What's beyond the core? Database coverage in qualitative information retrieval.

IF 2.9 4区医学 Q1 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

Journal of the Medical Library Association Pub Date : 2025-01-14 DOI:10.5195/jmla.2025.1591

Jennifer Horton, David Kaunelis, Danielle Rabb, Andrea Smith

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates the effectiveness of bibliographic databases to retrieve qualitative studies for use in systematic and rapid reviews in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) research. Qualitative research is becoming more prevalent in reviews and health technology assessment, but standardized search methodologies-particularly regarding database selection-are still in development.

Methods: To determine how commonly used databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science) perform, a comprehensive list of relevant journal titles was compiled using InCites Journal Citation Reports and validated by qualitative researchers at Canada's Drug Agency (formerly CADTH). This list was used to evaluate the qualitative holdings of each database, by calculating the percentage of total titles held in each database, as well as the number of unique titles per database.

Results: While publications on qualitative search methodology generally recommend subject-specific health databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO, this study found that multidisciplinary citation indexes Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection not only had the highest percentages of total titles held, but also a higher number of unique titles.

Conclusions: These indexes have potential utility in qualitative search strategies, if only for supplementing other database searches with unique records. This potential was investigated via tests on qualitative rapid review search strategies translated to Scopus to determine how the index may contribute relevant literature.

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核心之外是什么？定性信息检索中的数据库覆盖率。

目的：探讨书目数据库在卫生技术评价（HTA）研究中检索定性研究的有效性。定性研究在综述和卫生技术评估中变得越来越普遍，但是标准化的搜索方法——特别是关于数据库选择的方法——仍在发展中。方法：为了确定常用数据库（MEDLINE， CINAHL, PsycINFO， Scopus和Web of Science）的表现，使用InCites期刊引文报告编制了相关期刊标题的综合列表，并由加拿大药品管理局（前身为CADTH）的定性研究人员进行了验证。通过计算每个数据库中所持有的图书总数的百分比以及每个数据库中唯一图书的数量，该列表用于评估每个数据库的定性藏书。结果：虽然采用定性搜索方法的出版物通常推荐特定学科的健康数据库，包括MEDLINE、CINAHL和PsycINFO，但本研究发现，多学科引文索引Scopus和Web of Science Core Collection不仅拥有最高的总标题百分比，而且拥有更多的独特标题。结论：这些索引在定性搜索策略中具有潜在的效用，如果仅仅用于补充其他具有唯一记录的数据库搜索。通过对翻译到Scopus的定性快速回顾搜索策略的测试，研究了这种潜力，以确定该索引如何贡献相关文献。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of the Medical Library Association INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

10.00%

发文量

审稿时长

26 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) is an international, peer-reviewed journal published quarterly that aims to advance the practice and research knowledgebase of health sciences librarianship. The most current impact factor for the JMLA (from the 2007 edition of Journal Citation Reports) is 1.392.