On May 3, Library Journal and EBSCO hosted the webinar, “Essential Techniques for Life Science Research.” Nigel Robinson, Director of Content Management at Clarivate Analytics, demonstrates the power of a subject index created by life scientists for thorough life sciences research.
 

“Those working within the lifecycle of innovation who strive to make a difference are at the heart of what we do.”

Successful life sciences and biomedical innovation follow a cycle of DISCOVERY, PROTECTION and COMMERCIALIZATION. Without these three phases, a brilliant idea will never be more than a brilliant idea. This process begins with a comprehensive subject index that enables exceptionally targeted research.

BIOSIS Previews® is an expansive, global index to life sciences and biomedical research. Its wide range of literature types includes journals, meetings, books and patents. In order to be included in the database, items must be published, related to life science and deal with research.The database covers pre-clinical and experimental research, methods and instrumentation, animal studies, and more. It includes BIOSIS indexing and enhanced MeSH disease terms.

Subject coverage includes traditional areas, interdisciplinary areas, methods and instrumentation
Traditional areas covered in BIOSIS Previews include molecular biology, botany, zoology, ecology and the environment, and microbiology. Interdisciplinary area include experimental, clinical and veterinary medicine, biotechnology and genetics, agriculture and nutrition, biochemistry, pharmacology and public health. Related areas include methods and instrumentation.

Global coverage captures diverse perspectives
Material covered in BIOSIS Previews spans the globe, with 49% of coverage from sources from Europe and the Middle East; 34% from North America; 14% from Asia & Australasia; and 3% from Central and South America and Africa.

Specialized indexing enables targeted research and discovery
BIOSIS Previews is created by life scientists for life scientists and provides a unified structure for diverse information, making search and retrieval more effective. MeSH disease terms improve search retrieval and researchers can use CAS registry numbers to retrieve chemical synonyms.

Author terminology is combined with a controlled vocabulary
The combination of the authors’ own words and controlled vocabularies make for powerful searching and optimal retrieval. Authors use all kinds of terms. With chemicals, for example, authors may use substance names, trade names and generic names. Terms are disambiguated in BIOSIS Previews so that items that describe ‘like’ things can be found even if the authors don’t use ‘like’ terms.

The database is expansive, but crafted to provide focused information, making for an efficient search and retrieval experience for life scientists.

The Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters/BIOSIS) partnership with EBSCO dates back to 2000. In addition to BIOSIS Previews, Biological Abstracts® and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts are currently available on EBSCO’s platforms and Zoological Record is planned.

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