One of the big differences between the PubMed and CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health) databases is that PubMed indexes almost exclusively articles from scholarly journals, whereas CINAHL indexes a more varied range of document types. One often overlooked CINAHL content-type is Doctoral Dissertation.

Limiting to Publication Type = Doctoral Dissertation retrieves a search set of 22, 399+ records for doctoral dissertations, showing that dissertations are not an insignificant chunk of CINAHL’s content. Keep in mind, however, that these records contain merely citation information for the theses and not their full-text.

To obtain the full-text of dissertations, users can search Google Scholar (for a possible openly-available version of the dissertation deposited in an academic repository), request a copy of the dissertation via the library’s Document Delivery Service, or physically visit one of the MSK Library’s Tri-institutional partner libraries (WCMC) to access the thesis in question from the database Proquest Dissertations and Theses (full-text starting from 1997).

If you have any questions about identifying theses or obtaining their full-text, feel free to ASK US!

Here are some highlights of what’s new with the PubMed search interface and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Browser in 2017:

• PubMed’s new “Best Match” Sort Option

If you have searched PubMed this year, you may have noticed a prompt (displayed only once per session by the search engine) to try out PubMed’s “Best Match” Sort Option. The Relevance sort has been renamed “Best Match” so that the PubMed Sort Options now include: Most Recent, Publication Date, First Author, Last Author, Journal, Title and Best Match.

From PubMed Help:

“The retrieved by best match sort order for search results is based on an algorithm that analyzes each PubMed citation that includes the search terms. For each search query, “weight” is calculated for citations depending on how many search terms are found and in which fields they are found. In addition, recently-published articles are given a somewhat higher weight for sorting.”

• Changes to the 2017 MeSH Browser

Every year, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) updates the MeSH browser to better accommodate the current literature being indexed in the MEDLINE database. Among the 2017 MeSH Headings newly added to the MeSH Browser, one that will no doubt be useful for cancer research in particular is the:

New MeSH Descriptor: Margins of Excision

From the MeSH Browser:

“The edges of tissue removed in a surgery for assessment of the effectiveness of a surgical procedure in achieving the local control of a neoplasm and the adequacy of tumor removal. When the margin is negative or not involved by tumor (e.g., CANCER) it suggests all of the tumor has been removed by the surgery.

Year introduced: 2017
Tree Number(s): A10.830, C23.149.625”

A 2017 qualifier update was also made this year, when “three qualifiers (radiography, radionuclide imaging, and ultrasonography) were replaced by a new qualifier diagnostic imaging.”

New Qualifier: Diagnostic Imaging

From the MeSH Browser:

“diagnostic imaging [Subheading]

Used for the visualization of an anatomical structure or for the diagnosis of disease. Commonly used imaging techniques include radiography, radionuclide imaging, thermography, tomography, and ultrasonography

Year introduced: 2017(1967)
Tree Number(s): Y04.010″

To learn more about PubMed and MeSH, be sure to register for a class or Ask Us!

If you have visited the Endnote.com company website recently, you may have noticed a change in their branding.  What used to be the the Intellectual Property and Science business of Thomson Reuters, which was also responsible for Endnote, has now been launched as an independent company called Clarivate^TM Analytics.

Other than the absence of the Thomson Reuters logo, there do not yet appear to be any changes at the new company that are affecting the Endnote citation management software program. Clarivate Analytics has, however, already released a new version of Endnote (X8) that is not yet available via our MSK subscription but will likely be coming to us in 2017. Endnote X8 promises some advanced sharing functionality that will surely interest our community of MSK Endnote users. Feel free to contact the MSK Library with any questions or concerns.

Wishing everyone a happy and productive 2017!