从中英文书后索引比较看中文学术著作的一个常见结构缺陷

A common defect in Chinese academic books:the lack of index

书后索引是书内内容检索,信息定位,知识导航的重要辅助工具。本文提供的一项统计调查显示英美出版的英文学术著作几乎全部附有书后索引,相比之下中文同类书籍中却很少有书后索引,形成中文学术著作的一个重大结构缺陷。针对这一状况,本文通过分析书后索引的功能及其在信息交流中的作用,论证了学术著作设置书后索引的重要意义,继而又从不同方面探讨了上述中文学术著作结构缺陷产生的原因,提出了改进中文书书后索引编印工作的具体建议。

The indexes of academic books provide their readers with an aid in content searching, information locating and retrieval. The statistics presented in this paper show that almost all the academic books published in English in the U. K. and the U. S. have indexes, In contrast, those published in Chinese in China seldom have such index, which constitutes a major defect of the Chinese academic books. In this paper, the causes of this defect are explored from different perspectives. Also in view of their function, the important role that indexes play in information exchange is discussed, and then some concrete suggestions are offered for the purpose of improving the compilation and publishing of the indexes of the Chinese academic books.