If you want to find a more complete overview of all relevant literature for your research or a review, you should not limit your search to PubMed. You need to include other databases. The most important database in that case is Embase.
If you want to attend the workshop Embase, it is required that you have first attended both workshops Systematic Literature Retrieval in PubMed. If you think you have enough experience in PubMed already to skip those classes, send an e-mail to info.mb@erasmusmc.nl, so we can test your knowledge with a small exercise.
About the workshop
Erasmus MC information specialists have developed a method that helps a search to find as many relevant articles as possible in various databases. This method is being taught internationally to other librarians and is shared via numerous scientific publications. The basis for the method is a search in Embase.com. Embase contains more references that PubMed, it allows for better searches, and has a good relevance ranking. Using optimization you can find new search terms that might result in extra relevant references.
Learning objectives
- What are the differences in syntax and thesaurus terms between PubMed and Embase?
- What is the most convenient way of setting up a search strategy for Embase.com?
- How can we check that no important search terms (and therefore relevant articles) are missed (optimization)?
For employees and students of Erasmus MC (or Erasmus University) these workshops are without costs.