FIRST: Flexible Information Retrieval System for Text

An on‐line document retrieval system is described which combines a data base management system with automatic processing of natural language queries and abstracts. Data consists of an abstract, from which index terms are automatically extracted, along with bibliographic and descriptive information. The data base management system is used to store bibliographic and descriptive information, providing direct access to documents with specified bibliographic or descriptor items. Methods originally developed in the SMART project are used for abstract analysis: stemming algorithm, cosine function for query‐document comparisons, ranked output, and clustered document collection. Searches are entered and performed on‐line, with output consisting of document abstracts ranked in decreasing order of similarity with the query. Additional facilities include off‐line searches, SDI, and display of data base statistics. Future plans and improvements are also discussed.