WISER: The Ovid databases

Ovid is the platform for searching many of the life science and medicine databases.

Juliet Ralph, Radcliffe Science Library

juliet.ralph@ouls.ox.ac.uk

February 2009

This session

• Access• Searching and indexes• Accessing the full text of papers• Alerts• Exporting records to RefWorks

Access

• OxLIP+ (Oxford Libraries Information Platform)

• http://oxlip-plus.ouls.ox.ac.uk• Search for database name

• Remote access– Oxford University Single sign-on (SSO)

http://www.ict.ox.ac.uk/oxford/username/

Why use Ovid databases?

• To do an effective literature search in life sciences or medicine

• Find out about journal articles published in your subject of interest

• Be confident you’re searching the key journals in the discipline

• These databases are well organised and up to date with plenty of handy search tools…

Which databases are available?Which databases are available?• AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine)AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine)• BIOSIS (biology, biochemistry, experimental BIOSIS (biology, biochemistry, experimental

& pre-clinical medicine)& pre-clinical medicine)• CAB Abstracts (agriculture & forestry)CAB Abstracts (agriculture & forestry)• Embase (the “European Medline”)Embase (the “European Medline”)• GeoRef (geoscience)GeoRef (geoscience)• Global Health Global Health • Medline (medicine)Medline (medicine)• PsycINFO (psychology)PsycINFO (psychology)• Zoological Record (zoology)Zoological Record (zoology)

Coverage

Journals Dates Extras

Biosis 50005000 1926-1926- Conference Conference proceedingsproceedings

CAB 11000 1910- Conf proc & theses

Embase 45004500 1980-1980- Conference Conference proceedingsproceedings

Medline 46004600 1950-1950- TrialsTrials

PsycInfo 20002000 1806-1806- Chapters & Chapters &

dissertationsdissertations

Zoo Record 50005000 1864-1864- Conference Conference proceedingsproceedings

What are they searching?

• Article titleArticle title• AbstractAbstract• Descriptors / Subject HeadingsDescriptors / Subject Headings• Journal titleJournal title• Authors Authors • AffiliationAffiliation• ReferencesReferences• ……..But not the full text..But not the full text

Search tabs

• Basic Search– Natural language searching

• Find Citation– Locating specific references

• Search Tools– Indexes and thesauri

• Search Fields– Restricting searches to specific fields

• Advanced Ovid Search [ recommended ! ]– Keyword, author, title or journal

• Multi-field search

Advanced Ovid Search

• Map Term to Subject Heading– Matches terms with the controlled vocabulary

(standard terminology) of a database – e.g. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in Medline– Brings together articles on your subject even if

they don’t have your keyword in the title– Weeds out articles which happen to contain your

keyword but are not actually about your subject– This option is not available when searching

multiple databases simultaneously

Mapping Display – Migraine Disorders

Tree – Migraine Disorders

Scope Note – Migraine Disorders

Subheading Display – Migraine Disorders

Record display

• Results– Abstract– Complete reference– Full text– Find it @ Oxford

• Find citing articles– Subsequent articles (on the Ovid platform) which

have cited this one in their bibliography

• Find similar– Perform a new search using search terms

taken from this record

Abstract

Complete Reference

Find it @ Oxford

Full Text

Find Citing Articles

Find Similar

Search History

• Use this to combine searches• Combine them with AND or OR

Limits

• Too many results? Use the Limits• Limit types:

– Language– Resource type (e.g. Review articles)– Publication year

• Additional Limits– available once a search has been performed

Basic Search tab

• Worth a try if you’re new to searching• This uses “natural language” searching

– Enter search as a phrase or question– Relevance determined by proprietary search

algorithm– For single search terms, use Advanced Ovid

Search instead

• Most relevant 500 records retrieved– For exhaustive searches, use Advanced Ovid

Search

Results Display for Basic Search

• Records ranked in order of relevance • Sorting options (e.g by date)• Search Aid box

– Lists terms used in search

Search Aid box

• Broaden/Narrow your search • Narrow Search

– Subjects– Authors– Journals

• Broaden Search– Add Related Terms

Alerts – for keeping up-to-date

• Automatic notification of new articles in your subject

• Set up Personal Account– Also allows you to add notes to records

• Save Search– Temporary/Permanent– AutoAlert (SDI)

• Scheduling Options (choose frequency)• Email + RSS• Not available when searching more than one

database

Results Manager

• Options– Results (select which ones you want to output)– Fields (select which fields to include)– Result Format – Sort Keys

• Actions– Display– Print Preview– Email– Save (export to reference management package)

Display

Print Preview

Email

Exporting records to RefWorks

• Results Manager– Results Format

• Direct Export

– Save– Export results to RefWorks

• Account set-up and log in– http://www.refworks.com/refworks

Guides

• OvidSP Quick Reference Cardhttp://www.ovid.com/site/pdf/osp/OvidSP_QRC_021108.pdf

• OvidSP User Guide http://www.ovid.com/site/pdf/osp/osp_userguide_020108_tabs.pdf

• OvidSP Basic Search

http://www.ovid.com/site/pdf/osp/OvidSP_Best%20Practices_in_Basic_Search_2-1-08.pdf

Further help available

• Ask Library staff• Contact your subject librarian. See:

www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/libraries/subjects/librarians

• Try our online tutorials (Medline & PsycInfo)

http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rsl/training/interactive_tutorials