Search results outliers among MEDLINE platforms.
Objective: Hypothetically, content in MEDLINE records is consistent across multiple platforms. Though platforms have different interfaces and requirements for query syntax, results should be similar when the syntax is controlled for across the platforms. The authors investigated how search result co...
| Publicado en: | Journal of the Medical Library Association Vol. 107; no. 3; pp. 364 - 374 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
University of Pittsburgh, University Library System
Jul2019
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=137311828&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 137311828 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 15365050 PI8 jtl: Journal of the Medical Library Association issn: 15365050 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2019 vid: 107 iid: 3 pid: 60406 pub: University of Pittsburgh, University Library System place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 137311828 137311828 137311828 10.5195/jmla.2019.622 137311828 ppf: 364 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Search results outliers among MEDLINE platforms. aug: au: Sean Burns, Christopher Shapiro II, Robert M. Nix, Tyler Huber, Jeffrey T. affil: Associate Professor, School of Information Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY sug: subj: Computerized Literature Searching Methods Information Retrieval Evaluation Medline Metadata Reference Databases, Health PubMed Web Search Engines Programming Languages ab: Objective: Hypothetically, content in MEDLINE records is consistent across multiple platforms. Though platforms have different interfaces and requirements for query syntax, results should be similar when the syntax is controlled for across the platforms. The authors investigated how search result counts varied when searching records among five MEDLINE platforms. Methods: We created 29 sets of search queries targeting various metadata fields and operators. Within search sets, we adapted 5 distinct, compatible queries to search 5 MEDLINE platforms (PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, Web of Science, and Ovid), totaling 145 final queries. The 5 queries were designed to be logically and semantically equivalent and were modified only to match platform syntax requirements. We analyzed the result counts and compared PubMed's MEDLINE result counts to result counts from the other platforms. We identified outliers by measuring the result count deviations using modified z-scores centered around PubMed's MEDLINE results. Results: Web of Science and ProQuest searches were the most likely to deviate from the equivalent PubMed searches. EBSCOhost and Ovid were less likely to deviate from PubMed searches. Ovid's results were the most consistent with PubMed's but appeared to apply an indexing algorithm that resulted in lower retrieval sets among equivalent searches in PubMed. Web of Science exhibited problems with exploding or not exploding Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms. Conclusion: Platform enhancements among interfaces affect record retrieval and challenge the expectation that MEDLINE platforms should, by default, be treated as MEDLINE. Substantial inconsistencies in search result counts, as demonstrated here, should raise concerns about the impact of platform-specific influences on search results. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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