Citationchaser
Cochrane Handbook Appendix of Resources
ConnectedPapers
EndNote subject bibliographies
Brief video showing how to change stopword list in Voyant Tools
Video about 2D Search
Exercise 1: PubMed PubReMIner
Exercise 2: Finding MeSH
Exercise 3: Voyant Tools
Exercise 4: Search filter critical appraisal
Hausner E et al J Clin Epidemiol 2016
Compared traditional searching approach to approaches using an objective strategy development approach using text mining tools such as WordStat
The algorithm used for the objective approach is quite detailed
Developed searches for MEDLINE for 5 reviews
Objective approach was more sensitive than conceptual approach: 97% vs. 75%
Not a great difference in the time taken: The objective approach took mean 16 hours and traditional approach took mean 17 hours.
Quite a small sample size and not all reviews were complex
Paynter et al. J Clin Epi 2021
7 review searches – 1 librarian created MEDLINE search strategies using TM and other did usual practice
Usual practice was more sensitive (92% vs 84.9% but confidence intervals overlapped) and had lower NNR (83 vs 90) than TM
TM tool less time (5 hours vs 12 hours) and saved more time for complex questions
For the three complex topics TM searches were faster and less sensitive than usual practice searches but identified unique eligible citations
TM is not yet ready to be used as sole process for developing SR searches but time savings may be useful particularly in context of scoping or rapid reviews
Scells H et al. Information Retrieval Journal 2021
Experiments conducted on the CLEF TAR 2018 set of 75 diagnostic test accuracy systematic reviews
Compared their automatic query formulation approach to the original review searches
None of the automated methods can outperform the original review searches
MeSH was important for maximising recall
More effective queries contain both phrases and MeSH terms, but CHOICE of phrase is important
Combination of terms into concepts is very important
The more seed studies used the better the recall
Manual refinement of conceptual approach automatic strategies improved recall
O’Keefe et al. Research Synthesis methods 2022
Case study of using 16 text mining tools to design a search strategy for a DTA review
Used 5 seed papers to explore the resources and rate their usability and usefulness
Using the tools and the terms they generated identified 11 additional articles relevant to the review
“Extremely useful tools”: Text Analyzer, Yale MeSH Analyser
“Useful tools”: Anne O’Tate, Voyant, PubReMiner
However, the focus seems to be on ease of use which means that sophisticated tools which have a learning curve may be down-rated
References
Hausner E, Guddat C, Hermanns T, Lampert U, Waffenschmidt S. Prospective comparison of search strategies for systematic reviews: an objective approach yielded higher sensitivity than a conceptual one. J Clin Epidemiol. 2016.
O'Keefe H, Rankin J, Wallace SA, Beyer F. Investigation of text-mining methodologies to aid the construction of search strategies in systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy-a case study. Res Synth Methods. 2023;14(1):79-98.
Paynter RA, Featherstone R, Stoeger E, Fiordalisi C, Voisin C, Adam GP. A prospective comparison of evidence synthesis search strategies developed with and without text-mining tools. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021:S0895-4356(21)00085-8.
Scells H, Zuccon G, Koopman B. A comparison of automatic Boolean query formulation for systematic reviews. Information Retrieval Journal. 2021;24(1):3-28.