searching the literature

Searching the Literature

Dr. Nadia Farghaly

Aim and Objectives

AimEffective use the internet and informatics technology to find and

use information

Objectives Be aware of the range of biomedical information sources Explore computer-based sources of medical information and

searchable databases

Be able to formulate a search strategy

Conduct a search in PubMed

Searching Biomedical literature Skills

Outlines:

•The US National Library of Medicine

• Searching the internet and the World Wide Web

•Free access to medical journals on the internet

•Searching the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI)

•Searching library resources of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)

What is Literature Searching?

‘Systematic and thorough search of all types of published literature in order to identify as many items as possible that are relevant to a particular topic or problem’

A good literature search ensures that the researcher is not duplicating work already done,

Gash, Sarah. Effective Literature searching for Research. Aldershot: Gower. (2000)

Advantages of online search include

speed of retrieval; access to more journals; availability of abstracts for many references;

searching by non-MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms in titles and abstracts; and

short lag period since publication.•

What Kinds of Literature?

Books: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books Journal articles Conference papers Reports Published statistics The Internet

Types of searches

There are different search options depending on the level and amount of information that is of interest to the user.

To search is to carefully look for something and effective searching requires planning. Good searches are planned not accidental.

• Simple search • Advanced search • Meta search

Simple search

A simple search is when the user uses some keywords to perform a quick information search from a database or from a search engine.

A simple search may retrieve a huge amount of search output

In simple searches, browsing rather than focused searches is done.

Advanced search

Advanced searching is the use of techniques that help to define the information that is being searched. In advancing searching, some filtering is done to reduce the amount of items retrieved.

Filtering refines the search for relevancy. In advanced searching the user is able to apply multiple search fields that can help to broaden or narrow the search depending on the topic and the search strategy.

The use of advanced searching helps the user to:- • Apply filtering • Reduce number of items retrieved • Apply multiple search fields Advanced searching tools are available in most search tools

such as Medline/PubMed.

Illustration of how information is stored in the MEDLINE database.

Vincent B et al. The Oncologist 2006;11:243-251

©2006 by AlphaMed Press

Meta search

Metasearch means instead of getting results from one search engine, you'll be getting the best combined results from a variety of industry leading engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Yandex.

This is done with the use of Meta search engines such as Dogpile, Search.com; Metacrawler and Vivisimo.

1)The US National Library of Medicine (NLM)

Is the largest library in the world The National Library of Medicine (NLM)

has been indexing the biomedical literature, since 1879, to help provide health professionals access to information necessary for research, health care, and education.

Database is updated and changed frequently

MEDLINE

Is NLM`s premier bibliographic database covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine and preclinical sciences

Free MEDLINE http://www.nlm.nih.gov. No registration is required for access.

MEDLINE includes articles from more than 4600 international biomedical journals.

Coverage is world-wide, of journals published in the United States and 70 other countries,

The file contains over 12 million records dating back to 1966.

It is updated weekly; with about 40 000 new citations added each month.

MEDLINE

MEDLINE is readily available and free of charge at http://www.pubmed.gov/.

PubMed queries match user submitted key words against MEDLINE records. A record consists of a set of data elements; fields required by MEDLINE include Title, Author(s), Affiliation, Abstract, Language, Publication

Date, Journal Title, and Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms

MEDLINE search

Search can be made by author, topic or journal title.Logical (or “Boolean”) operators AND, OR, AND NOT can be used to narrow the search.

Limits can be set for the search. For example, the search may be limited by language(english or others)type of publication, date, and to whether an abstract is available.

The scope of MEDLINE

includes such diverse topics as microbiology, delivery of health care, nutrition, pharmacology and environmental health. The categories covered in MEDLINE include everything from anatomy, organisms, diseases, psychiatry, psychology to the physical sciences.

MEDLINE – Basic Bibliographic Citation

Title of the journal article Names of the Authors Abstract published with the article Controlled Vocabulary search terms (MeSH

headings) Journal Source Information First Author Affiliation Language in which the article was published Publication Type (description of the type of

article, e.g., Review, Letter, etc.)

Example PubMed Citation

Free Medline Searching

Introduced on June 26, 1997. Available through the NLM Web Site:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov From NLM Web site, click PubMed on the right.

OR http://www.pubmed.gov/

Steps in Developing Search Strategy

Use of Search strategies A search strategy relates to having good guidelines that will lead

to a successful search output. Having a search strategy helps the user to:

• Define the topic e.g. Malaria treatment in infants in Africa. • Break the topic into concepts or keywords such as: malaria,

treatment, infants, Africa. • Use search techniques such as Boolean operators to refine the

search • Try out the search strategy and refine it as necessary for better results • Identify the appropriate search tool and search techniques • Decide on whether to start with a general search engine such as

Google or a specific tool such as Medline/Pubmed, or a more specialised database such as Cochrane

Steps in Developing Search Strategy

Search techniques • Boolean Logic • Parenthesis • Phrase searching “ “

04/19/23 Straughn High School

Using Boolean Operators

AND, OR, NOT, Parenthesis( ), NEAR


Boolean Operator AND

If you enter AND between two words then your search will only yield documents that contain both words, narrowing your search.

If you enter hypertension AND weight then your search will yield only documents with both words.


Boolean Operator OR

If you enter OR between two words then your search will look for either word (you don’t care which word), broadening your search.

If you type in Hypertension OR Weight in your search engine then your search will yield documents that contain the word hypertension or the word weight.


Boolean Operator NOT

NOT tells the search engine to disregard those documents that contain a word.

This is a powerful command and should be used sparingly.


Now look at the searches that will follow. Decide whether the Boolean operator is broadening, narrowing, or excluding parts of the search.


Doctors Or Physicians. Is the Boolean operator… Narrowing a Search

Broadening a Search

Excluding Parts of the Search


The answer is Broadening a Search.


Respiratory diseases NOT Occupational. Is the Boolean operator… Narrowing a Search

Broadening a Search



The answer is Excluding Parts of the Search.


Fever AND cough. Is the Boolean operator… Narrowing a Search

Broadening a Search



The answer is Narrowing a Search.

Creating a Boolean Search

Concept 1Concept 1

InfluenzaInfluenzaConcept 2Concept 2

Vitamin CVitamin CConcept 3Concept 3

TreatmentTreatmentConcept 4Concept 4

helpfulnesshelpfulness

InfluenzaInfluenza Vitamin CVitamin C TreatmentTreatment OutcomeOutcome

FluFlu Ascorbic acidAscorbic acid TherapyTherapy RecoveryRecovery

Orange JuiceOrange Juice ManagementManagement SuccessSuccess

QUESTION: Is Vitamin C helpful in treating the flu?

1. Identify concepts and list terms

Step 2

2. Make your OR statements, one per concept (influenza OR flu OR orthomyxovirus) (vitamin C OR ascorbic acid OR ascorbate) (treatment OR therapy OR management) (outcome OR recovery OR success)

Steps 3 and 4

3. Put “AND” between each of the OR statements(influenza OR flu) AND (vitamin C OR

ascorbic acid OR orange juice) AND (treatment OR therapy OR management) AND (outcome OR recovery OR success)

4. Consider any NOT statements you might want to add.

Note: NOT isn’t used very often

Field Searching

An electronic record is presented as a field. Within a bibliographic database, there are data fields

for the title, author, affiliation, journal or book title and language, among others. The user can use any of these fields to retrieve the required information.

Illustration of how information is stored in the MEDLINE database.

Vincent B et al. The Oncologist 2006;11:243-251

©2006 by AlphaMed Press

PubMed

In addition to providing access to MEDLINE, PubMed provides access to other citations, and to citations that precede the date that a journal was selected for MEDLINE indexing.

It also includes access to PubMedCentral

PubMed Central

is an archive of life sciences journals. As of October 2003, it provides full text of

over 100 000 articles from over 130 journals. It is linked to PubMed and is fully searchable.

Access is free and no registration is required.

What’s in a citation?

Author names. Click to access abstract.

Title of the journal article

Journal title abbreviation and publication information

The PMID is like a Social Security number for a citation. It is a unique identifier for the citation.

This tag indicates the level of processing this citation has received. This particular citation has been fully processed.

This icon indicates this citation has an abstract. Clicking on the icon will bring up the abstract.

Icons that appear in the Summary Results:

No abstract available for this citation.

This citation has an abstract.

There is free full-text access to this article.

There is free full-text access to this article through PubMed Central (PMC), an initiative from the National Library of Medicine to encourage publishers to make their content freely available.

More about results

Some article titles are in brackets. Why? Some articles have no authors listed. Why?

Brackets indicate the article is published in a language other than English

If no authors are listed in PubMed, it’s because no authors were listed in the print version of the article.

PubMedField tags go in [] and follow term

Field tags can be used within Boolean queries

PubMed Field Tags

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=helppubmed.section.pubmedhelp.Search_Field_Descrip

[au] = author[au] = author

[ti] = title[ti] = title

[tw] = textword[tw] = textword

[tiab] = title and abstract[tiab] = title and abstract

[mh] = medical subject [mh] = medical subject headingheading

[dp] = date of publication

[la] = language

[gr] = grant number

[ta] = journal name

[ad] = affiliation

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH® Vocabulary)

What is MeSH? Acronym for Medical Subject Headings Used for indexing journal articles for MEDLINE and

also used for cataloging books and audiovisuals Used by searchers Revised annually Gives uniformity and consistency to the indexing of

the biomedical literature and is a distinctive feature of MEDLINE.

Similar to key words on other systems Arranged in a hierarchical manner called the MeSH

Tree Structure http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/

MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)

controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles in PubMed

All MeSH terms (over 19 000) are arranged alphabetically as well as in subject groups. Within groups, MeSH terms are arranged in hierarchical levels known as “tree structures”, in which all the terms are arranged from the most general to the most specific.

Suggested MeSH titles will be provided for any search term entered by the searcher.

Alternatively, the researcher can navigate the MeSH tree from the top down.

Using MeSH Headings

Click on the subject heading you want in order to expose subheadings

1.Check the drug therapy box 2. click on send to search box AND” 3. Then click on Search PubMed

2

3

1

Results – Rheumatoid Arthritis/ drug therapy – 15,359 articles!!

Why is a controlled vocabulary important in medicine and other fields?

Example: What is meant by the term: Cancer (what are all the possible definition or

implied meaning, literal meaning, etc.)

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH® Vocabulary)

Cancer? genus: Cancer

PubMed left-hand menu

Down the left-hand side of the PubMed homepage there are links to other PubMed resources such as an overview to PubMed, Help & Frequently Asked questions, a Tutorial, and news items.

Down the left-hand side of the PubMed homepage there are also links to other PubMed utilities such as the Journals database, MeSH database, clinical queries, LinkOut and citation functions.

Types of MeSH Vocbaulary Terms

MeSH Vocabulary includes four types of terms: Headings Subheadings Supplementary Concept Records Publication Types

MeSH headings represent concepts found in the biomedical literature.

Examples of MeSH Headings: Body Weight Kidney Dental Cavity Preparation Self Medication RadioactiveWaste Brain Edema

MeSH Tree Structure (1)

MeSH vocabulary is organized by 15 main branches:A. AnatomyB. OrganismsC. DiseasesD. Chemical and DrugsE. Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and EquipmentF. Psychiatry and PsychologyG. Biological SciencesH. Physical SciencesI. Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social PhenomenaJ. Technology and Food and BeveragesK. HumanitiesL. Information ScienceM. PersonsN. Health CareO. Geographic Locations

MeSH Tree Structure (2)

Each Descriptor has a tree number that positions the term in the hierarchy. Eye [A01.456.505.420]

Eyebrows [A01.456.505.420.338] Eyelids [A01.456.505.420.504]

Eyelashes [A01.456.505.420.504.421]

Some terms have multiple tree numbers because they appear in more than one place in the hierarchy.

By having narrower terms indented under broader terms, a search of a broad term can automatically include the narrower terms. This is known as an EXPLODE.

MeSH is an Entrez database

MeSH is provided to assist PubMed users locate appropriate terms for MEDLINE searches. This database provides information about MeSH terms including: Definitions Synonyms for the concept Related terms The position of the term in the MeSH

hierarchy.

MeSH – An Example (1)

Enter “cell count” or cell count. Is there a difference?

In the retrieval, click on Cell Count


Select Subheadings

MeSH term, definition, and year

Major topic & Do Not Explode

Before 1969 …

“Synonyms” for this term.

Related Terms of Possible Interest


Use the Links menu to go to the NLM MeSH Browser for complete information:

NLM MeSH Browser

Allows you to look through the MeSH vocabulary to see if there is a MeSH term for a particular concept.

Where is it? The MeSH browser is introduced on this page of

NLM’s site:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/

The link to the current MeSH browser (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/Mbrowser.html) is provided.

A fuller description of this tool may be found at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/

mbinfo.html

Practice Exercises

Use the MeSH Database to find the answers to these questions:

1. What terms are indented under Fever?2. How far back can you search with the MeSH

term, “Recombinant DNA?”3. What ages are included by the term, “Child,

Preschool?”4. What is the preferred MeSH term for

“drooling?”5. What disease is associated with a deficiency

of factor VIII?

Suggested Answers

Use the MeSH Database to find the answers to these questions:

1. What terms are indented under Fever?Fever of Unknown OriginaSweating Sickness

2. How far back can you search with the MeSH term, “Recombinant DNA?”1977

3. What ages are included by the term, “Child, Preschool?” A child between ages of 2 and 5.

4. What is the preferred MeSH term for “drooling?” Sialorrhea

5. What disease is associated with a deficiency of factor VIII? Hemophilia A

There are a number of different formats available to display results. From the dropdown menu we can see the possible choices. When using PubMed we will use either Summary, Brief, Abstract, Citation, and Medline. The other formats are for other NCBI databases. We have selected Summary from the available options. To change the display click on the “Display” button.

The Summary format displays the authors names, the title of the article, the title of the source publication with citation details, and the PubMed ID number.

Selecting references 2

The results page 1-4 have now been selected.

Send to Text option 1

The results selected can now be formatted for print by selecting “Send To Text” from the dropdown menu.

Send to Text option 2

This option presents a printer friendly format for output to a printer.

2. Searching the internetThe internet and the World Wide Web

the World Wide Web (WWW) is used. It is a set of files connected by hypertext links and accessed by means of a browser, such as Microsoft Explorer or Netscape navigator.

Sites on the internet have addresses, called Uniform Resource Locators (URL),

written in a uniform style. An example of a URL may be: http://www.georgetown.edu/

home/libraries.html

http://www.georgetown.edu/home/libraries.html http” stands for “hypertext transfer protocol” which is

used to transmit the data. “georgetown.edu” is called the “domain” which names

the organization feeding theinformation, in this case Georgetown University The suffix in the domain indicates the type of

organization, for example: .edu (educational); .com (commercial); .gov(government); .org (organization); .net (network organization).

“home/libraries” represents the homepage of the website and the file to be searched for.

“html”: is the hypertext markup language, which is the computer language used to write the file.

A note on the Internet / WWW

The internet can be an extremely useful tool when doing a literature search, but…everything is NOT on the internet it is largely uncatalogued there is little quality control pages, and whole sites, move / disappear, change their URL without warning skills are needed to retrieve what you really need

The web lacks the bibliographic standards

Most web documents lack even the name of the author and the date of publication.

No standard system of cataloguing or classification

No central catalogue including the web' holdings

Assessing internet resources -Who wrote this site and why – an individual,

company employee or an academic? -When was it last updated? -Did you link to it from a trusted source (our

subject guides)?

-Information from Wikipedia is not acceptable.

Search engines

These search engines are important because new web sites are continually added, and many change their location (URL).

Each search engine operates differently and consequently has different strengths and weaknesses.

Hypertext links will allow moving from a certain site to another. The indication that a hypertext link

is available is shown when a text is underlined and/or coloured, and when the browser pointer changes its shape.

Search Engines

Give lists of large number of sites

They indexes the web automatically

These sites are not checked for quality

Ex: www. Google.com

in other words…

“infobesity” refers to the belief that searching Google for

information provides a junk information diet not concerned about the quality

coined by James Morris, the Dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University

Brophy & Biden, (2005)

Tefko Saracevic 86

There is much more to the Web than

or

URL:Uniform resource locator

http : //www.google.comhttp : Hypertext transfer protocolwww : World wide webcom : Domain name extension com : commercial organization edu : educational organization gov : governmental organization org : non profit organization net : network resources

Subject Directories

Smaller than those of the search engines

www. dmoz.org

But

Produce more relevant results

Search for information about a general subject

Search using subject directories

A subject directory takes the searcher through a sequence of topics

Subject-tree directories are hierarchical, moving from broader to narrower topics, and the general to the more specific.

Health information on the web

the quality of information varies substantially from site to site.

There are “official” web pages developed by organizations that do have a high-quality information, peer-reviewed journals,

government institutions, and many educational institutions. These sites are the real

backbone of health information on the web. There are also commercial medical

information sites, in competition with each other

3. Free access to medical journals on the internet

(http://www.biomedcentral.com

Open Access links

Open Access news: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/ This site provides news and discussions on open access to research literature

Directory of open access journal (Lund University): http://www.doaj.org/ This

service covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals.

Budapest Open Access Initiative: http://www.soros.org/openaccess/index.shtml

Open Access links Public Library of Science:

http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/ A non-profit organization of scientists committed to making the world’s scientific and medical

literature freely accessible to scientists and to the public around the world.

SPARC: http://www.arl.org/sparc/ SPARC is an alliance of universities, research libraries, and organizations

SciELO: http://www.scielo.br/ The scientific Electronic Library Online- SciELO is

an electronic library covering a selected collection of Brazilian scientific journals.

Open Access links

FreeMedicalJournals.com: http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/ Dedicated to the promotion of free access to medical journals over the Internet, the site carries listings of free full-text journals.

Open Access links

• Health InterNetwork: http://www.healthinternetwork.org/scipub.php

launched by the Secretary General of the United Nations and is led by the World Health Organization .It aims to

ensure that health information and the technologies to deliver it are widely available

and effectively used by health personnel professionals, researchers, scientists, and

policy makers.

4. Searching the Health InterNetworkAccess to Research Initiative (HINARI)

HINARI

is a tool for finding information journal articles and books available in publisher websites or from Medline/PubMed.

Information in HINARI can be searched by subject, language or through a list of journal titles (A-Z).

HINARI provides access to online databases such as the Cochrane Library, a specialised database in evidence based medicine.

Other information resources available through HINARI are reference sources and free medical information resources such as Biomed central, Highwire and Bioline International.

Indexes to regional journals

The menu page provides links to the following:

• African Index Medicus (AIM) • Index Medicus for the WHO Eastern

Mediterranean Region (IMEMR) • Latin American and Caribbean Center on

Health Sciences Information (LILACS) • Index Medicus for South-East Asia Region

(IMSEAR).

Reference sources full text

Links to other free collections

These sites offer free access to journal collections:

• BioMed Central • Free Medical Journal • Free books for doctors • PubMed Central • SciELO

HINARI registration

Academic, government or research institutions located in one of the countries eligible for access to HINARI can register by completing a registration form. Once the registration form is received, a common username and password will be issued for all staff at the institution. It is suggested that the institution’s librarian be the main contact point.

As of February 2004, the following countries in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region are eligible for access to HINARI:Afghanistan, Djibouti, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia,

West Bank and Gaza, Yemen.

5. Searching library resources of the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)

www.emro.who.int/Library/

www.emro.who.int/LibraryCD-ROM Databases Available in EMRO

Library CDMARC Bibliographic Library of Congress CD-ROM Directory comprehensive details on CD-ROM titles commercially available. Computer related data bases EMBASE: Drug and Pharmaceutical This database contains over 1

300 000 abstracts and citations from the last 10 years and covers comprehensively the drugs and pharmacology literature including effect and use of all drugs and potential drugs, clinical and experimental aspects and pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Also extensively covered are the side effects of and adverse reactions to drugs

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Centre) ExtraMED contains the contents of over 220 biomedical journals from

all over the world, mainly from developing countries

CD-ROM Databases Available in EMRO Library

Food and Human Nutritionsubjects from an international perspective,which includes over 135 participating countries covered in over a quarter of a million records.

Global Books in Print bibliographical information from six English language databases.

LILACS Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature. The only complete and updated database covering health related literature published in the Latin American and the Caribbean regions.

CD-ROM Databases Available in EMRO Library

MEDLINE . The MEDLINE database encompasses information from three printed

indexes (Index Medicus, Index to Dental Literature and the International Nursing

Index) as well as additional information not published in the Index Medicus

Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition) POPLINE is a bibliographic database containing more

than 150 000 citations on population, family planning and related health care, law, and policy issues.

ULRICH International Periodicals Directory

Guidelines on how to write references for scientific papers General:It is based on the Uniform

Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. The Uniform Requirements style (the Vancouver style) is based largely on a standard style adapted by the NLM for its databases. (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html). Authors should ensure that they follow any examples of style given by the journal to which they are submitting a paper.

1. Journal articles

Standard journal article Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart

transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996 Jun 1;124 (11): 980–3.

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124: 980–3.

If more than six authors list the first six authors followed by et al. Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B, et al. Heart

transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124: 980–3.

Organization as an author

The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Heart transplantation is associated

with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124: 980–3.

No author given

Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease

[editorial]. Ann Intern Med 1996;124: 980–3.

Volume with supplement

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B, et al. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124 Suppl 1:980–3.

Issue with supplement

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B, et al. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124(1 Suppl 2):980–3.

Volume with part

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124(Pt 3):980–3.

Issue with no volume

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Clin Ortho 1996;(124): 980–3.

No issue or volume Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart

transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Curr Opin Gen Surg 1996: 980–3.

Pagination in Roman numerals

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Surg Clin North Am 1996 April;124(2):xi–xii

2.Books and other Monographs

Formal author(s Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and

leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany

(NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author Ringsven MK, Bond D, editors. Gerontology

and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed.

Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.

Organization as author and publisher

Institute of Medicine (US). Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. Washington;

The Institute; 1996.

Chapter in a book Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. An introduction to

gerontology. In: Ringsven MK, Bond D,

editors. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar

Publishers; 1996. p. 465–78.

Conference proceedings

Ringsven MK, Bond D, editors. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. Proceedings

of the 10th International Congress of Nurses; 1996 Oct 15–19; Kyoto, Japan. Albany

(NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.

Conference paper Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. An introduction to

gerontology. In: Ringsven MK, Bond

D, editors. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Nurses; 1996 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996. p. 1561–5.

Scientific or technical report issued by funding/sponsoring agency

Smith P, Golladay K. Payment for durable medical equipment in skilled nursing facilities.

Final report. Dallas (TX): Department of Health and Human Services (US), Office of

Evaluation and Inspection; 1994 Oct. Report No: HHSIGOEI69200860.

3.Unpublished material

In press

(Note: NLM prefers “Forthcoming” because not all items will be printed)

Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med, In press

1996.

Electronic materialJournal article in electronic format

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Monograph in electronic format

Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Web site

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

4. How to order references

Most journals in medicine and the other medical sciences use the Vancouver, or

citation-by-reference number, system in which the references in the reference list are

numbered in the order in which they are first cited in the text.

the Harvard system Some journals still use the citation-by-author-

and-date system (also known as

the Harvard system) in which the paper cited is identified by author name and year of

publication.

Example

Bessant, J 2001, 'The question of public trust and the schooling system', Australian Journal of Education, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 207-226.

Bessant, J & Webber, R 2001, 'Policy and the youth sector: youth peaks and why we need them', Youth Studies Australia, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 43-47.

Robbins, SP 2004, Organizational behaviour, 11th edn, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Animated tutorials are on how to use the MeSH database and how to construct author and subject searches are available on this NLM website: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/dist_edu.html

There is a PubMed manual available on the web: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/web_based.html

Contact your regional medical library for information on free training: http://nnlm.gov

searching the literature

Documents