Literature searching

Test your search

Testing the performance of your search in your primary database (usually MEDLINE) is important before you translate to other databases.

If your search is working effectively it should retrieve all of your known 'gold set' articles (AKA a 'test set'). These articles should be indexed in your primary database otherwise this process won't work!

Even if the search is picking up all of your relevant papers it's important to review the results and scan to see whether what you are retrieving is looking relevant.

The example below is for Ovid MEDLINE, however this approach can be used in other databases.

How to test:

• Run the search strategy to produce a result set. The example below shows the Cochrane RCT search filter that has been applied to the end of a search. Two concepts have been used (ie CVD AND Omega-3) but are not included in the screenshot below.
• Line 26 represents the result set (ie combined concepts including the RCT filter).

• Search for the title of each gold set article, by selecting the Title radio button. 
• Tip: Use double quotation marks around the article title and remove any punctuation such as brackets which can cause syntax errors then hit Search or enter.

• Combine your final search strategy set with the article title using AND 
• Line 26 represents the search strategy result set and Line 27 represents the gold set article, these have been combined with AND and the result is 1 which indicates that the search includes this particular article - a good sign!

• If the article is indexed in the database but doesn't appear in your search results, this indicates that the search needs further work and testing.
• Line 27 represents the gold set article which is indexed/listed in MEDLINE as the result is 1
• Line 28 represents the test and the result is 0 - this indicates that the search is currently missing this particular article.

Peer review of the search

Ask a librarian to review your strategy for your primary database before moving onto translation. This step is also endorsed in the Cochrane Handbook: search strategies should be peer reviewed before they are run (Cochrane handbook, Ch. 4.4.8).

Librarians use the PRESS checklist below for this process.

Translation to other databases

Allow ample time for this process depending on the number of databases you intend to use in your search. There are some tools that can help but these are not 100% accurate and require some expertise with searching, so use with caution!

Things to consider:

• Different databases use different controlled vocabulary (see table) or thesauri
• These subject headings will need to be manually checked when translating from MEDLINE to another database like Embase
• Keywords will remain the same, however check operators and syntax

Refer to this very helpful guide from colleagues at University of South Australia Library: Run your search on other databases.