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: ilk21@cam.ac.uk

phone: (01223) 336750

web: library.medschl.cam.ac.uk

Thank you.