Help : About databases

NDL Search helps you find materials from the collections of a wide variety of Japanese institutions, including public, university, and special libraries as well as archives, museums, and academic research institutions. You can also find materials at the NDL, including books, periodicals, domestic Japanese as well as foreign newspapers, electronic resources, rare books and old materials, doctoral dissertations, maps, audio-visual materials, and standards and technical reports. Digital content from the NDL includes digitized materials as well as e-journals, and the Japanese Periodicals Index can also be searched.
You can also access a wide variety of services via the NDL Search, such as remote photoduplication services.
For details, please refer to the NDL Search Help pages.

Only articles published in periodicals selected and indexed by the Library in the JPI (indexedperiodicals) are searchable. For names of periodicals and the start and stop dates of indexing forperiodical issues, please check the "List of IndexedPeriodicals in the Japanese Periodicals Index" (in Japanese). Selection of indexed periodicals isconducted in accordance with the "Japanese Periodicals IndexPeriodical Selection Criteria." In addition to this, selection of articles in selected and indexedperiodicals is conducted in accordance with the "Japanese Periodicals Index Article Selection andIndexing Criteria." Please note that the scope of indexed periodicals has changed over time.

On the bibliographic record page of the Japanese Periodicals Index (JPI) in NDL Search, follow the directions for the area where the thumbnail exists, and move to the digitized content browsing page to browse. Even if there is no guide, you may be able to browse the digitized materials by clicking the "Volume number" link at the top of the bibliographic record page of the Japanese Periodicals Index (JPI) and moving to the bibliographic record page of the journal volume in which the article appears.
Regarding the materials labeled "Read on the Internet", you can browse digitized materials from your own device such as a PC or tablet, as long as you have access to the Internet. If the materials are labeled "Available in National Diet Library," you may read the digitized materials only within the Tokyo Main Library, Kansai-kan, and International Library of Children's Literature. If the materials are labeled "Available with Digitized Contents Transmission Service", you can browse the digitized materials within the Tokyo Main Library, Kansai-kan and ILCL, or when you use the Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals or Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Libraries.
If you have access to digital data in the databases of other institutions, "Digital data available" will be displayed on the bibliographic record page of the Japanese Periodicals Index (JPI) along with the name of the database available.
Please follow the terms of service of each database as the links are to the databases of other institutions.

The JPI has consistently expanded its indexed periodicals up to this point. At present, the JPIlists about 11,000 academic journals, technical journals, and general interest magazines. The number isbeing expanded on a regular basis by selecting newly published periodicals.
For names of periodicals and the start and stop dates of indexing for periodical issues, please check the"List of Indexed Periodicals in the Japanese PeriodicalsIndex" (in Japanese). Selection of indexed periodicals is conducted in accordance with the "Japanese Periodicals Index Periodical Selection Criteria."