1. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Big 4 Databases:
Pubmed, Embase,
Web of Knowledge, Scopus
Isla Kuhn
Reader Services Librarian, Medical Library

2. PubMed/Medline
– 5,200

3. PubMed/Medline
– 5,200
Web of Science –
11,180

4. PubMed/Medline
– 5,200
Web of Science – Embase – 5,124
11,180

5. 6,669
Scopus – 18,2451
PubMed/Medline
– 5,200
1,568
6,949
3,055
1,116
60 441
Web of Science – Embase – 5,124
11,180

6. Picture 6
All different………

7. But lots of similarities…..
Pubmed Embase WoK Scopus
Years of coverage 1954 - 1980 - present 1970 - present 1996 – to
present present
Subject headings Health & Health & Arts, Arts,
medicine medicine humanities, humanities,
(pharmacology sciences, social sciences,
strength sciences social sciences
Added bonus Subject Subject “H” index “H” index;
headings headings
Journal Impact Web & Patents
factors; search;
Conference Journal
proceedings analyzer

8. 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

9. What’s the difference?
Pubmed Embase WoK Scopus
Password required? (RAVEN) No Yes Yes Yes
Complex search option (allowing for Yes Yes Yes Yes
Boolean “and”/”or” searching
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 Yes Yes Yes
(but unreliably)
Export to endnote/refman etc Yes Yes Yes Yes

10. 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???........................

11. From Topic to Results
Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing the risk of heart disease?
P –problem / patient?
I – Intervention?
C – Comparison?
O – Outcome?
Synonyms?

12. From Topic to Results
Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing the risk of heart disease?
P – heart disease
I – chocolate
C–
O – prevention

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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
Stroke
Accident

16. 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

17. From Topic to Results:
Boolean Logic
AND – to narrow the search by combining different topics
eg
“physiotherapy” and “stroke”
Both terms must be present in the results.
Physiotherapy Stroke

18. Quiz 3
Which will give you best hits (most SPECIFIC search)?
3. coronary disease AND chocolate AND risk
4. (coronary disease OR heart failure) AND chocolate AND risk
5. chocolate AND risk AND coronary failure
6. risk AND (chocolate OR cocoa) AND (coronary disease OR heart
failure)

19. 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.
Physical Manual
Therapy Therapy

20. From Topic to Results
Is consuming chocolate effective in the prevention of
heart disease?
heart disease OR cardiovascular disease or coronary disease
AND
chocolate OR cocoa OR cacao
AND
prevention OR risk or prevalence
Limits?
MeSH?

21. 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

22. What’s the difference?
Pubmed Embase WoK Scopus
Password required? (RAVEN) No Yes Yes Yes
Complex search option (allowing for Yes Yes Yes Yes
Boolean “and”/”or” searching
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 Yes Yes Yes
(but unreliably)
Export to endnote/refman etc Yes Yes Yes Yes

23. From strategy to references
LibrarySearch / e-journals@cambridge
http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/
and/or NHS ejournals?
http://tinyurl.com/nhs-ejournals

24. 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!

25. 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

27. Help!
Isla Kuhn
Reader Services Librarian
Medical Library
email: ilk21@cam.ac.uk
phone: (01223) 336750
web: library.medschl.cam.ac.uk
Thank you.