Evidence Synthesis Methods Interest Group

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Charge: To promote and develop competencies around evidence synthesis including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and other related methods of research synthesis, through activities such as: Facilitating discussion and peer-support; Creating and managing a resource page; Encouraging programming and publications around systematic reviews through ACRL.
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  • 1.  PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Jan 30, 2023 09:39 PM

    Hi, folks.

    We currently have PsycINFO on the EBSCO platform. When conducting Evidence Synthesis-related research projects, we had heard that it was easier to download results on the Proquest platform. When it comes to Ev Synth work, do you all have a platform preference? If so, why do you like one over the other?

     

    Best,

    Anita

     

    Anita Kuiken, MSLIS, AHIP (queue-ken)
    (Pronouns: she/her/hers)
    Librarian for Falk College of Sport & Human Dynamics
    Research Impact Team
    Syracuse University Libraries

    O 315-443-9766
    akuiken@syr.edu
    LinkedIn

    Need help with research? Find library content from these research guides in the areas I support: Exercise Science | Food Studies | Human Development & Family Science | Marriage & Family Therapy | Nutrition Science & Dietetics | Public Health | Social Work | Sport Management | Aging Studies l Stabler Running Collection

    130 Sims Dr., Syracuse, NY 13244
    library.syr.edu

    Syracuse University

     



  • 2.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 01, 2023 07:32 AM
    Hi Anita,

    We have PsycINFO on Proquest.  The challenge with complex searches on Proquest is that the truncation symbol doesn't work well so you have to write out all variations.  Less complex searches are fine using the truncation symbol.  The bulk export requires saving your search then doing the export, at least the way it is set up for us.  I find Ebscohost much easier as you have results emailed to you.  

    Heather

    ------------------------------
    Heather MacDonald
    Health and Bioscience Librarian
    Carleton University Library RSS Department
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 01, 2023 07:49 AM
    We have PsycInfo in OVID.  I have used it for a couple SRs and like that has ADJ.  I haven't used this in another platform.
    Angela Spencer
    Saint Louis University
    angela.spencer@slu.edu

    ------------------------------
    Angela Spencer
    Health Sciences Reference Librarian
    Saint Louis University
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 01, 2023 08:20 AM
    Hi Anita - we have both the Proquest and Ebsco platforms. I don't use it as often as I do some other databases, but I prefer the Ebsco, since the syntax is so similar to CINAHL, which I use all the time.  I think most of the problems with exporting big sets of results from Ebsco have been fixed.  The email you send yourself now arrives in a timely manner and I think we filled out a from with IT to make sure that they never get flagged as spam. I do find browsing and searching the subject terms to be a little bit of a challenge, but it's the same with Proquest.

    ------------------------------
    John Reynolds
    Reference and Education Librarian
    University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Calder Memorial Library
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 01, 2023 09:09 AM
    Hi! I want to caution against choosing Proquest. My experience with exporting citations has been pretty horrific-- export limits, getting timed out, client-side deduplication that isn't communicated with the user so the total # of results doesn't = the # in the RIS file. Although, I will say that things have gotten a bit better recently. See: https://support.proquest.com/s/article/How-can-I-export-all-my-search-results-in-ProQuest?language=en_US

    Even with improvements, I much prefer 1. Ovid and 2. EBSCO as platforms.

    --

    Amy Riegelman (she, her, hers)
    Social Sciences & Evidence Synthesis Librarian
    University of Minnesota




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 02, 2023 09:34 AM
    I also prefer exporting from the EBSCOhost platform than from ProQuest. PQ has made it very difficult to export large numbers of records...they want your institution to purchase their Text and Data Mining product for this.*

    Meanwhile, exporting a large number of records from EBSCOhost is a snap (except that they took away the ability to add a subject line to the email that delivers your download link).

    Jane @ Purdue

    *If for some reason you want to export every field in a ProQuest record, you can ONLY do it with a .txt export <grumblegrumble> Fortunately this is not so relevant to exporting records for a systematic review, because we usually just want citations & abstracts.



    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 03, 2023 01:51 AM
    I agree with the other responses. Overall, both EBSCO and OVID are easy to use and have reasonable exporting options. EBSCO actually has the largest export limit and I haven't had any issues with exporting from it recently.
    • Personally, I find the OVID interface the best to use and the most flexible in terms of functions and operators (frequency and limited truncation operators, not requiring quotation marks to prevent auto-lemmatization, etc.) and is the interface I learned search on and am most familiar with as well.
    • The EBSCO interface has its advantages (larger export limit, ability to search multiple databases and access multiple thesauri when doing so) and most of us use the EBSCO platform for other databases so there is familiarity there too.
    • The ProQuest interface seems to be the most finicky. I haven't used PsycInfo on ProQuest but I do search other databases on it, so I assume it isn't any different. The new bulk export feature from the My research page (which is only available for some databases on PQ) is better than the previous options, but there are other issues (length searches time out - or they used to, etc.).
    I wouldn't switch from EBSCO to Proquest anytime soon.

    ------------------------------
    Zahra Premji
    Health Research Librarian
    University of Victoria Libraries
    She/Her/Hers
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 06, 2023 04:26 PM

    Hi Anita,

     

    Just a heads-up that the EBSCO interface feature for exporting citations for an entire results list has to be turned on in the admin portal, otherwise the only option is to add results to a folder in small batches (I think 50 at a time might be the limit?) and then export from the folder.  At least that was the case a few years ago when CSU discovered and turned on the feature, which was a life-changer for those doing evidence synthesis work!

     

    Sharing in case it is helpful for others.

     

    Best wishes,

     

    Jocelyn

     

     

    ---

    Jocelyn Boice

    Associate Professor / Collection and Data Analysis Librarian

    Collection Strategies Unit

    Colorado State University Libraries

    1019 Campus Delivery

    Fort Collins, CO 80523-1019

    970-491-3882 | jocelyn.boice@colostate.edu




    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: PsycINFO - preference for platform?

    Posted Feb 20, 2023 08:44 AM
      |   view attached

    Hi, Everyone.

    Thanks so much for all of your feedback!  I really appreciate your guidance. I've collated all responses, as there were a couple of conversations that happened off-discussion.

    Best,

    Anita

     

    Anita Kuiken, MSLIS, AHIP (queue-ken)
    (Pronouns: she/her/hers)
    Librarian for Falk College of Sport & Human Dynamics
    Research Impact Team
    Syracuse University Libraries

    O 315-443-9766
    akuiken@syr.edu
    LinkedIn

    Need help with research? Find library content from these research guides in the areas I support: Exercise Science | Food Studies | Human Development & Family Science | Marriage & Family Therapy | Nutrition Science & Dietetics | Public Health | Social Work | Sport Management | Aging Studies l Stabler Running Collection

    130 Sims Dr., Syracuse, NY 13244
    library.syr.edu

    Syracuse University

     




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    PsycINFO on other platforms.docx   34 KB 1 version
    Original Message