INIS – is the leading international information system in the field of the nuclear energy peaceful use. English abbreviation INIS means International Nuclear Information System. The system was developed and used by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in cooperation with the states and international organizations – INIS members.

INIS provides the comprehensive abstract informing about publications in the field of nuclear science and technology. The INIS thematic scope was elaborated in compliance with international society information needs within the frames of IAEA interests and activity in atomic energy peaceful use.

INIS includes such sections as:
     - Nuclear energy (nuclear energy and devices, nuclear reactors, nuclear fuel cycle, radioactive waste treatment), nuclear safety;
     - Materials are of the nuclear interest, environmental issues (nuclear and non-nuclear energy sources), economical aspects;
     - Guarantees, nonproliferation;
     - Nuclear methods application (manufacturing and industrial application of the isotopes and radiation sources, application of the radioisotopes and radiation in the agriculture, biology, medicine);
     - Radiation protection;
     - Nuclear aspects of the chemistry (radiochemistry, radiation chemistry, nuclear chemistry, nuclear analytic methods).

The main product of the International Nuclear Information System is the INIS bibliographic database. The database was established by INIS member countries and some international organizations cooperating with it since 1970. The INIS Secretariat located in IAEA (Vienna, Austria) joins the forces of all INIS members to create the powerful information system.

Almost all the documents are contained in the database have been available as the abstracts since 1975. At present the database consists of more than 2,8 millions of the bibliographic records with annual database increase in average by 80-90 units. Each record contains the information about the certain scientific publication (books, articles, magazines, records of the conferences, preprints, patents, and scientific thesis).

The literature is entered by INIS into the database can be subdivided into two categories: accessible and non-conventional. The first category includes the literature accessible through usual book trade channels, from magazines and also through the publishing houses. The non-conventional literature includes all other types of publications including scientific and technical reports, patent documents, reports represented in the conferences prior to their beginning and also publications are prohibited to be sold. The full collection of the non-conventional literature is more than 850 thousands of the full-text documents collected during the period from 1970 and up to present. It shall be noted that the database includes the rare documents whose text was preserved only by INIS and cannot be found anywhere else. All the above makes the library of the non-conventional literature truly unique.

The INIS foundation is the international cooperation. It is the first international information system where both the data input preparation and data output are decentralized for users. Only data processing and output data production are centralized and performed by INIS Secretariat.

At present there are 142 members in INIS, out of them 119 are the countries and 23 are the international organizations. Kazakhstan is INIS member-country. Annually the INIS communication representatives in Kazakhstan enter in average up to 300 units of information with the use of WinFibre software.

There is no National INIS Center in Kazakhstan but it is planned to establish it in future. And it is also planned to elaborate nuclear and physical information system providing wide range of services including the delivery of full-text non-conventional INIS information and publications issued in Kazakhstan to all nuclear physical organizations. Given information will be very useful for the specialists, students, postgraduates learning the nuclear science. In future the given system can become the main information source for nuclear physicists of Kazakhstan.

Doctorovitch Irina Vasilievna appointed to be the INIS communication representative in September 2008, SSE «The Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology» RSE “NNC” RK (office telephone: (72251) 23413, fax: (72251) 22806, e-mail: irbe@nnc.kz).