SearchingtheBiomedical
Literature:Medline(Ovid),
PubMed&Scopus
Biology 3100
Library Session 3
Sept 26, 2011
MEDLINE
Defined
• MEDLINE is a bibliographic database produced by the National Library of Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health.
• Medline(Ovid) is the subscription‐based interface that provides access to the MEDLINE database
• PubMed is the free interface that provides access to the MEDLINE database.
MEDLINE
Content&Coverage
• Medline covers the broad field of biomedicine, and includes microbiology, immunology, endocrinology, pharmacology, toxicology, and other areas of biology and medicine. • Coverage is from 1966 to the present. MEDLINE(Ovid)Vs.PubMed
MEDLINE(Ovid )
• more sophisticated mapping system to help identify appropriate subject headings (MeSH terms)
• more control over the "explode" function and selecting subject terms or text words
• the ability to connect to the York Online Catalog and link to library holdings
• the ability to save complex search strategies using search statement numbers
• the AutoAlert update feature
PubMed • more current database with citations added directly by journal publishers
• search engine that simultaneously searches for subject headings and key words
• and automatically explodes subject headings
• more direct links to full‐text journal articles
• "related articles" feature
• faster response time
• free access to everyone with internet connection
MedicalSubjectHeadings
• (MeSH) are what make searching in MEDLINE so powerful. • They are specific terms that are used to index articles in MEDLINE. • They are structured in Hierarchies “trees” of broader and narrower related terms. • They provide a consistent way to find articles that are about
the same topic but use different terminology. SUBJECTHEADINGvs KEYWORD
• A word or phrase assigned to a book or article that describes what it is about. • The word comes from a thesaurus of terms specific to the database and is standard for all books or articles about that subject
• An arbitrary word used in a book or article to refer to a topic in the book or article. • It is selected by the author to describe a topic or concept or is a term that appears in the abstract or title
• Different authors use different terms to describe the same concept
SH vs. KW
Demonstration
MEDLINE(Ovid)
Searching
• Basic Search allows natural language searching
• Ranks results by Score or Relevancy
• Advanced Search allows more controlled searching with MeSH headings and Keywords
• You can select the sorting function – default is by date of publication
• More control over the "explode" function and selecting subject terms or text words
MEDLINE(Ovid)
Demonstration
PubMed
Demonstration
SCOPUS
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Launched Nov. 2004
Elsevier product
Includes its own web search engine Scirus
Draws on Medline, Embase, Compendex, World Textile Index, Fluidex, Geobase, Biobase • Uses all of their controlled vocabularies making searching more powerful
SCOPUS
• Provides international coverage • Citation data available from 1996 onwards (bibliographic data back to 1966)
• Covers over 15,000 titles total • Broader range of types of publications than WoS
• Covers more serials
• Very heavy weighting toward coverage of Biomedical literature, though some social sciences and physical sciences coverage
Scopus
Demonstration