[CANMEDLIB] Web of Science for Knowledge Synthesis

Tue Mar 7 18:03:37 EST 2023

Hi Eleni,

I remember learning at some point that citation databases like Web of Science and Scopus should complement searches in bibliographic databases, for cited reference searching of eligible studies, for example.

However, translating/replicating bibliographic database searches in citation databases like Web of Science and/or Scopus might also be valuable if the researchers will be including conference abstracts/papers in their synthesis.

While Embase has 3.6 million conference abstracts from 11,500+ conferences<https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/embase-biomedical-research/coverage-and-content> (dating back to 2010 as far as I can tell from the Excel spreadsheet), the Conference Proceedings Citation Index, which is part of the Web of Science Core Collection, contains over 227,000 conference proceedings, with 70 million cited references dating back from 1990 to present<https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/webofscience-cpci/>.

There are research papers available that discuss optimal database combinations for evidence syntheses such as:
Bramer WM, Rethlefsen ML, Kleijnen J, Franco OH. Optimal database combinations for literature searches in systematic reviews: a prospective exploratory study. Systematic reviews. 2017 Dec;6:1-2.

And the following is an excerpt from the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (4.3.1.1 Introduction to bibliographic databases):
"The three bibliographic databases generally considered to be the most important sources to search for reports of trials are CENTRAL (Noel-Storr et al 2020<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_ENREF_122>), MEDLINE (Halladay et al 2015<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_ENREF_74>, Sampson et al 2016<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_ENREF_151>) and Embase (Woods and Trewheellar 1998<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_ENREF_177>, Sampson et al 2003<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_ENREF_146>, Bai et al 2007<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_ENREF_6>). These databases are described in more detail in Sections 4.3.1.2<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_Ref531775847> and 4.3.1.3<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04#_Ref531775860> and in the online Technical Supplement<https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-04-technical-supplement-searching-and-selecting-studies>. For Cochrane Reviews, CENTRAL, MEDLINE and Embase (if access to Embase is available to the review team) should be searched."

Hope this helps.

Sandra

Sandra McKeown, BSc, MLIS | Health Sciences Librarian | Queen's University Library<http://library.queensu.ca/>
613-533-6000 x 75284 | sandra.mckeown at queensu.ca<mailto:sandra.mckeown at queensu.ca> | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2728-6702
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Queen's is situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory. We are grateful to be able to be live, learn and play on these lands.

From: CANMEDLIB <canmedlib-bounces at chlaabsc.koumbit.org> On Behalf Of Couban, Rachel via CANMEDLIB
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 3:53 PM
To: Ian Gordon <igordon at brocku.ca>; canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org; Philippopoulos, Eleni <Eleni.Philippopoulos at sinaihealth.ca>; Amanda Ross-White <amanda.ross-white at queensu.ca>
Subject: Re: [CANMEDLIB] Ian's reply re: Web of Science for Knowledge Synthesis

Thanks Amanda, good points! I'm running a search in Web of Science right now for a review and so far the results are comparable to MEDLINE. I wouldn't be so cheerful about doing it if I didn't have the free SR Accelerator Deduplicator tool as part of my workflow. Part of Wichor Bramer's research looked at which databases were searched in SRs, and he came out in favour of using Web of Science, but I think his argument was based on their established practice of always using it. So for one big review I'm working on we proposed a sub-study to test whether Web of Science captured anything important to the review (that would not otherwise have been captured.) Eventually we hope to have some findings about whether or not it was worth it to search Web of Science (but I've just been asked to update the search so we're still a while away from answering our sub-study question!)
Another thing I rely on for Web of Science searches is this great filter that NOTs out a lot of animal terms, that's the downside of using an interdisciplinary database for a health topic (lots of animal studies).
Thanks Eleni for bringing this forward and to Ian for contributing to the discussion.
Sincerely,
Rachel

Rachel Couban

Tjosvold, L. Randomized Controlled Trials / Controlled Clinical Trials: A Cut and Paste Search Strategy adapted from the Cochrane ENT Group for Web of Science. Adapted from "RCT Filters used by Cochrane ENT. Oxford (UK): Cochrane ENT Group; 2018." John W. Scott Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta. Rev. January 14, 2021. Available from:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aEVsIaeXVZY8_BND-sUB_19sTTMccgoxNUdznH54ilQ/edit#<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fdocument%2Fd%2F1aEVsIaeXVZY8_BND-sUB_19sTTMccgoxNUdznH54ilQ%2Fedit%23&data=05%7C01%7Csandra.mckeown%40queensu.ca%7C490b9fdf4c404d88274308db1f4df96b%7Cd61ecb3b38b142d582c4efb2838b925c%7C1%7C0%7C638138191982885454%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=t54b0opv10dLf2sAGmsHynBuWC%2FNaq28kzEs9VWjdP4%3D&reserved=0>
________________________________
From: CANMEDLIB <canmedlib-bounces at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib-bounces at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>> on behalf of Amanda Ross-White via CANMEDLIB <canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>>
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 3:22 PM
To: Ian Gordon <igordon at brocku.ca<mailto:igordon at brocku.ca>>; canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org> <canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>>; Philippopoulos, Eleni <Eleni.Philippopoulos at sinaihealth.ca<mailto:Eleni.Philippopoulos at sinaihealth.ca>>
Subject: Re: [CANMEDLIB] Ian's reply re: Web of Science for Knowledge Synthesis

I never like giving hard and fast rules! WoS or Scopus can be too broad and include a lot of noise, or it can include exactly what you need.

The comment that something is 'too interdisciplinary' makes sense if doing a review where the terms might have a lot of different meanings depending on your discipline. Think of something like 'stress' which as we know means something very different to the orthopedic surgeon (stress fracture) than it does to the psychiatrist. But it has a whole other meaning entirely to the materials engineers!

On the other hand, a review on a pharmaceutical, which has a carefully selected chemical name, is not likely to retrieve much in the way of false hits. Escitalopram is escitalopram, whether you're a chemist or a nurse and so searching for the term in WoS/Scopus is not likely to add millions of false hits. You probably won't find anything authored by Dr. Escitalopram.

Review searching is always a balance between that precision and recall, and it is knowing what is found in the various databases, as well as the terms to use and when to use one and not the other which is the human expertise we provide!

Amanda

From: CANMEDLIB <canmedlib-bounces at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib-bounces at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>> On Behalf Of Ian Gordon via CANMEDLIB
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 3:07 PM
To: canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>; Philippopoulos, Eleni <Eleni.Philippopoulos at sinaihealth.ca<mailto:Eleni.Philippopoulos at sinaihealth.ca>>
Subject: [CANMEDLIB] Ian's reply re: Web of Science for Knowledge Synthesis

Eleni,

Can't help but comment, ES for health sciences should always consider the big 5/6 databases,

MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and (Web of Science Core Collection and/or Scopus) to round our the field noting there are substitutes inserted along the way.

It makes me wonder why someone hasn't done a rapid review of databases searched for all type of reviews in the past 5-10 years to note trends, patterns and biases in this phase of evidence synthesis work?

Ian

Ian Gordon, he/him

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1128-3301<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Forcid.org%2F0000-0003-1128-3301&data=05%7C01%7Csandra.mckeown%40queensu.ca%7C490b9fdf4c404d88274308db1f4df96b%7Cd61ecb3b38b142d582c4efb2838b925c%7C1%7C0%7C638138191982885454%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=hn2HuhnGWOIQHvmI6YP82vmgxIcGg4zx%2FaAXHtLg81I%3D&reserved=0>

Brock University | James A. Gibson Library
T  905 688 5550  x3727  |  igordon at brocku.ca<mailto:igordon at brocku.ca>

________________________________

From: CANMEDLIB <canmedlib-bounces at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib-bounces at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>> on behalf of Philippopoulos, Eleni via CANMEDLIB <canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>>
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 2:59 PM
To: canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org> <canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org<mailto:canmedlib at chlaabsc.koumbit.org>>
Subject: [CANMEDLIB] Web of Science for Knowledge Synthesis

Hi all,

I was helping a researcher yesterday who said they recently took a an extensive knowledge synthesis workshop where the librarian told the class that Web of Science and Scopus should never be searched because they are "too interdisciplinary"

I was wondering what everyone's thoughts on the subject are.

Thanks for your input!

Eleni

Eleni Philippopoulos, MISt (she/her)
Information Specialist, Patient Education, Sidney Liswood Health Science Library
T 416-586-4800 x 6681
eleni.philippopoulos at sinaihealth.ca<mailto:eleni.philippopoulos at sinaihealth.ca>
Mount Sinai Hospital, 600 University Avenue, Suite 18-234, Toronto, ON  M5G 1X5
Hear how I say my name<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnamedrop.io%2Feleniphilippopoulos&data=05%7C01%7Csandra.mckeown%40queensu.ca%7C490b9fdf4c404d88274308db1f4df96b%7Cd61ecb3b38b142d582c4efb2838b925c%7C1%7C0%7C638138191982885454%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Lqs2YDrznqrr75JxoJ%2BQ%2F73pC6ttBegwdGttQ2eqMdk%3D&reserved=0>

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