Focused Searches

Focused Searches on OvidGO! consist of a comprehensive selection of database searches that are easily discoverable, accessible and actionable, that you can run directly on the Ovid platform with a single click. The curated and regularly reviewed portfolio of searches has been selected by the Ovid Training Team from various named and accredited sources. They include search filters, search strategies, search blocks and vary in size and format.

You can use all the searches within Focused Searches as standalone resources or in combination with the other knowledge and educational assets in the training and coaching activity areas which together make up the OvidGO! portal. Portrayed using a standardised ABC approach (see next section) developed by the Ovid Training Team, any Focused Search can also be quickly displayed on screen passively for consultation, comparative reference as well as teaching purposes. Each search has a background section which provides more detail about the search, its origin plus any noteworthy features and characteristics.

Full accreditation is given to the creator of the search as well as a live and actionable reference to the original source. Each search carries an OvidGO! citation and can be embedded in non-Ovid documentation by means of a dedicated and permanent link.

Developed by the Ovid Training Team, the ABC approach, which stands for Action, Background and Citation, represents the standard format for every search on Focused Searches. Regardless of its type, size or origin, the ABC formula provides for each search; a memorable point of access for both an overview of the search, accompanying information as well as a set of options for its use and re-use.

For example, if you want to view the search on your screen, simply select Actions/Display. If on the other hand you want to launch the search so that it runs and displays in Ovid, select Actions/Display. Once in Ovid, you could use the executed search in the development of your search strategy, save it in My Workspace or share it with colleagues.

Further options under the Actions tab include:

• Export: This allows you to export the search together with the accompanying information and references from the Background tab as a PDF file.
• Ovid Coaching: Selecting this option triggers a coaching request with an Ovid Trainer on the very search you are reviewing.
• Comments: Selecting this option opens up a new dialogue through which you can add comments on the search, pose questions or tell us about your experience with it.

Selecting the Background tab will provide you with information on the search. These details include:

• An Overview: Briefly of its origin, with accompanying references, linkable where possible.
• Inclusion Criteria: Reasons for its inclusion in OvidGO!'s Focused Searches selection.
• Teaching Points: Where relevant, some tips and comments from the Ovid Training Team.
• Peer Reviewers: Names of the Ovid Training Team members that checked the search and when.

Selecting the Citation tab will display an OvidGO! citation for the search on Ovid and accompanying materials as displayed in Focused Searches. The current citation format is Vancouver.

The searches on Ovid, presented using our ABC format, can be used in a number of ways. These depend, of course, on what your objective is. They could include searching for literature systematically or getting to know an unfamiliar database or even for teaching database use to others.

For example, if you are building a search strategy which requires locating randomised controlled trials, you might want to select Actions/Launch for the Cochrane RCT Search Filter I and directly include it in your search strategy. Equally you might want to save it as a search block in My Workspace for later review, use or even sharing.

Alternatively, were you to be unfamiliar with, say APA PsycInfo, you could select Actions/Display for the Covid and Mental Health - APA PsycInfo search to see how comfortable you are with that database’s use of terms and phrases for the subject matter.

In terms of teaching scenarios, you could refer to the Search History Analysis Example search, where the Background tab provides information on how to use a search history and its systematic deconstruction to help users better understand how and why such searches are built in the way that they are.

If you need our assistance on any of the Focused Searches use cases mentioned above, simply select Actions/Ovid Coaching for the search that interests you.

Every search on Focused Searches is inspected by at least two members of the Ovid Training Team. Inspection involves two activities. First, ensuring that the search as captured and displayed in OvidGO! Focused Searches is a true and accurate version of the original (which often has had to be extracted and/or rebuilt from its original source, commonly a paper- and/or PDF-based publication). Second, that the search runs on Ovid in the selected database and using the syntax as employed by the original creator of the search.

The Ovid Training Team reviewers do not alter or make changes to the content of the original work. Where ambiguities or questions may arise, these are discussed with the original creator of the search for clarification and author-approved remedial action if necessary. Details of any such request for clarification may also be reported on in the Background information where relevant and appropriate.

In the case of search filter type searches included in Focused Searches, if the original author of the search has validated the search, this information is included in the Background information. The Ovid Training Team does not undertake any search validation independently of the creator of the original search. Again, it's worth iterating here that the objective of OvidGO!’s Focused Searches is to bring useful, instructive and highly regarded searches, already published or issued, closer to a user-level surface for greater exposure and positive consumption.

Currently, the searches on Focused Searches will be reviewed annually for relevancy and usage.

As part of The Focused Searches Project we are also reviewing all the searches in the Expert Searches section of the Ovid Tools & Resources Portal. The subsequent inclusion or exclusion of these expert searches into OvidGO!’s Focused Searches will depend upon the former’s current relevance, topicality and perceived usefulness. The Expert Searches on the Ovid Tools & Resources Portal marked for inclusion will be progressively migrated to Focused Searches on OvidGO! and re-structured and re-issued in accordance with the ABC approach as discussed above. Upon the conclusion of this part of the project, the Expert Searches on the Ovid Tools & Resources Portal will be removed from this site by the end of 2024.

If you have a favourite search currently in the Expert Searches on the Ovid Tools & Resources Portal and would like to have it included in Focused Searches on OvidGO!’s, please let us know.

Yes! We would very much like to hear from you. Ideally, recommended searches should be of benefit to a large number of Ovid users. They can nevertheless vary in terms of what they have been designed to achieve. They could be searches that add a more elegant set of lines to a systematic literature search. Or a set of controlled terms that work well across databases with (very) different controlled vocabularies. Or searches that best demonstrate an approach to database usage.

If you have a search that you would like to recommend, please let us know.

The Focused Searches on OvidGO! editors, Michael Fanning and Charlotte Viken, are contactable via their respective e-mail addresses or alternatively via [email protected] .