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

2. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
PubMed/Medline
– 5,200

3. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
PubMed/Medline
– 5,200
Web of Science –
11,180

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

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

6. All different………
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY

7. Some differences…..
Pubmed
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Embase
WoK
Scopus
Years of coverage
1954 present
1974 - present
1970 - present
1996 – to
present
Subject headings
Health &
medicine
Health &
medicine
(pharmacology
strength)
Arts,
humanities,
sciences, social
sciences
Arts,
humanities,
sciences,
social sciences
Added bonus
Subject
headings
Subject
headings
“H” index
“H” index;
Journal Impact
factors;
Web & Patents
search;
Conference
proceedings
Journal
analyzer

8. But they all do the same thing
(pretty much…..)
Pubmed
Password required? (RAVEN)
Complex search option (allowing for
Boolean “and”/”or” searching
Subject headings
Save Searches(after you’ve logged in)
Alerts
Related articles
Citation tracking
Links to full-text
Export to reference management tool
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Embase
WoK
Scopus

9. But they all do the same thing
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Pubmed
Embase
WoK
Scopus
Password required? (RAVEN)
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Complex search option (allowing for
Boolean “and”/”or” searching
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Subject headings
Yes
Yes
No (ish) No (ish)
Save Searches (after you’ve logged in)
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
Export to reference management tool
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

10. From Topic to Results
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
• 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

11. From Topic to Results
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing the risk of heart disease?
P – heart disease
I – chocolate
C–
O – risk

13. From Topic to Results
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Is consuming chocolate effective in reducing the risk of heart disease?
heart disease / heart failure / cardiovascular disease / coronary disease
chocolate / cocoa / cacao
risk / prevention / prevalence

14. Quiz 1
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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

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

16. Quiz 2
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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

17. From Topic to Results:
Boolean Logic
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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.
Stroke
Cerebral-vascular
Accident

18. Quiz 3
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Which will give you best hits (most SPECIFIC search)?
1. coronary disease AND chocolate AND risk
2. (coronary disease OR heart failure) AND chocolate AND risk
3. chocolate AND risk AND coronary failure
4. risk AND (chocolate OR cocoa) AND (coronary disease OR heart failure)

19. From Topic to Results:
Boolean Logic
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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
Therapy
Manual
Therapy

20. From Topic to Results
Is consuming chocolate effective in the prevention of CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
http://library.medschl.cam.ac.uk/
– click “databases for literature searching”
- Pick embase, medline (pubmed), web of science and scopus
or
wok.mimas.ac.uk
www.scopus.com
gateway.ovid.com/autologin.cgi
http://tinyurl.com/campubmed

22. What’s the difference?
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
Pubmed
Embase
WoK
Scopus
Password required? (RAVEN)
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Complex search option (allowing for
Boolean “and”/”or” searching
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Subject headings
Yes
Yes
No (ish)
No (ish)
Save Searches (after you’ve logged in)
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
Export to reference management tool
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

23. From strategy to references
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
• 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
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY
• 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

26. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MEDICAL LIBRARY

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