2025).
RIPM Jazz Periodicals
Similar to the RIPM Preservation Series, but containing journals focused on jazz and popular music, it is searchable by full text and enhanced, unannotated citations.
Accessing Multiple Publications from EBSCOHost
Search each publication individually by selecting one publication from the "Select database to search" option.
Search all or a combination of publications simultaneously by selecting multiple from the "Select database to search" option. Note that all subscribed publications are selected by default.
Accessing Multiple Publications from RIPMPlus
Retrospective Index & Preservation Series:
- Search individually by selecting one from the login page.
- Search both publications simultaneously by selecting "Search Both" from the login page.
RIPM Jazz Periodicals cannot be combined with any other publication search at this time.

The RIPM Retrospective Index is RIPM’s longest-running publication, begun in 1988 and continuing to this day. The RIPM Index consists of highly-annotated records produced from deep indexing of complete runs of music journals.

There are two fundamental advantages to this method of access: access is provided via an index, rather than the full text alone, and each search term is presented in context. This has the advantage of providing access both to indexing terms and to the context in which the terms appear. For example, if Berlioz writes an harmonic analysis of a musical passage without mention of the word “harmony,” the indexer will supply this term in the content description, and the user, searching for the term “harmony” will locate the pertinent passage even though the searched term does not appear in the text. In addition, titles of sections and subsections, such as those found in review columns, are indexed independently. However, this production method requires an extensive amount of time and is costly. A labor-intensive process, produced by scholars, this necessarily limits the number of journals that can be treated.


The Preservation Series was created to increase the pace at which RIPM can make searchable full-text music journals available and do so in a comparatively economical manner. Access to RIPM Preservation Series content is based upon two methods.

  1. Full-text searching of the textual content. This method is based on optical character recognition (OCR) technology that permits searching through all words, using Boolean operators to refine searches. Search terms are highlighted on full-text pages.
  2. Unannotated citations.* These citations contain the title, author, and page number(s) of the cited content. The content includes articles and illustrations but does not include the deep indexing or annotations found in the RIPM Index. Citations in RIPM Jazz have been further enhanced to inculde various subject categories and pertinent added indexing terms.
*These unannotated citations have been available in RIPM Jazz Periodicals since 2023. Citations in the Preservation Series will become available in phases, beginning summer 2025, with the goal of adding records every six months. These records will be available on RIPM’s build of the Preservation Series initially. In time, these will also be available on the EBSCO build. In any case, these citations also will be available in the RIPM Retrospective Index on both EBSCO and RIPM.