big 4 march 2012
TRANSCRIPT
Big 4 Databases: Pubmed, Embase, Web of Knowledge, Scopus
Isla KuhnReader Services Librarian, Medical Library
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARYMEDICAL LIBRARY
PubMed/Medline – 5,200
Web of Science – 11,180
PubMed/Medline – 5,200
Web of Science – 11,180
Embase – 5,124
PubMed/Medline – 5,200
Web of Science – 11,180
Embase – 5,124
Scopus – 18,2451
PubMed/Medline – 5,200
441
6,669
1,116
1,5686,949
60
3,055
All different………
But lots of similarities…..
Pubmed Embase WoK Scopus
Years of coverage 1954 - present
1980 - present 1970 - present 1996 – to present
Subject headings Health & medicine
Health & medicine (pharmacology strength
Arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences
Arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences
Added bonus Subject headings
Subject headings
“H” index
Journal Impact factors;
Conference proceedings
“H” index;
Web & Patents search;
Journal analyzer
What’s the difference?
Pubmed Embase WoK Scopus
Password required? (RAVEN)
Complex search option (allowing for Boolean “and”/”or” searching
Subject headings
Save Searches
Alerts
Related articles
Citation tracking
Links to full-text
Export to endnote/refman etc
What’s the difference?
Pubmed Embase WoK Scopus
Password required? (RAVEN) No Yes Yes Yes
Complex search option (allowing for Boolean “and”/”or” searching
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Subject headings Yes Yes No No
Save Searches Yes Yes Yes Yes
Alerts Yes Yes Yes Yes
Related articles Yes Yes Yes Yes
Citation tracking No No Yes Yes
Links to full-text yes (but unreliably)
Yes Yes Yes
Export to endnote/refman etc Yes Yes Yes Yes
From Topic to Results
• Topic -> question -> keywords/synonyms
Effect of chocolate in prevention of heart disease
...”Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing risk of heart disease?” ….
Themes / PICO
…………………keywords???.... synonyms???........................
Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing the risk of heart disease?
P –problem / patient?
I – Intervention?
C – Comparison?
O – Outcome?
Synonyms?
From Topic to Results
Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing the risk of heart disease?
P – heart disease
I – chocolate
C –
O – prevention
From Topic to Results
Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing the risk of heart disease?
P – heart disease / heart failure / cardiovascular disease / coronary disease
I – chocolate / cocoa / cacao
C –
O –risk / prevention / prevalence
From Topic to Results
Quiz 1
Which will give you most hits (a more SENSITIVE search)
1. coronary disease AND heart failure
2. coronary disease OR heart failure
3. coronary disease NOT heart failure
From Topic to Results:Boolean Logic
OR – to broaden your search, by combining similar terms
eg
“exercise” or “physical activity”
Either term can be present in the resulting set of articles.
Cerebral-vascular Accident
Stroke
Quiz 2
Which will give you better hits (a more SPECIFIC search)?
1. coronary disease AND chocolate
2. chocolate OR heart failure
3. coronary disease NOT chocolate
4. risk AND chocolate
AND – to narrow the search by combining different topics
eg
“physiotherapy” and “stroke”
Both terms must be present in the results.
StrokePhysiotherapy
From Topic to Results:Boolean Logic
Quiz 3
Which will give you best hits (most SPECIFIC search)?
1. coronary disease AND chocolate AND risk
2. (coronary disease OR heart failure) AND chocolate AND risk
3. chocolate AND risk AND coronary failure
4. risk AND (chocolate OR cocoa) AND (coronary disease OR heart failure)
From Topic to Results:Boolean Logic
NOT – to restrict your search so that it does not contain a particular term
eg
“physical therapy” not “manual therapy”
The first, but not the second, term must be present.
Manual Therapy
Physical Therapy
heart disease OR cardiovascular disease or coronary disease
AND
chocolate OR cocoa OR cacao
AND
prevention OR risk or prevalence
Limits?
MeSH?
From Topic to ResultsIs consuming chocolate effective in the prevention of heart disease?
Access
http://library.medschl.cam.ac.uk/
– click “databases for literature searching”
- Pick embase, medline (pubmed), web of science and scopus
or
gateway.ovid.com/autologin.cgi
www.pubmed.gov
wok.mimas.ac.uk
www.scopus.com
What’s the difference?
Pubmed Embase WoK Scopus
Password required? (RAVEN) No Yes Yes Yes
Complex search option (allowing for Boolean “and”/”or” searching
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Subject headings Yes Yes No No
Save Searches Yes Yes Yes Yes
Alerts Yes Yes Yes Yes
Related articles Yes Yes Yes Yes
Citation tracking No No Yes Yes
Links to full-text yes (but unreliably)
Yes Yes Yes
Export to endnote/refman etc Yes Yes Yes Yes
LibrarySearch / e-journals@cambridge http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/
and/or NHS ejournals? http://tinyurl.com/nhs-ejournals
From strategy to references
Searching – Do’s & Don’ts
• Don’t try to do the whole search in one line
• Don’t imagine that your first attempt will get all the articles you need
• Don’t give up!
Searching – Do’s & Don’ts
• Do think of alternative ways of talking about your topic
• Do learn from your hits and your misses
• Do remember that you still have to critically appraise each article
• Do ask for help
Help!
Isla Kuhn
Reader Services Librarian
Medical Library
email: [email protected]
phone: (01223) 336750
web: library.medschl.cam.ac.uk
Thank you.