Literature searching A literature search identifies relevant information sources that are used to answer clinical questions

Evidence-based Chiropractic PubMed searching Search using keywords, text words, or subject headings PubMed looks for entered keywords or text words in each of the possible fields of a record e.g., author, title, abstract, journal name, volume, issue, date, etc. Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Search dropdown list Features bar Query box Sidebar Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic PubMed homepage Search terms are typed into the Query box The Search drop-down list is typically left in its default position The MeSH database can be searched from the Search drop-down list or using a link in the sidebar Headache Evidence-based Chiropractic

The tutorial is excellent Link to the MeSH Database PubMed sidebar The tutorial is excellent Link to the MeSH Database Clinical Queries link Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic PubMed sidebar (cont.) The Clinical Queries link permits searches designed to answer clinical questions Topics can be searched by clinical study categories (e.g., therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, etc.) Or to only search for systematic reviews Evidence-based Chiropractic

PubMed Clinical Queries search Search term Select study category Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic MANTIS The MANTIS High Clinical Relevancy option is similar to PubMed’s Clinical Queries High Clinical Relevancy limits a search to articles that involve clinical trials or case reports Evidence-based Chiropractic

MANTIS advanced search page MANTIS Advanced search screen Search term High Clinical Relevancy check box Evidence-based Chiropractic

PubMed Basic Search mode Simply enter search terms in the Query box and click Go PubMed produces a list of retrieved citations Stopwords are ignored by PubMed e.g., the, and, because, thus, etc. They don’t add or detract anything from the search results Evidence-based Chiropractic

Search results for chiropractic Click to see full citation Check box then click Display Evidence-based Chiropractic

Select format for display view Sort records by option Results can be sent Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Multiple checkboxes More than one record can be viewed at the same time by selecting the checkboxes next to the desired citations Select a drop-down menu choice to set the display format PubMed keeps track of checkboxes and displays all checked records when requested by clicking Display Evidence-based Chiropractic

Advanced PubMed search tactics Limits Click the Limits tab on the Features bar Select the limiting search criteria from the screen that appears Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic More limit criteria Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Limits (cont.) Searching with limits will only retrieve articles that meet the limiting criteria that are set Selecting from the Type of article menu limits searches to specific publication types e.g., meta-analyses, clinical trials, case reports, editorials, etc. Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Limits example A search using the terms carpal tunnel syndrome without limits yields 5,728 citations―far too many to contend with Whereas only 15 are retrieved when the following limits are set English Clinical Trial Complementary Medicine Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Field tags Used to refine searches by forcing the query to consider specific search fields Results are very similar to what is achieved using Limits Thus, field tags are optional in PubMed Some think field tags are easier to use and prefer them Limits function is only partial in MANTIS Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Field tags (cont.) Field tags are placed within brackets after search terms Does not matter how many spaces between the search term and the field tag Does not matter whether upper or lower case letters are used To use field tags Enter the search term in the query box followed by a field tag within brackets Evidence-based Chiropractic

Common PubMed Field Tags Affiliation [AD] Author Name [AU] Journal Title Abbreviation [TA] Language [LA] MeSH Terms [MH] Publication Date [DP] Page Number [PG] Publication Type [PT] Volume [VI] Issue [IP] Subset [SB] Text Words [TW] Title Words [TI] Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Field tags example If spinal stenosis is searched for in PubMed Without any field tags, 2960 citations result spinal stenosis Using the Title Words [TI] field tag, only 731 spinal stenosis [TI] Combined with Author Name [AU], only 4 spinal stenosis [TI] smith [AU] Evidence-based Chiropractic

Boolean (Logical) operators Words that combine search terms to narrow down or broaden searches Consist of AND, OR, and NOT Should always be capitalized Used by many databases, including PubMed and MANTIS Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Boolean operator AND AND limits or narrows down a search Combines terms so that only citations that contain both terms are retrieved For example A PubMed search for sacroiliac joint yields 2,760 citations and manipulation 33,819 Searching sacroiliac joint AND manipulation narrows the results down to 76 Evidence-based Chiropractic

AND example sacroiliac joint 2,760 citations manipulation 33,819 citations sacroiliac joint AND manipulation 76 citations Evidence-based Chiropractic

Combining more than 2 terms sacroiliac manipulation joint chiropractic sacroiliac joint AND manipulation AND chiropractic 18 citations Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Boolean operator OR OR expands a search All articles that contain either of the queried terms are retrieved For example Searching PubMed for sacroiliac joint OR manipulation expands the results to 36,503 OR is useful when searching for different versions of a word e.g., manipulation OR adjustment Evidence-based Chiropractic

OR example sacroiliac joint 2,760 citations manipulation 33,819 citations sacroiliac joint OR manipulation 36,503 citations Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Boolean operator NOT NOT also limits or narrows down a search Only retrieves citations that do include the first term, but do not include the second term For example Searching PubMed for sacroiliac joint NOT manipulation narrows down the number of citations from 2,760 to 2,684 76 articles include manipulation and the SI joint, so they are eliminated Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic NOT example sacroiliac joint NOT manipulation sacroiliac manipulation joint Articles that include both sacroiliac joint and manipulation are eliminated Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Nesting Controls the order in which PubMed processes search terms From left to right by default Search terms are enclosed in parentheses Terms within the parentheses are processed first Boolean operators can be included Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Nesting example If a doctor wants information on the non-surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, the query might look like this carpal tunnel syndrome AND (treatment NOT surgery) This search will locate articles that deal with treatment, but not those that involve surgery Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Nesting example 2 Searching chiropractic AND (whiplash OR chronic pain) The database will first find all references that contain whiplash plus those that contain chronic pain Then it will restrict results to those that also contain the word chiropractic Evidence-based Chiropractic

The AND operator is used between words by default PubMed searches for headache AND therapy exactly the same way as headache therapy Thus, AND is sometimes optional To see how PubMed performed a search Click the Details tab after the search is complete Read the Query Translation Evidence-based Chiropractic

Translation is exactly the same when AND is used Details tab Translation is exactly the same when AND is used Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Query Translation Useful in figuring out why an unproductive search failed Also to plan a subsequent search strategy that will be more successful Evidence-based Chiropractic

Automatic Term Mapping When terms are searched without a field tag, they are matched (in order) against the MeSH Translation Table Journals Translation Table Full Author Translation Table Author Index Evidence-based Chiropractic

Automatic Term Mapping (cont.) If the term matches a MeSH term, it is searched both as a MeSH term and a Text Word The Journals Translation Table yields an abbreviated title when the journal’s full title is searched Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA or J Am Med Assoc Evidence-based Chiropractic

Automatic Term Mapping (cont.) The Full Author Translation Table retrieves the author’s full name Only for articles published after 2001 Order of names doesn’t matter Searching meeker william c is equivalent to william c meeker Commas are not necessary Helpful to distinguish first from last names (e.g., John James) Evidence-based Chiropractic

Truncation (a.k.a, wildcard search) Search for various uses of the same root word The root word verte can be expanded to vertebra, vertebrae, vertebral, etc. Searching only vertebral misses other forms of the word The root word with an asterisk retrieves all forms of the word e.g., verte* Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Truncation (cont.) An * can be placed at the beginning or end of search terms An * can also be placed within a word when a letter is variable or absent The search term an*emia will look for anemia and anaemia analy*e will look for analyze and analyse Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Phrase searching Forces PubMed to search for a phrase rather than individual terms Only the exact phrase will be queried The phrase must be placed within quotation marks A search of intervertebral disc herniation produces 11,747 citations Whereas “intervertebral disc herniation” produces only 183 Evidence-based Chiropractic

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) A list of vocabulary terms used to index medical literature Developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) MeSH terms are assigned to all MEDLINE records by NLM indexers corresponding to the article’s major topics Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Finding MeSH terms Select MeSH from the drop-down list next to the Search button on the PubMed homepage Enter term in PubMed query box A list of the MeSH terms or alternative suggestions will appear Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Enter term Select MeSH Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic No terms found Suggested terms Click likely terms Evidence-based Chiropractic

List of MeSH terms (only one in this case) Evidence-based Chiropractic

Finding MeSH terms (cont.) Another way to find MeSH terms is to view the citation format of an article Click Citation from the drop-down list next to the Display button located at the top and bottom of each page of retrieved records Evidence-based Chiropractic

Check the articles of interest Select Citation Check the articles of interest Evidence-based Chiropractic

The complete citation appears Including a list of MeSH terms Evidence-based Chiropractic

Finding MeSH terms (cont.) A final way to find MeSH terms is to perform a free-text search then look at PubMed’s automatic term mapping translation Click the Details tab and look at the terms in the Query Translation box MeSH terms have a [MeSH Terms] field tag next to them Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic Building a MeSH search From the MeSH database Select terms to include in the search by checking the adjacent box Select the location to send the term to in the Send to drop down list Other MeSH terms can be found and added to the Search Box by repeating this process Evidence-based Chiropractic

Send term to Search Box with AND, OR, or NOT Check MeSH term Evidence-based Chiropractic

More terms can be added to build a search Click when ready to perform the search Evidence-based Chiropractic

Evidence-based Chiropractic MeSH (cont.) MeSH indexers must Have at least a bachelor's degree in a biomedical science Have reading knowledge of one or more foreign languages Be trained in principles of MEDLINE indexing and complete several weeks of on-the-job training at the Library MeSH terms may at times be incorrect Evidence-based Chiropractic

MeSH terms are optional Search using any word in the title, abstract, or other field of the citation However, searching with MeSH terms narrows down the search and provides more focused results MeSH terms should be used when possible Evidence-based Chiropractic

MANTIS - Controlled Supplemental Vocabulary Similar to MeSH headings Functions with MeSH terms Search terms are specific to complementary and alternative medicine e.g., Gonstead Technic, Toggle Recoil Adjustment, Innate Intelligence, etc. Evidence-based Chiropractic