MEDLINE : PubMed & Ovid compared

Juliet RalphJuliet Ralph Radcliffe Science Library Radcliffe Science Library

www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rslwww.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rsl

What is MEDLINE?

MEDLINE is the bibliographic database produced by the National Library of Medicine (USA) covering:Medicine Nursing Dentistry Veterinary medicine Allied health Pre-clinical sciences.

What is MEDLINE?What is MEDLINE?It contains over 17 million references to journal articles, including reviews and clinical trials

Gathered from 4,600 biomedical journals published in the United States and in 70 other countries

Dating back to 1950, with daily updates

Electronic version of Index Medicus, Index to Dental Literature, and the International Nursing Index.

Index MedicusIndex MedicusStarted in 1879 by Dr John Shaw Billings, Librarian at the Office of the Surgeon General, United States Army A monthly classified index of the current medical literature of the worldThe first of its kindPrinted volumes 1879-1950 are at the Radcliffe Science Library

Subject HeadingsSubject HeadingsRecords are indexed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) :a huge list of standard terms (over 22,000) for indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences.Each article is tagged with 10-15 headings or subheadings.“Major” headings are marked with an asterisk.This allows you to retrieve articles on a subject even if they don’t have your even if they don’t have your keyword in the title.keyword in the title.

Different routes to MedlineDifferent routes to Medline

The free onePubMed: www.pubmed.gov

And those we subscribe to1. Ovid

new OvidSP interface from 1st Feb. 20082. SCOPUS

includes Medline & Embase 3. CSA illumina: 1997 onwards

can be searched simultaneously with TOXLINE (toxicology).All on Oxlip www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip/

A note about coverageA note about coveragePubMed provides access to Medline - PLUS very recent articles not yet indexed:

On arrival they are initially tagged [PubMed - as supplied by publisher].  Most progress to "in-process" status and later to "indexed for MEDLINE". 

Publishers also send details for articles that appear on the Web before the journal issue's release. They are tagged [Epub ahead of print].  

The Ovid platformThe Ovid platformAccess to Medline – PLUS these other biomedical databases:AMED – complementary medicineBritish Nursing IndexCinahl – nursingEmbase – medicine & pharmacologyGlobal Health – public health & tropical medicineHMIC – Health Management Information ConsortiumPsycInfo – psychology

ALL MOVING TO OvidSP ON 1ST FEBRUARY 2008.

Isn’t Medline all I need?Isn’t Medline all I need?

Although it’s pretty comprehensive for clinical enquiries it has a strong US bias. EMBASE (electronic version of Excerpta Medica) has better coverage of European journals and also includes more references to drugs and therapeutics.

In Ovid & PubMed you canIn Ovid & PubMed you canSearch using free text keywords or MeSH headingsView your search historyCombine searches Limit results by language, date, age groups, etc. Can also limit to Clinical Queries. Search for a specific reference or check a faulty/incomplete reference “View similar” articlesSave searchesSet up email alerts for new articles

Different buttons, similar functionDifferent buttons, similar functionIn PubMed: In PubMed: MeSH DatabaseMeSH Database

HistoryHistoryLimitsLimitsSingle Citation Single Citation MatcherMatcherMyNCBI to save MyNCBI to save searches & set up searches & set up e-mail alertse-mail alerts

OvidSP equivalent:OvidSP equivalent:Search tools>Map Search tools>Map termtermSearch historySearch historyLimitsLimitsFind citationFind citation

Personal Account Personal Account for saved searches for saved searches & alerts& alerts

Links to full text : OvidSP

•In our subscription databases you’ll see the linking tool

•This gives access to all the e-journals Oxford is entitled to

•…Even when you’re “off campus”

•Remote access is possible with an Athens account

•Self-register at www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/athens/

Links to free full text: PubMed

•Many articles are freely available and indicated in the results list by icons such as

•Free full text

•Free in PubMed Central

Links to Oxford full text: PubMed

•What about “Abstract only” or No Abstract?

•Full text (especially latest issues) isn’t always freely available

•But if Oxford subscribes to the journal AND you are within the Oxford network you get access.

•Go into the record and look for links such as

What’s new on OvidSP?What’s new on OvidSP?Basic Search mode :“Natural Language” SearchingSearch Aids, eg Narrow or Broaden search, add Related TermsLinks to related authors or journals

Results are ranked by relevance (not date)

Adopts the widely used Truncation symbol *Eg disease* retrieves diseases, diseased etc

Natural Language searchingNatural Language searchingAsk a question or describe a topic in ordinary EnglishWhat are the current criteria for use of prophylactic defibrillators in MI?Ovid produces validated terms: criteria prophylactic defibrillators heart attack Expands to include word variations, strong synonyms, acronyms, alternative spellingsDo not “force phrasing” with quotation marks, brackets or hyphensBe as concise as possibleUse nouns more than verbs

Why use PubMed?Freely available on the web

URL easy to remember

Quick and easy to search

For very recent articles

Clinical Queries – Search by Clinical Study Category Search by Clinical Study Category – Find Systematic Reviews Find Systematic Reviews – Medical Genetics Searches Medical Genetics Searches

Why use OvidSP?For a new topic or a more “guided” search

Use the MeSH headings from one relevant article to go to others (hyperlinks included in “Complete Reference”)

“Find citing articles” (in other Ovid journals)

Direct export to RefWorks and other reference management packages

Links to e-journals plus library catalogues (for print holdings, if not available electronically).

And search multiple databases on And search multiple databases on OvidSPOvidSP

SimultaneouslySimultaneously– You can Deduplicate results (using You can Deduplicate results (using

Search History)Search History)

OR OR Do a search in one database then re-Do a search in one database then re-run it in anotherrun it in another– Click on Change databaseClick on Change database– Select new databaseSelect new database– Open and re-executeOpen and re-execute

Here to helpHere to helpContact your Subject LibrarianContact your Subject LibrarianListed atListed atwww.ouls.ox.ac.ukwww.ouls.ox.ac.uk/libraries/librarians/libraries/librarians

Online enquiry service “Ask an Oxford Librarian”Online enquiry service “Ask an Oxford Librarian”www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/askwww.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/ask

Health Care Libraries enquiries@hcl.ox.ac.ukHealth Care Libraries enquiries@hcl.ox.ac.ukRadcliffe Science Library Radcliffe Science Library enquiries.rsl@ouls.ox.ac.uk enquiries.rsl@ouls.ox.ac.uk juliet.ralph@ouls.ox.ac.ukjuliet.ralph@ouls.ox.ac.uk

Over to youOver to you

Getting started with OvidSPTry the tutorial at

www.informs.intute.ac.uk/informs_perl/jump.pl?270-4011