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Reposted by SRLibProblems

JBI @jbiebhc.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

🔥 Hot tip! Before starting a systematic review, make sure an information scientist/research librarian is part of the review team. They have specialised skills to develop & implement a comprehensive search strategy 🔎 Learn more: bit.ly/4spgp1z #JBIMethodology #medlibs

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

I've used #OpenAlex (web) a lot this week, for exploratory searching & scoping, to show a colleague how it works, & even creating & exporting a search for a #SystematicReview. Interestingly, I was on it yesterday and was surprised to see the interface had changed from what I had used the day before

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

I have used many of the tips on this blog. Today, I used the instructions (and tool mentioned) in this post (uxcaucustips.blogspot.com/2025/04/tip-...) to generate two sets of records from a draft Ovid Medline search, so the research team can do some sampling. #MLAUXCaucus #MedLibs #CanMedLibs

uxcaucustips.blogspot.com

Tip #58: Exporting a Random Set of Citations from Ovid Databases to Avoid Bias

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Reposted by SRLibProblems

Matt Grainger @drmattg.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

New guidelines for the use of #AI in evidence synthesis in the environmental fields

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Chasing down abstracts while pulling records for citation chaining (in this case, backwards citation chaining) is no fun and reduces efficiency. Tools like Citation Chaser are awesome, but (as I noticed earlier this week) the process becomes less efficient when some records are missing abstracts.

lens.org

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Not liking this spreading practice where database providers now require use of an account to download any records or in specific formats (RIS); not even a small number. I know advanced users (including evidence synthesis librarians/researchers) will create their accounts and continue along but

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Saw a post about moving searches out of custom folders in EBSCO, which reminded me to get on it. I moved 105 saved searches from 20 custom folders into one saved searches folder 😒. Thankfully, no renaming needed as I used this naming convention from the start: libguides.ucalgary.ca/DMPforSR/dat...

libguides.ucalgary.ca

Library: Guide to the DMP Assistant Template for Systematic Review Projects: Data Collection

Companion guide to the Portage DMP Assistant Template for Systematic Review Projects

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

The 'Search History' screen on the new EBSCO UI now shows result numbers for each line. We can finally take screenshots to demonstrate the remaining problems 😅 - Happy Friday #IYKYK #Medlibs #CanMedlibs

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

I have been playing around in the new #EBSCO interface and have thoughts 😅 Has anyone noticed that the symbol used to combine queries in the new EBSCO interface is very similar to that used by #Scopus? And now I'm starting to see more similarities across the two systems 🤔 #Medlibs #ExpertSearching

A screenshot of the "combine queries" symbol in the new EBSCOhost user interface. The symbol looks like 2 lines merging into 1 line with a right facing arrow at the end

Screenshot of the symbol that follows the Combine queries text in Scopus. The symbol looks like 2 lines merging into a single line with a right facing arrow at the end.

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

They state "For publication or regulatory-grade systematic reviews, you will often have to default to traditional, keyword-based search methods" I guess, all researchers who thought they could do a "systematic review" in minutes and submit for journal publication are going to be disappointed!

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Reposted by SRLibProblems

JBI @jbiebhc.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

🔥 Hot tip! Before starting a systematic review, make sure an information scientist/research assistant is part of the review team. They have specialised skills to develop and implement a comprehensive search strategy 🔎 synthesismanual.jbi.global #MedLibs #JBImethodology #EvidenceSynthesis

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

That feeling you get when you find THE error that is causing your search to misbehave 😁 #SearchGeek

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

It always surprises me when peer reviewers ask for details that aren't expected for the article type submitted. Example: A reviewer commenting on a protocol said they would have liked to see the results (and not in a "I look forward to seeing the results of the review" sort of way). #Reviewer2 😵‍💫

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

"Hey #EBSCO, See you at #CHLA2025 in Vancouver! Sponsoring a dance party might be the perfect way to help us shake off the memory of this morning’s surprise interface switch. We'll bring the moves, you bring the fixes. #JustSaying #ShakeItOff

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Reposted by SRLibProblems

Amanda Ross-White @amandarosswhite.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Hey #medlibs and #canmedlibs ! Did you see the call for papers at CHLA is open? Come join us in Vancouver this June! Photo of my daughter riding the fire truck in Stanley Park: www.chla-absc.ca/welcome_to_c...

Picture of a little girl in Stanley Park, Vancouver

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Happy to accept the compliments. Now I know what my cat persona would be 😅 - "a cat in a library chasing a laser pointer." My #BlueSkyRoast #Skybrarian blueskyroast.com/roast/srlibp...

A screenshot of the BlueSky Roast for @srlibproblems.bsky.social.

"SRLibProblems: The #Skybrarian with a Heart of Evidence.
Navigating the labyrinth of systematic reviews with both wit and wisdom. "A delightful combo of librarian seriousness and quirky charm, like a cat in a library chasing a laser pointer.
88.5% Authenticity; 75% Thought Leader; 90% Search Techniques; 95%
Evidence Synthesis"

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

In my hastiness to put this thread together, I oversimplified and said this incorrectly. Ovid allows ANY other word to take the place of the stop-word, not just any other stop-word. It retains the distance so (web "anyword" science) is how it sees it. ospguides.ovid.com/OSPguides/me...

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

I was working on a search and needed to search for "Web of Science", and ran into the stop-word issue again, so I needed to figure out how each of the database interfaces (Ovid, EBSCO, Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest) handles it. #SearchTips #Medlibs #CanMedLibs As mentioned in the thread:

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Ran into an issue while helping troubleshoot #Scopus today. Half the search strings were running fine, but the other half were not. Scopus would say "syntax error", but what? See screenshot from MS Word below. String looked normal to me. I tried replacing the usual suspects (quotes, brackets, etc)

A screenshot from a MS Word document showing the following search string: (("language" OR linguistic OR "speech") W/2 (skill* OR abilit* OR impair* OR difficult*))

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Can't believe I didn't do this earlier in my career. I've started writing my #acknowledgments into the first draft of a manuscript (redacted) so I don't forget to add it in later.

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Sadly, this doesn't work in the EBSCOhost interface. In fact, if you forget you did this & translate your search to CINAHL (for example), you will end up with a poor search. #EvidenceSynthesis Using the same example as earlier, if you tried the two options: "review* of review*" = 7495 results

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Here is your semi-regular reminder about how to #search for phrases that include stop-words in Ovid databases. I use this tip a lot! Simply add a truncation symbol to the stop-word (tip courtesy of the amazing UX Caucus tips blog: uxcaucustips.blogspot.com/2022/06/tip-...).

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 01/11/2024

2 minutes earlier: "Export service failed" <-- The message received when trying to export results from EBSCO APA PsycInfo, causing me panic & the resignation that I might have to do "the other tedious method" to get my export Now: Email arrived with a link to my export 😒 #Annoyed & #relieved. #Why

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 29/10/2024

Was reading this recent article (doi.org/10.32384/jeahil20607) and noticed a couple of awesome things: 1) They used 6 datasets and included records from trial registries (clinicaltrials.gov and WHO ICTRP) alongside bibliographic databases. 2) This 👍 visual explaining terms incl precision and recall.

Screenshot of Figure 1 showing:
Correctly identified - Unique - is a True negative
Correctly identified - Duplicate - is a True positive
Incorrectly identified - Unique - is a False negative
Incorrectly identified - Duplicate - is a False positive

Precision = (True positive)/(True positive + False positive)

Recall = (True positive)/(True positive + False negative)

A precise tool will have few results incorrectly classified as duplicates (false duplicates).
A tool with high recall will have missed fewer duplicates

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

Months ago I asked #Librarians what flowchart-making tools they were using. Today I learned about Miro (miro.com), a whiteboard tool (& more). The flowchart or process diagram capabilities look great, & have some of the same cool features as Draw.io which is what I eventually used a few months ago.

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

New or did I just not notice it? Either way, happy to see it #CochraneHandbook Ch4 "Ovid MEDLINE (segment name ‘MEDALL’) covers all of the available content and metadata in PubMed with a delay of one working day... Aside from the MEDLINE records, Ovid includes all content types available in PubMed"

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Reposted by SRLibProblems

Carrie Price @carrieprice.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

Hi I would like to repost this 5,000 times over the next five years please. Nurse faculty, the arbitrary five year limit has GOT TO GO! jmla.mlanet.org/ojs/jmla/art...

jmla.mlanet.org

Fostering change, empowering faculty: comments on the NURSLITT study and the five-year rule | Journal of the Medical Library Association

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Reposted by SRLibProblems

Amy @amylibrarian.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

Happy to see the preprint syntax table cited in the revised Cochrane Handbook. Syntax table: lib.uvic.ca/preprintsear... Chapter 4 of the Handbook: training.cochrane.org/handbook/cur...

training.cochrane.org

Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 04/10/2024

#Ovid - why must you misbehave? I was working with a student to refine an Ovid Medline #SystematicReview search today & every time we "edited" a line and tried to re-run it, it would timeout. This even happened when we worked from the 'saved searches' screen. I've never had this happen before. 😖😢

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 27/09/2024

As I update slides for a SR workshop, I am reminded how much I love this table - for explaining the differences between #SystematicReviews, #ScopingReviews, and #MappingReviews. The inclusion of objective and scope information in the table is SO helpful. (DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.jc...).

Screenshot of Table 1 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2022.05.012 which shows the differences in methodologies between mapping review, systematic reviews and scoping reviews. Parameters covered include: Objective, A priori review protocol, PROSPERO registration, Methodology, Scope, Searching of studies, etc.

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 17/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #326,912! 🤭

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 06/09/2024

I am constantly impressed with Wikipedia as a source for synonyms. I used Higher Education as an example, and was impressed by en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiar... #SystematicReviews #Searching

en.wikipedia.org

Tertiary education - Wikipedia

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 22/08/2024

Thankful for the presence of the Undo button during Title-Abstract screening in #Covidence 😅

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 13/08/2024

A significant portion of my #SystematicReview work is teaching/consulting with students on their review #searches. I just wrapped up one such consultation and it was so much FUN! The student had the fundamentals of searching down - so working together to refine and improve their search was a joy

media.tenor.com

two minions wearing goggles and overalls are standing next to each other .

ALT: two minions wearing goggles and overalls are standing next to each other .

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 12/07/2024

Just saw a review spell #CINAHL as "CIANHL". So, I thought to myself - that must be a rare occurrence - but it is not. A Google Scholar search returned more than 80 results, and the ones I scanned looked like misspellings of CINAHL based on the sentences they were in. #SysRev

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Reposted by SRLibProblems

Carrie Price @carrieprice.bsky.social · 11/07/2024

For those of you publishing #SystematicReviews and stating that you searched according to PRISMA, please feel free to elaborate on how PRISMA directed you to search. This is all the PRISMA 2020 Checklist has to say about searching.

Search strategy 7 Present the full search strategies for all databases, registers and websites, including any filters and limits used.

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 11/07/2024

🤔 moment of the day: Was working on #DataExtraction for an #EvidenceSynthesis project, and came across an interesting inclusion criteria: articles that have perfect structure. Hmmm, I wonder how they evaluated that.

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 28/06/2024

Happy "promotion notification" day to me 🥳. Super happy to be among the group of associate/librarian 3s. Time to put my feet up and relax for a couple of years 😆

media.tenor.com

Popcorn Yeah GIF

Alt: GIF of JErry Seinfield putting his feet up, eating popcorn and doing a celebratory fist in the air

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 26/06/2024

#Reproducible search #Reporting is not just for #EvidenceSynthesis reviews. It should be required for studies about search methods; the search strategy is the data collection instrument. How can you #PeerReview a study about search methods if the searches are not provided? Where was #Reviewer2 😅

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 26/06/2024

Research study: My milkshake is better than yours & will satisfy all your needs Me: OK, let me try it & show me the recipe Study: We do not have a sample or recipe to share with you. We tasted it so take our word for it - it is better Me: 😶 #TransparentMethods are not optional

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Reposted by SRLibProblems

Amy @amylibrarian.bsky.social · 25/06/2024

#LESSS2024 My brain is wrestling w/ this. I think 2 things can be true: 1) I love that the librarians are doing data extraction training for users. That's so needed. and.. 2) I also wish that academic departments would take a lead on things like this so librarians could focus on lit search-y things.

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 25/06/2024

Having "Graveyard" as a status in an ES program is awesome! Have to put those Zombie reviews somewhere 😆 #LESSS2024

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 20/06/2024

What (free) tools/software do you all use when creating process diagrams or flow charts? #Librarian #LIS #MedLibs #CanMedLibs

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 10/05/2024

I wish journals wouldn't feel so obliged to invite me to share my eminent work with them 🫠. If I've got something to share - nothing will stop me anyways!

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 22/03/2024

Love note from an Evidence Synthesis librarian to authors: If you are going to use a new term (i.e. one that none of your references use), can you please include the previous term elsewhere in your abstract so we can find your paper. Please, & thanks! #SysRev #ExpertSearching #Medlibs

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 15/03/2024

I've noticed this in the titles of reviews for a while. Inspired by a recent post on the bird app of an article that does this t.co/IKCjfbYTGx, & by the topic of that article (greenwashing), I think #PRISMAwashing is an appropriate name for this practice of including #PRISMA in the title of reviews.

A screenshot of the results page of a Google Scholar search using the following search string: allintitle: ("PRISMA review" OR "PRISMA systematic review") showing 169 results

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 13/03/2024

Will 2024 be the year that ProQuest moves up the database platform rankings to surpass EBSCOhost? Only time will tell, but it sure is looking like a possibility #ExpertSearching #Librarians #Medlibs #SystematicReviews

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SRLibProblems @srlibproblems.bsky.social · 15/01/2024

I have bad news! This change in field description is not actioned. I tested it today 😭 I tested a TS search & compared it to TI, AB, AK, but the results were different. So, I tested TI, AB, AK, KP and the numbers matched TS. So, TS no longer mentions KP in the description but is still searching KP

Screenshot of three search strings in Web of Science Core Collection.
TS=ulcers - 135,181 results
ulcers (Title) or ulcers (Abstract) or ulcers (Author Keywords) - 118,042 results
TI=(ulcers) OR AB=(ulcers) OR AK=(ulcers) OR KP=(ulcers) - 135,181 results

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