The National Index to Chinese Newspapers & Periodicals (NICNP) was launched in 1955. Edited by Shanghai Library, it is the earliest comprehensive Chinese newspapers and periodicals search tool issued in China. Published in both print and electronic formats, it is mainly oriented towards the users of research institutes, public libraries and universities.

NICNP is a monthly publication, divided into Humanities & Social Sciences edition and Natural Sciences edition. Based on strict selection criteria, scientific classification system and standard descriptions, it fully reveals the essential information about the Chinese core periodicals and produces over 400,000 entries every year. It is arranged by subjects, and provides author, name and citation indexes.

The electronic version of NICNP was first created in 1993 and has later received the Prize issued by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. Now, it has become an extra-large index database covering information for over one and half centuries from 1833 to the present, and more than 16,000 titles of newspapers and periodicals published in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, almost all the serials published in China. It contains over 25 million entries, with a yearly update of 3.5 million entries.

The NICNP web site was launched in 2005. With rich information, long retrospective periods and convenient access, it is different from the other web sites in the same category. Combining NICNP Database, Index to Chinese Conference Papers Database, Index to the Shanghai Library Foreign Periodicals Collection and other databases, it is an integrated and interactive information service system, providing users and the general public with fast, convenient and reliable knowledge services.