UX Caucus Database Tips

The Crux: when including the terms use, root, scope, or ptx (a protein) in a search query, you may need to apply quotation marks either around the term or around the phrase in which it appears. Many databases ignore or remove frequently occurring terms from search queries to expedite processing time. So called stopwords in Embase are and, as, for, from, is, of, that, the, this, to, was, and were . The stopword and is also a Boolean operator. If you use and in an advanced search, it will not be ignored but will act as an operator unless you enclose it in quotation marks, which will render it a stopword. Either way, your search should not result in a database error or baffling results. A notable exception in Embase (Ovid) are controlled vocabularies. A search for aerosolized particles and droplets/ [forward slash signifies a subject heading], will return zero results. However, if you enclose it in quotation marks, "aerosolized particles and droplets"/ , you'll correctly...

Many thanks to Zahra Premji, Health Research Librarian from the University of Victoria Libraries ( @ZapTheLibrarian ), for this week's post! We frequently use the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) Topic field for systematic searching in evidence synthesis, because it is a multi-field option that includes relevant fields such as title, abstract, and author-keywords. What is the Topic field searching? According to the Web of Science interface, the Topic field in WoSCC searches "title, abstract and author keywords" (January 10th, 2024).  This is a change from the description that was provided In the past (as recently as November 2023), where the Topic field description specifically mentioned title, abstract, author keywords, and keywords plus . So the removal of Keywords Plus from the Topic field description is a recent change. But you will see below that despite the field description (on the database) not mentioning Keywords plus, the TS field still includes Keywords p...

 I grabbed the following announcement from Embase.com. It appears to be available in Beta now! "The tool streamlines the process, saving time and reducing potential errors in query translation, making it a valuable resource for researchers and medical professionals looking to access the extensive and focused content available in Embase. Key Features: Seamless Transition: It offers a seamless and intuitive platform to effortlessly translate your PubMed queries into Embase queries. No need for manually reformatting your search strings; our tool does it for you. MeSH to Emtree Mapping: Take advantage of our unique mapping feature that automatically converts MeSH terms to Emtree terms. This ensures that your search is as precise as possible, capturing a more extensive range of relevant literature in the Embase database. Time-Saving: Save valuable time with our tool, which streamlines the search process. Quickly and accurately adapt your PubMed queries to the Embase database, allowing ...

Many thanks to Ben Harnke, MLIS from the Strauss Health Sciences Library, University of Colorado (ben.harnke@cuanschutz.edu) for this week's tip!   Overview The following are instructions to export records from clincicaltrials.gov (Trials) to EndNote, with the ultimate goal of sending the records to a screening software, namely Covidence. The new Trials website ( https://www.clinicaltrials.gov /) will only export in JSON (Java Script format) and Comma Separated Values (CSV) formats. We will be using the CSV export format, the format for spreadsheets. These instructions are simply slight modifications to the Clarivate instructions for importing tab-delimited files (spreadsheets) into EndNote. Before proceeding with the following instructions, first decide whether it is necessary to export directly from clinicaltrials.gov to begin with. Cochrane CENTRAL contains records from Trials and is more user friendly. CENTRAL is limited to "randomized and quasi-randomized controlled tri...