LKCMedicine Researchers & Faculty

What’s in store for RESEARCHERS?

Your essential back pack tools for research and citation management skills
Some useful search techniques skills as a refresher course
The researcher’s portfolio – Using the vitae RDF framework
Creating a Researcher ID and analyzing the impact of author identifiers on Web of Science
Useful information when engaged in systematic review research works
Collection of Grey Literature sources appropriate for Medicine and how you can evaluate your Grey Literature resources

ESSENTIAL BACK PACK TOOLS

Within NTU, we have a few courses for you to sign up for as well as information on how to access databases on our NTU library website.

EndNote workshops (Sign up here at https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/lib-learning/workshops/). You can also view:
1. EndNote for (Mac)
2. EndNote (Windows) in 7 minutes
DMP Writing Workshop (for NTU Faculty and Researchers) ((Sign up here at https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/lib-learning/workshops/)
Use of Medical databases (Refer to resources page)

WHAT ABOUT EQUIPPING YOURSELF WITH USEFUL SEARCH TECHNIQUE TIPS?

Please refer to the following materials below:

Tips on literature search and citation management tools. You can also plug in to the audio file.
Watch this video from the University of South Indiana (USI), about information literacy in a nutshell to refresh your search strategy skills

Source: [DavidLRiceLibrary]. (2010, July 02). Information Literacy in a Nutshell. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWv5S50Zww

HEARD OF THE VITAE RDF FRAMEWORK?

View the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) provides support and resources for “personal, professional and career development of doctoral researchers and research staff in higher education institutions and research institutes”.

In areas of information literacy, Vitae includes support to develop your information search skills via the Informed Researcher Booklet and Information Literacy Lens on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework. There are additional publications available as well as other views of the Vitae Researcher Development Framework

Video #1: Introduction to the Vitae Researcher Development Framework RDF

Source: [Vitaewebsite]. (2015, Oct 1). Introduction to the Vitae Researcher Development Framework RDF HD. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw8abmz2TZE

Video #2: Vitae RDF Planner: Researcher Perspective

Source: [Vitaewebsite]. (2014, June 2). Vitae RDF Planner: researcher perspective. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=023aTqxs45w

ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS?

Here are some videos from OvidWoltersKluwer on systematic reviews in EBHC which you may find useful during your research works

Video 1: The Role of Systematic Reviews in Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC)

Source: [OvidWoltersKluwer]. (2015, October 6). The Role of Systematic Reviews in Evidence-Based Healthcare. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhitDGfO8qU

Video 2: Step 1 in a Systematic Review

Source: [OvidWoltersKluwer]. (2015, October 6). Step 1 in a Systematic Review. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfO5yB9EoJU

Video 3: Step 2 in a Systematic Review

Source: [OvidWoltersKluwer]. (2015, October 6). Step 2 in a Systematic Review. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky4bU94dZnY

Video 4: Step 3 in a Systematic Review

Source: [OvidWoltersKluwer]. (2015, October 6). Step 3 in a Systematic Review. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEBal2QgH7c

When using databases to search for systematic reviews:

(1) Medline – OVID (EBM Reviews – Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005 to November 23, 2016)

For example: Type the search sentence – respiratory distress in neonates
Select the systematic review title: Positive end expiratory pressure for preterm infants requiring conventional mechanical ventilation for respiratory distress syndrome or bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
Read and review

(2) Cochrane Library and Cochrane Clinical Answers

Watch Online self-paced tutorials on how to use Cochrane Library
See ppt slides on how to use Cochrane Clinical Answers

Have u heard of using a Logic Grid to perform your search? Watch this video on how you can do this using Embase

Source: [Maisie Dobbs]. (2015, July 9).Searching Embase – with the help of a logic grid. [Video File]. Retrieved from h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsIYwWwi_r4.

WHAT IS RESEARCHER ID?

ResearcherID provides a solution to the author ambiguity problem within the scholarly research community. Each member is assigned a unique identifier to enable researchers to manage their publication lists, track their times cited counts and h-index, identify potential collaborators and avoid author misidentification. In addition, your ResearcherID information integrates with the Web of Science and is ORCID compliant, allowing you to claim and showcase your publications from a single one account. Search the registry to find collaborators, review publication lists and explore how research is used around the world! (Source: http://www.researcherid.com/Home.action?returnCode=ROUTER.Success&Init=Yes&SrcApp=CR&SID=W2rVUJlbNMk9mICT4G5)

Video 1: Creating Researcher ID

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOhZvQ7YHoY

Source: [Web of Science Training]. (2014, June 24). ResearcherID: Creating a Researcher ID. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOhZvQ7YHoY

Video 2: Author Identifiers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF9pvCHxQt8

Source: [Web of Science Training]. (2015, Aug 19). Author Identifiers in the Web of Science: ResearcherID and ORCID. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF9pvCHxQt8

You can request our medical librarians via email to create a Researcher ID for you.

HOW DO YOU SEARCH FOR GREY LITERATURE?

Fig 1 shows the process of searching for grey literature sources

Fig 1: Process of grey literature search. Adapted from: Duffield, A. et al. (2004). “Process to Identify the Grey Literature”, Review of the published literature for the impact and cost-effectiveness of six nutrition related emergency interventions

What are the types and recommended sources in Medicine?

Types

Reports-including preprints; preliminary progress and advanced reports [including ongoing trials reports], institutional, internal, technical, and statistical reports
Theses
Conference proceedings
Technical specifications and standards
Translations (not distributed commercially)
Bibliographies
Technical and commercial documentation
Official documents (issued in limited numbers)

Source: Alberani, V et al. (1990) The use of grey literature in health sciences: a preliminary survey. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 78(4): 358-63.

Recommended Sources

There are a number of sources where grey literature can be found. These include:

Repositories

View the Digital Repository (DR-NTU) open access contributed by researchers from LKCMedicine and other communities. These are final peer-reviewed manuscript of journal articles and conference papers.
View the Digital Repository (DR-NTU) restricted access contributed by students from LKCMedicine and other communities. These are full-text versions of theses or reports.

Catalogue

WorldCat which indexes millions of holdings from numerous libraries world-wide

Websites

The Internet is now a major source to retrieve grey literature and often a good starting point to research a particular topic area.

In alphabetical order…

A

ADOLEC (Adolescent Health) (Click here) – Adolescent health, with particular emphasis on information covering America.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (Click here) – The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. AHRQ priorities are described.
Amercian Psychiatry Association – (Click here)

B

BASE (Click here) – the Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
BMC Proceedings (Click here)
Best Evidence Medical and Health Professional Education (BEME) – Click here
BMJ – Click here

C

Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) – Click here
CogPrints (Click here) – Electronic archive for self-archive papers in the areas of psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics.
Cochrane library grey literature Databases (Click here) – More grey literature databases are available through the Cochrane Handbook http://handbook.cochrane.org/.
- Go to Part 2 > General methods for Cochrane reviews > Searching for studies > Sources to search>Bibliographic databases > Grey literature databases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Click here) – You can view Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWR), Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID), Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD), Data & Statistics, Science Clips, Public Health Image Library and Publications.

D

DESASTRES (disasters and emergencies) (Click here)

E

Embase Conference Papers – Select database from NTU library website. Select Publication Type: Conference Abstract, Conference Paper or Conference review from Filter menu or in the advanced search menu. Filter by Conference also available

F

Factiva – Select database from NTU library website

G

Google – If you know the names of conferences / societies in the area of your systematic review topic, searching by name will lead you to the proceedings, which are usually published on their website (E.g: SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress)
Google Scholar – Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature
Grey Literature report (Click here) – New York Academy of Medicine
Grey Source (Click here) – Examples of grey literature supported with organizations responsible for its production and/or processing. (See classification)

H

HSA (Click here) – The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) was formed on 1 April 2001 as a statutory board of the Singapore Ministry of Health with the integration of five specialised agencies:
- Centre for Drug Evaluation
- Institute of Science and Forensic Medicine
- National Pharmaceutical Administration
- Product Regulation Department
- Singapore Blood Transfusion Service
HISA (public health) (Click here)

M

Ministry of Health (Click here) – Singapore Government
MedNar (Click here) – New York Academy of Medicine. Use Advanced Search to specify where to search (societies, government websites, etc)
Medline Plus (Click here) – MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health’s Web site for patients and their families and friends. Produced by the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest medical library, it brings you information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in language you can understand. MedlinePlus offers reliable, up-to-date health information, anytime, anywhere, for free.

N

NICE (Click here) – Clinical standards, UK
National Institutes of Health (NIH) (Click here) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.
National Institute on Aging (Click here) – NIA, one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of NIH, leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. NIA is the primary Federal agency supporting and conducting Alzheimer’s disease research.
NIH Health Information (Click here) – You can search for articles/newsletters on general health and disease management, clinical research trials, community resources and publications.

O

OpenDOAR (Click here) – Directory of academic open access repositories. Search for the full-text of material held in open access repositories listed in the Directory using ‘Search Repository Contents’, or use OpenDOAR to find repositories or groups of repositories that fit particular needs using our ‘Find’ facility.
OpenGrey (Click here) – Multidisciplinary European database for “grey literature

P

Popline (reproductive health) – (Click here)

R

REPIDISCA (sanitation and environmental sciences) – (Click here)

S

Science.gov (Click here) – Gateway to over 50 million pages of authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. government agencies, including research and development results.
Scopus – Select database from NTU library website. To locate conference proceedings in Scopus, search for article. Use the refine functions on the left hand side of the results page, limit your results to Conference Papers under the ‘Document Type’ section.

T

Tomorrow’s Medicine (Click here) – Singapore, SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (Newsletter)

U

Union catalogues such as COPAC or WorldCat include reports and theses
U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Click here) – The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices; and by ensuring the safety of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. Read more about FDA –Singapore, MOU Regarding New Medical Products
U.S Department of Health & Human Services / HHS.gov (Click here) – It is the mission of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans. We fulfill that mission by providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services.

W

World Bank Publications (Click here) – World Bank Publications or reports from around the globe
World Health Organisation (Click here) – WHO Publications from the different regions. Here are a few organisations partnered with WHO.
- CEHA Database (environmental health & sanitation) (Click here)
- Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) library (Click here) – Headquarters Library and Information Services supports the work of the Organization and provides a wide variety of professional and technical reference and information services covering a broad range of subject areas within the biomedical and public health field, including, historical information. It also collects, organizes, preserves and disseminates regional information produced by PAHO, both bibliographic and in full text, besides offering a selected collection on related health subjects affecting the people of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Library’s collections are referenced in its electronic PAHO/HQ Online Library Catalog, accessible through the Web.
- Research 4 life (Click here) -The collective name for the four programmes – HINARI, AGORA, OARE and ARDI – Research4Life provides developing countries with free or low cost access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content online. Research4Life is a public-private partnership of the WHO, FAO, UNEP, WIPO, Cornell and Yale Universities and the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers. Working together with technology partner Microsoft, the partnership’s goal is to help attain six of the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015, reducing the scientific knowledge gap between industrialized countries and the developing world.
- Global Health Library (Click here) – Global and regional indexes to the scientific and technical literature. Many of the articles found in searches are free online such as those in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.
- Sexual and reproductive health – (Click here)

WorldWideScience.gov (Click here) – Global science gateway-accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases.

As your work progresses, you’ll become aware of the main organisations active in the medical/Healthcare specialty (e.g:) government bodies and research institutes. Do a thorough search of their webpages and articles/published works.

Databases

Here are some databases from our NTU library website that index conference papers and conference proceedings:

- Web of Science
  - Web of Science Conference Proceedings Citation Indexes
    - 2 conference proceedings citation indexes – a Science index, and a Social Sciences & Humanities Index.
    - Limit your search, select from a list of core collection databases in ” More Settings” section at bottom of the Web of Science search page.
- CINAHL
- ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global (PQDT Global) & ProQuest Dissertations &Theses – UK and Ireland (Index to Theses)*
  - This database has ordering information to obtain abstracts and copies of papers
  - *Included in PQDT Global
- EMBASE
- PsycINFO
- TRIP Database (clinical medicine) – (Click here)

Evaluation tools for…

Grey literature materials using the AACODS technique to enable evaluation and critical appraisal
- Authority: Is the author credible?
- Accuracy: Is it supported by documented and authoritative references? Is there a clearly stated methodology? Is it ‘in line’ with other work on the same topic
- Coverage: Have limitations been imposed and are these stated clearly?
- Objectivity: Can bias be detected?
- Date: Can’t find the date? Rule of the thumb is to avoid such material
- Significance: Is it relevant? Would it enrich or have an impact on your research?

(source: LibGuides: How to find…: Grey literature. (2017). Libguides.library.curtin.edu.au. Retrieved 8 March 2017, from http://libguides.library.curtin.edu.au/c.php?g=202368&p=1332723)