Policies and Procedures

Reviewed July 2024 HB

Exporting Results

• Results from databases should be sent to the patron in a Word Doc (or Excel if specified by the patron). 
• Use the custom fields export options in Ovid. Select:
  • Abstract (ab)
  • Authors (au)
  • Source (so)
  • Title (ti)
  • Year (yr)
  • DOI (do)
  • Publication Type (pt)
  • Make sure 'Link to external resolver' and 'Search history' are selected.

File Naming

Ensure the exported file has the name of the patron, the topic searched, the database searched, and the date.

Reviewed July 2024 HB

Only provide a grey literature search IF: 

• Explicitly asked for; OR 

• Topic is less than 2 years old; OR 

• < 30 results from database searches; OR

• Topic is suitable for a grey literature search, e.g. guidelines, policies, statistics, or government.

* Don’t spend more than 2 hours searching grey literature for a standard search request.  

* Provide grey literature results in the template.

View the Grey Literature guide for additional information.

Reviewed July 2024 HB

• No screening for a standard request.
• If the search is tricky and/or for a research project, encourage the patron to participate in a research consult. 
• If there are lots of results:
  • suggest Covidence to the patron. 
  • suggest narrowing the search by year or study type
  • suggest narrowing PICO - e.g. adult/paediatric population, geography, less interventions, etc.

Reviewed July 2024 HB

Hi [Patron], 

Please find the results of the literature search attached.  

We searched the following databases [list databases].  

Please let me know if you would like me to amend the search strategy or search additional databases.  

We can also narrow the search by [year range, geography, study design, etc.]. 

We can also set up a Covidence workspace for you. Covidence is a tool that lets you easily screen and work through a large number of citations. See our user guide for more information. 

[If providing Ovid results only] 

You can check our access to full-text by clicking on the ‘LibKey’ link for each citation.  

If we do not have the full-text, we can source it for you. Please let us know. 

[If providing results from Ovid and other databases] 

For the [Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Ovid Nursing] results, you can check our access to full-text by clicking on the ‘LibKey’ link for each citation.  

If we do not have the full-text, we can source it for you. Please let us know. 

[If providing results from other databases] 

If you would like the full-text PDF for any of the articles mentioned, please let us know and we can source it for you.  

Reviewed July 2024 HB

Saving your final search strategy

1. Save your final search strategy in the appropriate Ovid account using our standard naming format:

Ovid accounts
For TCPC searches: MHLibTCPC
For PROMPT searches: MHLibPROMPT
For all other searches: MHLib

Format for saving your search
Search Name:           Type of Search - Title – Database

ST - Accessible & equitable health care access in Australia - Medline

Comment:                 Requestor Full Name (Librarian's Initials) (YYYYMMDD)

Kellie Smith (AA) (20220801)

Passwords for the accounts are saved in OCLC.

Note:    Standard searches (ST) will be deleted from the Ovid account after 6 months.

              Systematic review (SR) searches will be deleted from the Ovid account after 3 years. Always check with the search owner before deleting SR searches.

2.  Create a Word document in the relevant Sharepoint folder.

Sharepoint folder for standard searches

Sharepoint folder for systematic reviews

Use the following format for the file name:

Type of Search - Title – Databases - Requestor Full Name (Librarian's Initials) (YYYYMMDD)

ST - Accessible & equitable health care access in Australia - Medline & Embase - Kellie Smith (AA) (20220801)

3. Copy your Medline search strategy into the Word document.

Include any relevant translated search strategies as well (e.g. Embase).

4. Go to the Research Services Data list
   

Paste the Word document link into the relevant ‘Search Strategy’ column.

Reviewed July 2024 HB
EndNote

To update the output style in EndNote for literature summaries:

1. Go to Tools > Output Styles > and select APA 7th
2. Go to Tools > Output Styles > Edit "APA 7th"
3. Under Bibiography, select Author Lists.
4. Under Abbreviated Author List, change "3" to "1"
5. Under Author Name, change Initials to A.B. (Note that there is no space between the punctuation).
6. Go to Bibliography > Templates
7. Add the below to all templates.

1. Select File > Save As... 
2. Enter "Literature Summaries" into the Style Name box. 
3. Click Save.

Review March 2025 HB

• In the Research Services Data List:

  • Start inputting the hours you've spent on an SR in the notes section.

  • Add 'Authorship' to the Service Type if you are a co-author on a project. This can be added to Literature Searches as well.

• Covidence

  • Include all search strategies in the settings section of Covidence. 

    • Some searches are being re-run many years later. This helps the team with continuity.

• Hand searching

  • Not routinely offered.

  • Get a list of recommended journals from the researcher

  • Check if the journal is indexed in Medline, Embase, etc. If not, hand search the journal.

• Citation searching

  • Cass recommends Citation Chaser for bulk citation searching.

• Database selection

  • Scopus offered if the topic is medical and the database selection is small. Eg Medline but not Embase

  • Alice recommends using ERIC for education searches.

  • Search Smart lists databases and coverage for a range of disciplines 

• Always search grey lit

  • Be targeted

MB Oct 2024

Researcher Impact Report

1. Has the researcher included a list of studies?

If yes,

1. add those to the Research Impact Report, one article per row.

If no,

1. Search scopus under researchers name and any other publishing names.
2. Export list from scopus and add to Research impact report 
3. Export list to Endnote if there are more than 20 articles.

2. No of citations (excluding self citations) from Web of Science (access through university affiliation)

1. Search the author's name for list of articles (may not be all citations found in scopus)
2. For each article click the number of citations (on right hand side)
3. Exclude the authors name using the author filter to remove self citations
4. Search for articles not included from the author search and repeat steps 2 & 3

3. Quartile ranking from Scrimago 

1. Search for Journals the author has published in (Endnote is handy for this if the author is prolific) using Journal TItle or ISSN
2. Add the Qn for the relevant year.
3. Include all Qn if multiple categories 
4. If Journal does not come up during search, use N/A

4. Journal Impact Factor from JCR (access through Open Athens university affiliation)

1. Search for Journal using journal title or ISSN.
2. Include Journal Impact Factor without self citations 
3. If journal name does not come up during search, use N/A

5. CiteScore from Scopus CiteScore

1. Search for Journal using journal title or ISSN
2. Use drop down box to go to correct year
3. Use CiteScore Tracker if article has been published within 12 months
4. If journal name does not come up during search, use N/A

7. H Index

1. Search for researcher in Scopus
2. H - index will be under researcher profile

8. Other metrics

Researchers may specify metrics, not included in our article metrics, such as Cumulative Impact Factor or Altmetrics.

1. If article level metrics add column to article table.
2. If research metrics include in table under other metrics section.
   • Cumulative Impact Factor = (total no. citations/total no. published articles)

9. Emailing results

Hi [researcher],

Please find your full researcher impact report attached. Results are based on [articles received/no. articles found in scopus search].

Metrics specified by researcher request:

[Your H - Index is:]

The number of citations (excluding self-citations), Quartile, Journal Citation Report impact factor and CiteScore for each article has also be included based on the data released from [previous year], ([current year] data has not been released).

Kind regards,

10. Save in Research Impact Report folder in SP under year. 

• Save using Research Impact Report - Researcher Name - Librarian initials - YYYYMMDD.
  • eg. Research Impact Report - Kirsten Palmer - MB - 20240930
• Add data to Research Services Data
  • Research Question  -Research Impact Report
  • Include link to Report under RAVE Report

CG Oct 2024

1. Complete the report in the template located in SharePoint > Research Services > Publishing > Recommending Journals
2. Enter the provided abstract of the author into JANE, the Journal Author Name Estimator.
3. Find the department in MHRR, and find relevant journals the department has published in. 
4. Add relevant journals to the template.
   1. Use the template as a long list and slowly whittle down to no more than 10.
5. Find the Journal Impact Factor and Quartile in Journal Citation Reports
   1. Include the quartile for the relevant subject only.
6. Search the CAUL OA Agreement list to determine if the journal is OA.
   1. Add in relevant OA statements as per template. 
   2. If a journal is not on the CAUL list, the author cannot publish in it for a reduced/no APC. Find the relevant OA information from the journal website.
7. Find article processing charge from the journal website and add to relevant column. 
   1. Include original pricing only, do not convert to AUD. 
8. Include a link to the author submission guidelines from the journal's website
   1. Include specific information if the author has asked for it - e.g. referencing, format, word limit, etc. 
9. Include a link to BrowZine if the journal is available through the library.
10. Include a link to an example article.
    1. The article should be similar to the author's in terms of article type and content. e.g. find a scoping review.
11. Remove journals from the list if the JIF or Quartile is low, if the journal does not accept the article type, or if the journal does not publish that subject area.
12. Send to patron.
13. Save completed report in SharePoint > Research Services > Publishing > Recommending Journals
14. Record statistics in Research Services Data List. 
    1. "Recommended journals for publishing" can be used for the research question/topic.