GoogleTM or PubMed

Which is Better for Medical

Searching?

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Agenda

Introduction Overview of Search Tools

Strengths Coverage, Functionality, and Special

Features Limitations

Search Examples Recommendations Q&A

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The Author

Former Technology Programs Manager for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Middle Atlantic Region

Certified Instructor for web searching courses such as Super Searcher

Librarian, experienced in web searching using a myriad of tools including PubMed, Google, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.Gov and much more…

I use Google often, when appropriate

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Objectives

Participants will be able to:Communicate the differences between

the Google, Google Scholar and PubMed and justify the choice of search engine for a given information need;

Evaluate medical research tools; Demonstrate familiarity with resources

covered in the course;

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Introduction

Compare these search tools and list what you think are the TWO most important search features in each:GoogleTM

Google ScholarTM

PubMed

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Search Tools: Overview

It’s important to know:How the different search tools work

and how they are best utilizedThe strengths and limitations of

different search toolsCoverage and Currency:

• How big is the database being used? • What does it contain?• How often is it updated or refreshed?

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PubMed vs. Google vs. Google Scholar

Google: searches over 8 billion web pages for general information

Google Scholar: searches the web for scholarly materials from broad areas of research

PubMed: a searchable collection of over 15 million bio-medical journal citations

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GoogleTM: Strengths

Simplicity, speed and coverage Searches web pages, images, PDFs,

Word documents and much more Easy-to-use search interface

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Google ScholarTM Beta: Strengths Easy means to access health literature and

interdisciplinary topics Useful for citation verification Allows users to search inside the text of an

article Provides linking to free materials on the Web Include reports and conferences proceedings

from professional societies and associations Access to Grey Literature Backup for when local subscription links are

not working

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PubMed: Strengths

Updated daily* Sophisticated search tools Related Articles / Abstract Plus Good documentation Links to local holdings Ad free

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Google: Special Features

It uses a Boolean (and/or) search engine to find words in web-pages

It ranks pages according to the links on the page and the popularity of the pages that link to other pages

Automatic spellchecker

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Google Scholar: Special Features Links to local holdings and to OCLC

WorldCat with “one click” service Locates chapters within multi-

authored books and conference proceedings

Cited-by feature

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PubMed: Special Features

Uses MeSH headings to match synonyms Manual indexing by subject experts can

include words not contained in the abstract Clipboard, RSS Feeds, e-mailed search

results You can customize your results page Growing free content (PubMed Central) Search history Easily link to a vast array of other

biomedical databases through global search

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Google: Limitations

Page ranking based on popular opinion Timeliness Does not suggest alternative search

terms or synonyms Limited field searching (can’t search

based on age or gender, or search for a research method or publication type)

Limited Boolean logic, no truncation No resorting by most current

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Google Scholar: Limitations

Software is in Beta Coverage – no definition of ‘scholarly’

Search results may not be as comprehensive or as current as you need

Bias towards older literature (due to ranking based on number of citations)

Fee-for-service document delivery Sorting features (or lack there-of) Does not always suggest alternative spellings

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PubMed: Limitations

Complex interface requires training to use effectivelyNeed to understand the structure &

functionality of the database Some features require the use of

cookies Some features require a login and

password (MyNCBI)

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Search Examples

Demo

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To Google…or Not to Google? Google:

Simple searches, quick reference tool Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical

questions Google Scholar

Known item searching, to learn background info on a topic Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical

questions PubMed:

Complex searches Current information Literature reviews (i.e., for grants, clinical trials or evidence

based medicine), PICO Ability to save searches, view search history, schedule e-

alerts Don’t use to search for general information on the Web

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A Selected List of Other Medical Search Tools Scirus – a search engine for scientific, technical and medical

data (http://www.scirus.com). Competitor to Google Scholar. Relamed – searches PubMed and assigns relevance to results

(http://www.relemed.com) Hubmed – an alternative interface to PubMed (

http://www.hubmed.org/) Science Research Portal – a free, publicly available Internet

web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and public science databases (http://www.scienceresearch.com/search/)

XplorMed – a word relationship search engine for PubMed (http://www.ogic.ca/projects/xplormed//). It searches for articles based on word semantics and relationships.

Plus bibliographic databases and full-text ejournals subscribed to by your library

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The Future

Google Co-op Customized Search Engines

• http://www.healthfind.com/ Subscribed Links

• http://google.com/coop/subscribedlinks/directory/Health

Topics• http://www.google.com/coop/topics/Health

PubMed RSS feeds New/Noteworthy NLM Tech Bulletin

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Q&A

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Reading & Further Resources Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). A look at Google Scholar,

PubMed...a comparison. JCHLA/JABSC, 26. Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). Using Google Scholar in Health

Research: A Comparison with PubMed. Paper presented at the CHLA/ABSC. from http://chla-absc.ca/2005/Presentations/0601/GiustiniBarsky_CHLA2005.pdf.

Henderson, J. (2005). Google Scholar: a source for clinicians? CMAJ, 172(12).

New Search Engine for Finding Articles in PubMed. (2007). from http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2007/03/05/new-search-engine-for-finding-articles-in-pubmed

UCLA. (2007). Google Scholar™, Search Engines, Databases, and the Research Process. from http://www2.library.ucla.edu/googlescholar/index.cfm

Vine, R. (2006). Google Scholar: A Source for Technicians. J Med Library Assoc., 94(1), 97-99.

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Contact Info

Denise O’Shea

Systems Librarian

Fairleigh Dickinson University

Teaneck and Madison, NJ

oshea@fdu.edu