Zentralblatt MATH volume numbering

Question

Recently, I learned how to read some of codes that appear on specific pages in zbMATH Open, formerly known as Zentralblatt MATH.

For example, in the above review, the circled code "Zbl 1218.47001" signifies that the review belongs to Volume 1218 of Zentralblatt MATH, that the book under review primarily falls under Subject 47 (Operator theory) in the Mathematics Subject Classification, and that the review is the first (#001) review in this Volume under this Subject. (Source: EMIS page, the entry for "accession number".)

For bibliographic purposes, I'd like to know: How does the Zentralblatt MATH volume numbering work? In particular, how can we find the publication year of the review, given the Zentralblatt MATH volume number? For example, Zentralblatt MATH volume number 980 was published in the year 2002. (Sources: 1, 2.)

Answer 1

Thank you for asking! As mentioned, the structure of the ID is Zbl xxxx.yyyyy, but it has changed its semantic once after the introduction of the MSC.

The first number indicates the volume (starting with Vol. 1 in 1931), the second is connected to the MSC since its introduction in Vol. 218. Since then, the structure is in fact xxxx.yyzzz - yy indicating the main MSC, zzz indicating the numbering in this section.

For Volume 1-217, the semantics is actually xxxx.yyyzz - yyy the page number of the volume, zz the number of the review on that page.

Concerning the publication years, the issue is somewhat complicated. Since Vol. 1050 (vol. 1/2005), there are 25 annual volumes. Before that, there were mostly 24 annual volumes and additional index volumes (which contained just meta-information, no entries/reviews).

Therefore, the index volumes in the database (which has obviously its own index) are missing, e.g., vol. 1000 (which was the last index volume). The frequency of the index volumes was first every ten volumes, then 25.

For some old volumes (especially post-war, where some gap volumes collected publications which were missed earlier), the situation is even not completely clear, since there is some conflicting information in the printed volumes (this is the main reason why these figures are not yet displayed in the database). Especially, Vol. 59-63 appeared out of the regular schedule with several issues from 1965-1978(!).

I add the following table for orientation (note that some information is unclear, since some printed volumes contain conflicting information, especially for the "gap volumes"). Due to limitations (full table is too large), the table ends with vol. 723 (1991); after that, it is pretty straightforward, 724-749 (1992), and then 25 vol/year, with index volumes 730, 740, 750, 775, 800, 825, 850, 875, 900, 925, 950, 975, and 1000.

Vol	Year	Issue	Remark
1	1931	1
1	1931	2
1	1931	3
1	1931	4
1	1931	5
1	1931	6
1	1931	7
1	1931	8	Index issue
2	1932	1
2	1932	2
2	1932	3
2	1932	4
2	1932	5
2	1932	6
2	1932	7
2	1932	8	Index issue
3	1932	1
3	1932	2
3	1932	3
3	1932	4
3	1932	5
3	1932	6
3	1932	7
3	1932	8
3	1932	9
3	1932	10	Index issue
4	1932	1
4	1932	2
4	1932	3
4	1932	4
4	1932	5
4	1932	6
4	1932	7
4	1932	8
4	1932	9
4	1932	10	Index issue
5	1933	1
5	1933	2
5	1933	3
5	1933	4
5	1933	5
5	1933	6
5	1933	7
5	1933	8
5	1933	9
5	1933	10	Index issue
6	1933	1
6	1933	2
6	1933	3
6	1933	4
6	1933	5
6	1933	6
6	1933	7
6	1933	8
6	1933	9
6	1933	10	Index issue
7	1934	1
7	1934	2
7	1934	3
7	1934	4
7	1934	5
7	1934	6
7	1934	7
7	1934	8
7	1934	9
7	1934	10	Index issue
8	1934	1
8	1934	2
8	1934	3
8	1934	4
8	1934	5
8	1934	6
8	1934	7
8	1934	8
8	1934	9
8	1934	10	Index issue
9	1934	1
9	1934	2
9	1934	3
9	1934	4
9	1934	5
9	1934	6
9	1934	7
9	1934	8
9	1934	9
9	1934	10	Index issue
10	1935	1
10	1935	2
10	1935	3
10	1935	4
10	1935	5
10	1935	6
10	1935	7
10	1935	8
10	1935	9
10	1935	10	Index issue
11	1935	1
11	1935	2
11	1935	3
11	1935	4
11	1935	5
11	1935	6
11	1935	7
11	1935	8
11	1935	9
11	1935	10	Index issue
12	1936	1
12	1936	2
12	1936	3
12	1936	4
12	1936	5
12	1936	6
12	1936	7
12	1936	8
12	1936	9
12	1936	10	Index issue
13	1936	1
13	1936	2
13	1936	3
13	1936	4
13	1936	5
13	1936	6
13	1936	7
13	1936	8
13	1936	9
13	1936	10	Index issue
14	1936	1
14	1936	2
14	1936	3
14	1936	4
14	1936	5
14	1936	6
14	1936	7
14	1936	8
14	1936	9
14	1936	10	Index issue
15	1937	1
15	1937	2
15	1937	3
15	1937	4
15	1937	5
15	1937	6
15	1937	7
15	1937	8
15	1937	9
15	1937	10	Index issue
16	1937	1
16	1937	2
16	1937	3
16	1937	4
16	1937	5
16	1937	6
16	1937	7
16	1937	8
16	1937	9
16	1937	10	Index issue
17	1937	1
17	1937	2
17	1937	3
17	1938	4
17	1938	5
17	1938	6
17	1938	7
17	1938	8
17	1938	9
17	1938	10	Index issue
18	1938	1
18	1938	2
18	1938	3
18	1938	4
18	1938	5
18	1938	6
18	1938	7
18	1938	8
18	1938	9
18	1938	10	Index issue
19	1938	1
19	1938	2
19	1938	3
19	1938	4
19	1939	5
19	1939	6
19	1939	7
19	1939	8
19	1939	9
19	1939	10	Index issue
20	1939	1
20	1939	2
20	1939	3
20	1939	4
20	1939	5
20	1939	6
20	1939	7
20	1939	8
20	1939	9
20	1939	10	Index issue
21	1939	1
21	1939	2
21	1939	3
21	1939	4
21	1939	5
21	1939	6
21	1939	7
21	1940	8
21	1940	9
21	1940	10	Index issue
22	1940	1
22	1940	2
22	1940	3
22	1940	4
22	1940	5
22	1940	6
22	1940	7
22	1940	8
22	1940	9
22	1940	10	Index issue
23	1940	1
23	1940	2
23	1940	3
23	1940	4
23	1940	5
23	1940	6
23	1941	7
23	1941	8
23	1941	9
23	1941	10	Index issue
24	1941	1
24	1941	2
24	1941	3
24	1941	4
24	1941	5
24	1941	6
24	1941	7
24	1941	8
24	1941	9
24	1941	10	Index issue
25	1941	1
25	1941	2
25	1941	3
25	1941	4
25	1941	5
25	1942	6
25	1942	7
25	1942	8
25	1942	9
25	1942	10	Index issue
26	1942	1
26	1942	2
26	1942	3
26	1942	4
26	1942	5
26	1942	6
26	1942	7
26	1942	8
26	1942	9
26	1943	10	Index issue
27	1943	1
27	1943	2
27	1943	3
27	1943	4
27	1943	5
27	1943	6
27	1943	7
27	1943	8
27	1943	9
27	1943	10	Index issue
28	1943	1
28	1943	2
28	1943	3
28	1944	4
28	1944	5
28	1944	6
28	1944	7
28	1944	8
28	1944	9
28	1944	10	Index issue
29	1948	1 – 2
29	1948	3 – 4
29	1948	5
29	1948	6
29	1948	7
29	1948	8
29	1948	9
29	1948	10	Index issue
30	1949	1
30	1949	2
30	1949	3
30	1949	4
30	1949	5
30	1949	6
30	1949	7
30	1949	8
30	1949	9
30	1949	10	Index issue
31	1949	1
31	1949	2
31	1949	3
31	1949	4
31	1949	5
31	1949	6
31	1949	7
31	1949	8
31	1949	9
31	1949	10	Index issue
32	1949	1
32	1949	2
32	1950	3
32	1950	4
32	1950	5
32	1950	6
32	1950	7
32	1950	8
32	1950	9
32	1949	10	Index issue, year likely misprint?
33	1950	1
33	1950	2
33	1950	3
33	1950	4 – 5
33	1950	6 – 7
33	1950	8 – 9
33	1950	10	Index issue
34	1950	1 – 3
34	1950	4 – 6
34	1950	7 – 9
34	1950	10	Index issue
35	1950	1 – 3
35	1950	4 – 6
35	1950	7 – 9
35	1950	10	Index issue
36	1951	1 – 3
36	1951	4 – 6
36	1951	7 – 9
36	1951	10	Index issue
37	1951	1 – 3
37	1951	4 – 6
37	1951	7 – 9	Index issue
37	1951	10
38	1951	1 – 3
38	1951	4 – 9
38	1951	10	Index issue
39	1951	1 – 5
39	1951	6 – 9
39	1951	10
40	1951	1 – 3
40	1951	4 – 6
40	1951	7 – 9
40	1951	10
41	1952	1 – 3
41	1952	4 – 7
41	1953	8 – 12
41	1952	13
42	1952	1 – 5
42	1952	6 – 10
43	1952	1 – 5
43	1952	6 – 10
44	1952	1 – 5
44	1952	6 – 10
45	1955	1 – 3	year likely misprint?
45	1953	4 – 6
45	1955	7 – 10
46	1953	1 – 5
46	1953	6 – 10
47	1953	1 – 5
47	1953	6 – 10
48	1953	1 – 5
48	1953	6 – 10
49	1954	1 – 3
49	1955	4 – 6
49	1959	7	year likely misprint?
50	1954	1 – 5
50	1954	6 – 10
51	1954	1 – 5
51	1954	6 – 10
52	1955	1 – 5
52	1955	6 – 10
53	1956/1961	1 – 4	Conflicting information in Print
53	1957	5
53	1961	6
54	1951-1961
55	1955	1 – 5
55	1955	6 – 10
56	1955	1 – 5
56	1955	6 – 10
57	1956	1 – 5
57	1956	6
58	1958	1
58	1958	2
59	1965-1966		GAP volume
60	1957		GAP volume
61	1961		GAP volume
62	1974		GAP volume
63	1976-1978		GAP volume
64	1956	1 – 5
64	1956	6 – 10
65	1956	1
65	1956	2
66	1957	1
66	1957	2
67	1958	1
67	1958	2
68	1961	1
68	1961	2
69	1957-1964		GAP volume
70	1957	1
70	1957	2
71	1958	1
71	1958	2
72	1958	1
72	1958	2
73	1959	1
73	1960	2
74	1960	1
74	1962	2
75	1968/71	1
75	1971/73	2
76
77	1958	1
77	1958	2
78	1959	1
78	1959	2
79	1959	1
79	1959	2
80	1959	1
80	1959	2
81	1959	1
81	1959	2
82	1960	1
82	1960	2
83	1960	1
83	1960	2
84	1960	1
84	1960	2
85	1961	1
85	1961	2
86	1961	1
86	1961	2
87	1961	1
87	1961	2
88	1961	1
88	1961	2
89	1961	1
89	1961	2
90	1961	1
90	1961	2
91	1962	1
91	1962	2
92	1962	1
92	1962	2
93	1962	1
93	1962	2
94	1962	1
94	1962	2
95	1962	1
95	1962	2
96	1962	1
96	1962	2
97	1962	1
97	1962	2
98	1963	1
98	1963	2
99	1963	1
99	1963	2
100	1963	1
100	1963	2
101	1963	1
101	1963	2
102	1963	1
102	1963	2
103	1964	1
103	1964	2
104	1964	1
104	1964	2
105	1964	1
105	1964	2
106	1964	1
106	1964	2
107	1964	1
107	1964	2
108	1964	1
108	1964	2
109	1964	1
109	1965	2
110	1965		Index volume
111	1964	1
111	1965	2
112	1965	1
112	1965	2
113	1965	1
113	1965	2
114	1965	1
114	1965	2
115	1965	1
115	1965	2
116	1965	1
116	1965	2
117	1965	1
117	1965	2
118	1965	1
118	1966	2
119	1966	1
119	1966	2
120	1966		Index volume
121	1966	1
121	1966	2
122	1966	1
122	1966	2
123	1966	1
123	1966	2
124	1966	1
124	1966	2
125	1966	1
125	1966	2
126	1966	1
126	1967	2
127	1967	1
127	1967	2
128	1967	1
128	1967	2
129	1967	1
129	1967	2
130	1967		Index volume
131	1967	1
131	1967	2
132	1967	1
132	1967	2
133	1967	1
133	1967	2
134	1967	1
134	1967	2
135	1967	1
135	1967	2
136	1967	1
136	1967	2
137	1967	1
137	1967	2
138	1967	1
138	1967	2
139	1968	1
139	1968	2
140	1968		Index volume
141	1968	1
141	1968	2
142	1968	1
142	1968	2
143	1968	1
143	1968	2
144	1968	1
144	1968	2
145	1968	1
145	1968	2
146	1968	1
146	1968	2
147	1968	1
147	1968	2
148	1968	1
148	1968	2
149	1968	1
149	1968	2
150	1968		Index volume
151	1968
152	1968	1
152	1968	2
153	1968	1
153	1968	2
154	1968	1
154	1968	2
155	1968	1
155	1968	2
156	1969	1
156	1969	2
157	1969	1
157	1969	2
158	1969	1
158	1969	2
159	1969	1
159	1969	2
160	1969		Index volume
161	1969	1
161	1969	2
162	1969	1
162	1969	2
163	1969	1
163	1969	2
164	1969	1
164	1969	2
165	1969	1
165	1969	2
166	1969	1
166	1969	2
167	1969	1
167	1969	2
168	1969	1
168	1969	2
169	1969	1
169	1969	2
170	1969		Index volume
171	1969	1
171	1969	2
172	1969	1
172	1969	2
173	1969	1
173	1969	2
174	1969	1
174	1969	2
175	1969	1
175	1969	2
176	1969	1
176	1969	2
177	1970	1
177	1970	2
178	1970	1
178	1970	2
179	1970	1
179	1970	2
180	1970		Index volume
181	1970	1
181	1970	2
182	1970	1
182	1970	2
183	1970	1
183	1970	2
184	1970	1
184	1970	2
185	1970	1
185	1970	2
186	1970	1
186	1970	2
187	1970	1
187	1970	2
188	1970	1
188	1970	2
189	1970	1
189	1970	2
190	1970		Index volume
191	1970	1
191	1970	2
192	1970	1
192	1970	2
193	1970	1
193	1970	2
194	1970	1
194	1970	2
195	1970	1
195	1970	2
196	1970	1
196	1970	2
197	1971	1
197	1971	2
198	1971	1
198	1971	2
199	1971	1
199	1971	2
200	1971		Index volume
201	1971	1
201	1971	2
202	1971	1
202	1971	2
203	1971	1
203	1971	2
204	1971	1
204	1971	2
205	1971	1
205	1971	2
206	1971	1
206	1971	2
207	1971	1
207	1971	2
208	1971	1
208	1971	2
209	1971	1
209	1971	2
210	1971		Index volume
211	1971	1
211	1971	2
212	1971	1
212	1971	2
213	1971	1
213	1971	2
214	1971	1
214	1971	2
215	1971	1
215	1971	2
216	1971	1
216	1971	2
217	1972	1
217	1972	2
218	1972
219	1972
220	1972		Index volume
221	1972
222	1972
223	1972
224	1972
225	1972
226	1972
227	1972
228	1972
229	1972
230	1972		Index volume
231	1972
232	1972
233	1972
234	1972
235	1972
236	1972
237	1972
238	1972
239	1973
240	1973		Index volume
241	1973
242	1973
243	1973
244	1973
245	1973
246	1973
247	1973
248	1973
249	1973
250	1973		Index volume
251	1973
252	1973
253	1973
254	1973
255	1973
256	1973
257	1973
258	1974
259	1974
260	1974		Index volume
261	1974
262	1974
263	1974
264	1974
265	1974
266	1974
267	1974
268	1974
269	1974
270	1974		Index volume
271	1974
272	1974
273	1974
274	1974
275	1974
276	1974
277	1974
278	1974
279	1974
280	1974		Index volume
281	1975
282	1975
283	1975
284	1975
285	1975
286	1975
287	1975
288	1975
289	1975
290	1975		Index volume
291	1975
292	1975
293	1975
294	1975
295	1975
296	1975
297	1975
298	1975
299	1975
300	1975		Index volume
301	1975
302	1975
303	1076
304	1976
305	1976
306	1976
307	1976
308	1976
309	1976
310	1976		Index volume
311	1976
312	1976
313	1976
314	1976
315	1976
316	1976
317	1976
318	1976
319	1976
320	1976		Index volume
321	1976
322	1976
323	1976
324	1976
325	1977
326	1977
327	1977
328	1977
329	1977
330	1977		Index volume
331	1977
332	1977
333	1977
334	1977
335	1977
336	1977
337	1977
338	1977
339	1977
340	1977		Index volume
341	1977
342	1977
343	1977
344	1977
345	1977
346	1977
347	1977
348	1977
349	1977
350	1977		Index volume
351	1978
352	1978
353	1978
354	1978
355	1978
356	1978
357	1978
358	1978
359	1978
360	1978		Index volume
361	1978
362	1978
363	1978
364	1978
365	1978
366	1978
367	1978
368	1978
369	1978
370	1978		Index volume
371	1978
372	1978
373	1978
374	1978
375	1978
376	1978
377	1979
378	1979
379	1979
380	1979		Index volume
381	1979
382	1979
383	1979
384	1979
385	1979
386	1979
387	1979
388	1979
389	1979
390	1979		Index volume
391	1979
392	1979
393	1979
394	1979
395	1979
396	1979
397	1979
398	1979
399	1979
400	1979		Index volume
401	1979
402	1979
403	1979
404	1980
405	1980
406	1980
407	1980
408	1980
409	1980
410	1980		Index volume
411	1980
412	1980
413	1980
414	1980
415	1980
416	1980
417	1980
418	1980
419	1980
420	1980		Index volume
421	1980
422	1980
423	1980
424	1980
425	1980
426	1980
427	1980
428	1980
429	1980
430	1981		Index volume
431	1981
432	1981
433	1981
434	1981
435	1981
436	1981
437	1981
438	1981
439	1981
440	1981		Index volume
441	1981
442	1981
443	1981
444	1981
445	1981
446	1981
447	1981
448	1981
449	1981
450	1981		Index volume
451	1981
452	1981
453	1981
454	1981
455	1981
456	1982
457	1982
458	1982
459	1982
460	1982		Index volume
461	1982
462	1982
463	1982
464	1982
465	1982
466	1982
467	1982
468	1982
469	1982
470	1982		Index volume
471	1982
472	1982
473	1982
474	1982
475	1982
476	1982
477	1982
478	1982
479	1982
480	1982		Index volume
481	1982
482	1982
483	1982
484	1983
485	1983
486	1983
487	1983
488	1983
489	1983
490	1983		Index volume
491	1983
492	1983
493	1983
494	1983
495	1983
496	1983
497	1983
498	1983
499	1983
500	1983		Index volume
501	1983
502	1983
503	1983
504	1983
505	1983
506	1983
507	1983
508	1983
509	1983
510	1983		Index volume
511	1984
512	1984
513	1984
514	1984
515	1984
516	1984
517	1984
518	1984
519	1984
520	1984		Index volume
521	1984
522	1984
523	1984
524	1984
525	1984
526	1984
527	1984
528	1984
529	1984
530	1984		Index volume
531	1984
532	1984
533	1984
534	1984
535	1984
536	1984
537	1985
538	1985
539	1985
540	1985		Index volume
541	1985
542	1985
543	1985
544	1985
545	1985
546	1985
547	1985
548	1985
549	1985
550	1985		Index volume
551	1985
552	1985
553	1985
554	1985
555	1985
556	1985
557	1985
558	1985
559	1985
560	1985		Index volume
561	1985
562	1985
563	1985
564	1986
565	1986
566	1986
567	1986
568	1986
569	1986
570	1986		Index volume
571	1986
572	1986
573	1986
574	1986
575	1986
576	1986
577	1986
578	1986
579	1986
580	1986		Index volume
581	1986
582	1986
583	1986
584	1986
585	1986
586	1986
587	1986
588	1986
589	1986
590	1986		Index volume
591	1987
592	1987
593	1987
594	1987
595	1987
596	1987
597	1987
598	1987
599	1987
600	1987		Index volume
601	1987
602	1987
603	1987
604	1987
605	1987
606	1987
607	1987
608	1987
609	1987
610	1987		Index volume
611	1987
612	1987
613	1987
614	1987
615	1987
616	1987
617	1988
618	1988
619	1988
620	1988		Index volume
621	1988
622	1988
623	1988
624	1988
625	1988
626	1988
627	1988
628	1988
629	1988
630	1988		Index volume
631	1988
632	1988
633	1988
634	1988
635	1988
636	1988
637	1988
638	1988
639	1988
640	1988		Index volume
641	1988
642	1988
643	1988
644	1989
645	1989
646	1989
647	1989
648	1989
649	1989
650	1989		Index volume
651	1989
652	1989
653	1989
654	1989
655	1989
656	1989
657	1989
658	1989
659	1989
660	1989		Index volume
661	1989
662	1989
663	1989
664	1989
665	1989
666	1989
667	1989
668	1989
669	1989
670	1989		Index volume
671	1990
672	1990
673	1990
674	1990
675	1990
676	1990
677	1990
678	1990
679	1990
680	1990		Index volume
681	1990
682	1990
683	1990
684	1990
685	1990
686	1990
687	1990
688	1990
689	1990
690	1990		Index volume
691	1990
692	1990
693	1990
694	1990
695	1990
696	1990
697	1991
698	1991
699	1991
700	1991		Index volume
701	1991
702	1991
703	1991
704	1991
705	1991
706	1991
707	1991
708	1991
709	1991
710	1991		Index volume
711	1991
712	1991
713	1991
714	1991
715	1991
716	1991
717	1991
718	1991
719	1991
720	1991		Index volume
721	1991
722	1991
723	1991

Answer 2

The numbering is sequential in the order in which a review is entered, so not strictly tied to a particular year of publication. For example, volume 1430 has mainly papers published in 2019 and 2020, but it also includes papers from 2016,2017, and 2018.
Here is a rough guide of the correspondence between volume number and publication date range:

• 2020- (vols 1431- )
• 2015-2020 (vols. 1301-1430)
• 2010-2015 (vols. 1191-1300)
• 2005-2010 (vols. 1051-1190
• 1999-2005 (vols. 913-1050)
• 1995-1999 (vols. 826-912)
• 1990-1995 (vols. 701-824)
• 1985-1989 (vols. 551-699)
• 1970-1984 (vols. 201-549)
• 1931-1969 (vols. 1-199)