UX Caucus Database Tips

Featuring guest author, information specialist, and Scopus mechanic Dr. Marc von Gernler, University of Bern. Dr. von Gernler devised a brilliant work around for when Scopus exports fewer records than are in a results set. At the end of his post are details of Elsevier HelpDesk experiences from Database Tips Blog editor Michele McGinnis related to this issue. The crux: Scopus export discrepancy between number or records retrieved and exported is an inconsistently experienced issue. If you happen to experience this issue, this workaround will identify the missing records and save your systematic review! It may have been resolved in May 2026 with Scopus export performance fixes, but it's not clear that it was. Introduction At a certain point in a systematic literature search, when all search strategies have been developed, the final search is at hand. A moment the review team is yearning for. In this final search, each database is searched and all the results are exported for the scr...

A huge thanks to John Reynolds , MLIS, from the Louis Calder Memorial Library at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who wrote this post! Embase (Elsevier’s Embase.com) has recently added large numbers of clinical trials records to their database and includes them in search results by default. Starting in May 2025 they added 500,000 records from ClinicalTrials.gov and continue to add new records. See their FAQ for more information. Similarly, Cochrane CENTRAL (Wiley) has been adding clinical trials registry records from ClinicalTrials.org and the WHO ICTRP since 2023. It also contains registry records identified through its own Specialized Registers and Handsearch projects. See this FAQ on how trials records are added . While trials records can be useful for many kinds of research, many people may not want trials records in their search results, or may prefer to search trials registries directly. While both Embase and CENTRAL allow searchers to identify and limit search...