BIOSIS Evolutions
4
Biomedical Literature Searching: A comparison
of BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, and Medline
continued from page 1
These references focus on both experimental and
clinical research -- an important body of material that
Medline does not currently offer. While some of the
meetings are not biomedical in nature, BIOSIS does
index the major medical conferences each year,
and covers the preclinical information found in basic
biological symposia and workshops.
Examples of international meetings covered include:
· American Association for Cancer Research
· Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
· Japanese Pharmacological Society for Neuroscience
· Society for Nuclear Medicine
Serials
The following chart lists the number of serials covered
in each database, as well as their unique serials:
· Journals routinely monitored by BIOSIS Previews
and not EMBASE or Medline:
These journals concentrate on areas such as animal
studies and preclinical research information. (Note
that this total includes other life science journals
concentrating on areas of botany, agriculture, zoology,
marine science, etc.)
Acta Alimentaria
Advances in Medicinal Chemistry
Developments in Hematology
Journal of Nutrition for the Elderly
Progress in Reproductive Biology and Medicine
· Journals routinely monitored by Medline and not
BIOSIS Previews
or EMBASE:
These journals concentrate on areas such as health
care (legal and economic aspects), medical practice,
dentistry, and nursing.
BIOSIS Previews
Medline
Total Serials
5,211
3,957
Unique Serials
3,455
2 , 1 1 7
BIOSIS Previews
EMBASE
Total Serials
5,211
3,773
Unique Serials
3,431
1 , 9 9 3
Arizona Nurse
Dental Economics
Employee Benefits Journal
Gynekologe (Berlin)
Journal of Orthopedic Trauma
· Journals routinely monitored by EMBASE and not
BIOSIS Previews
or Medline:
These journals concentrate on areas of international
pharmacy.
Acta Pediatrica Espanola
Advances in MRI Contrast
Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal
Drug Information Journal
Journal of Primary Prevention
· Overlap: Only 34% of the serials monitored for
BIOSIS Previews
are also covered in Medline.
Likewise, just 34% of the serials monitored for
BIOSIS Previews
are also covered in EMBASE.
Therefore, in meeting the objectives of comprehen-
sive searching, it is absolutely essential to do a
multi-file search, including BIOSIS Previews.
Subject Areas
BIOSIS Previews
covers literature in virtually all life
science research areas and has extensive coverage in
biomedical topics. Medline focuses mainly on clinical
medicine, selectively indexing information from
biological research publications. EMBASE focuses
mostly on areas of drug research and pharmacology.
Because both the journal coverage and indexing meth-
ods of the databases are different, they complement
each other and should both be searched for compre-
hensive retrieval in biomedical research. For example,
the application of the latest advances in genetic
engineering is key to today's biomedical research.
Medline covers a large number of molecular biology
journals, with information on genetic engineering and
molecular cloning. BIOSIS Previews extensively covers
research on specific organisms used in these genetic
studies, as well as the characteristics of microorganisms
which make applications possible.
Search Comparison
In order to demonstrate the complementary use of
BIOSIS Previews
, EMBASE and Medline results from
