Introduction Dealing with search requests and training users is all in a day’s work for many information professionals. Like many human endeavours, designing effective search strategies can be subject to errors and inefficiencies [1]. However, automated techniques can help detect such issues and can also help beginners in learning to designing their own search strategies. Methods Currently, librarians resort to multiple disconnected approaches and tools in the creation of systematic searches [2]. For example, they may use MS Word documents or spreadsheets to design and translate a search; use databases with inflexible search interfaces to run the search, rely on database accounts or MS Word to document their search strategy, resort to PRESS forum to peer-review their search, and then rely on MS Word or PDF to publish the search. Instead, what information professionals need is an integrated platform to unify or all these activities and tasks. Results We are developing 2Dsearch: a web application that supports many of the above tasks in a unified search user experience [3]. Instead of entering Boolean strings into one-dimensional search boxes, queries are formulated by manipulating objects on a two-dimensional canvas. Query suggestions are provided via an NLP services API, and support is offered for optimising and translating search strategies for different databases. Search results update in real-time, and individual search blocks with hit counts can be enabled/disabled on demand. The system allows users to import existing search strategies and detects errors within them. In addition, it allows users to save and share their search strategies for peer-review. On the assumption that search always benefits from the expertise of an information professional, the platform has been designed involving librarians and information specialists from the outset, and focuses on satisfying the needs of information professionals in providing automated support for their structured searching. In addition, 2Dsearch serves as a teaching assistant for librarians who train non-search experts in using Boolean logic by offering a visual two-dimensional canvas rather than the inflexible command-line approach offered by most traditional query builders. It also eliminates the need for Boolean operators, brackets, spaces and punctuation, as they are often the primary source of error in search strategies. Moreover, it can make the learning experience more effective for beginners. Conclusion Search is the first stage in evidence synthesis, and the use of a valid and reproducible search strategy forms the foundation of the systematic review process. However, the key steps are often fragmented across a variety of unconnected, non-interoperable platforms. We present an open-access platform that offers a unified approach to structured searching which promotes transparent methods and reproducible results.

3. An open-access platform to design,
validate and share search strategies
Tony Russell-Rose, Farhad Shokraneh

4. • Errors in search strategies (Salvador-Olivan, et al. 2019, JMLA)
• Peer-reviewing the search (McGowan et al. 2016, J Clin Epidemiol)
• Platform to develop search strategy (Russell-Rose & Shokraneh, Weave UX)
• Word Processors
• Auto-conversion of straight to smart quotations
• Auto-correction of truncation or wildcard
• Creates duplicates
• Auto-space-removal of shared documents
• Need external program such as Microsoft Office or GoogleDocs
• PDFs
• Breaking paragraphs into lines when copies
• Cannot be edited (without a installing another program)
• Need external program such as Microsoft Office or GoogleDocs
Some of the problems with our search practice

5. • Reproducibility of searches
• Training the beginners
• Translating search strategies
• PolyGlot
• Sharing the search strategies (all external)
• Unavailability of supplementary materials (Evangelou et al. 2005, FACEB J)
• MedTerm Assist (Pittsburgh University)
• Search Strategy Library (Gulhane, 2019)
• ISSG Search Filters on Google Site
• Search Blocks on Google Site
• Institutional Repositories or OSF
• No one stop shop
• Living Search Strategies (Shokraneh & Russell-Rose 2020, J Clin Epidemiol)
• COVID-19
Some of the problems with our search practice

6. What’s wrong with Boolean strings?
• Ineffective for communicating structure
• Visual cues needed
• Poor scalability
• No abstraction
• Error-prone
• Syntactic + semantic errors
• Salvador-Oliván, José Antonio, Gonzalo Marco-Cuenca, and Rosario Arquero-Avilés. "Errors in search strategies used in
systematic reviews and their effects on information retrieval." Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA 107.2 (2019):
210.
6

7. Learning from other disciplines
• Search strategies are:
• Complex, logical constructs
• Read many more times that they are written
• Exhibit abstraction, modularity, encapsulation
• Maintained, shared, optimised…
• “For the IBM PC in the early 1980s, the software development process
was text edit, compile, write down the errors, and debug with your
eyes.”
• The History of Visual Development Environments, https://www.mendix.com/blog/the-
history-of-visual-development-environments-imagine-theres-no-ides-its-difficult-if-you-try/
7

8. Thinking outside the search box
• What if we could visualize search strategies?
• Use metaphors the user already understands
• Separate keyword selection from query manipulation
• Provide a ‘scratchpad’ & ‘debugging aids’
• Provide instant feedback
• Support abstraction (levels of composition)
• Provide query suggestions
8

9. Anick et al (1989), Fishkin & Stone (1995)
9

10. Boolio, Search Whiteboard, Searchrefiner
10

11. Query formulation
• Concepts are objects on a 2D canvas
• Relationships via direct manipulation
• Syntactically correct expressions
• Transparent semantics
• Arbitrary levels of abstraction
• ‘Lego’ analogy
• Optimisation thru exploration
• Execute, enable/disable
• Hit counts
11

12. Executing queries
• Integrations
• 9 databases & counting...
• Universal representation
• Auto-translation
• Error-checking
• Interoperability with legacy formats
• Boolean string I/O
12

13. A healthcare search strategy
1. randomized controlled trial.pt.
2. controlled clinical trial.pt.
3. randomized.ab.
4. placebo.ab.
5. clinical trials as topic.sh.
6. randomly.ab.
7. trial.ti.
8. 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7
9. (animals not (humans and animals)).sh.
10. 8 not 9
11. exp Child/
12. ADOLESCENT/
13. exp infant/
14. child hospitalized/
15. adolescent hospitalized/
16. (child$ or infant$ or toddler$ or adolescen$ or teenage$).tw.
13
17. or/11-16
18. Child Nutrition Sciences/
19. exp Dietary Proteins/
20. Dietary Supplements/
21. Dietetics/
22. or/18-21
23. exp Infant, Newborn/
24. exp Overweight/
25. exp Eating Disorders/
26. Athletes/
27. exp Sports/
28. exp Pregnancy/
29. exp Viruses/
30. (newborn$ or obes$ or "eating disorder$" or pregnan$ or
childbirth or virus$ or influenza).tw.
31. or/23-30
32. 10 and 17 and 22
33. 32 not 31
Francis, D. K., Smith, J., Saljuqi, T., & Watling, R. M. (2015). Oral protein calorie supplementation for children with chronic disease. Cochrane Database of
Systematic Reviews, (5).

14. That healthcare strategy...
Think outside the search box – www.2dsearch.com 14

15. Suggestions in context
15

16. NLP architecture
16
T.G. Russell-Rose and Phil Gooch ,"2dSearch: a
visual approach to search strategy
formulation", Proceedings of DESIRES: Design
of Experimental Search & Information
REtrieval Systems, Bertinoro, Italy, 28-31
August 2018

17. Sharing, reuse, best practice
• Open content repository:
• Templates and best practices
• Library of shared strategies (aka ‘GitHub’)
• Community of practice (aka ‘Stack Overflow’)
17
Technology:
Search strategy
formulation
Community:
Sharing &
review
Content:
Samples &
templates

18. A ‘living’ search strategy for COVID-19
Shokraneh, Farhad, and Tony Russell-
Rose. "Lessons from COVID-19 to
future evidence synthesis efforts: first
living search strategy and out of date
scientific publishing and indexing
industry." Journal of Clinical
Epidemiology (2020).

19. Summary
• Reimagining ‘advanced search’
• Eliminate syntactic error
• Make semantics transparent & reproducible
• Provide support for reuse, optimisation, best practice
• Key transformations:
• Text → visual
• Procedural → declarative
• Static → executable
• Try it for yourself: https://www.2dsearch.com
• Tutorial videos: https://www.2dsearch.com/help
19

20. Dr. Tony Russell-Rose
Senior Lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London
RAE Visiting Professor, Essex University
Dr. Farhad Shokraneh
Systematic Reviewer/Information Specialist
King's College London