Developing and testing of search filters for the new European Union Member States’ research

• Published in: Health information and libraries journal 2010-09, Vol.27 (3), p.227-234
• Main Authors: Radut, Dan Silviu, Sanz‐Valero, Javier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agreements; Bibliometrics; European Union; Filtering software; Geography; Health administration; Health Services Research - methods; Humans; Information Dissemination; Information Seeking Behavior; Information Storage and Retrieval - methods; Online information retrieval; Professional Competence; Public Health; Search Engine
• ISSN: 1471-1834; 1471-1842
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2010.00903.x

Background:  To develop and apply search filters retrieving the scientific output (SO) after 2000 focusing on Public Health (PH) of the new European Union (EU) Member States after the 2004 and 2007 enlargements. Methods:  Twelve geographical filters (GFs) were designed and applied to retrieve references added since 2001 in medline (accessed through PubMed) and originated in the new EU countries. The PH area was accessed using Medical Subject Heading terms. The filters were evaluated through a manual check and the agreement/non‐agreement percentages were calculated. Results:  A number of 99 912 articles revealing the total SO and 6502 articles focusing on PH were retrieved. More than 66% were published abroad and more than 80% in English. The evaluation revealed an average agreement percentage of 98.97%. The results were compared with those obtained by using simple search strategies. Conclusions:  Twelve GFs applied to medline retrieved references belonging to twelve countries for a specific period of time. The evaluation of the GFs through the manual check demonstrated effectiveness of these filters. Complementary studies would be advisable to focus on the development of search filters to retrieve complete and accurate information.