Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis
Objective: Use of the search filter ‘exp animals/ not humans.sh’ is a well-established method in evidence synthesis to exclude non-human studies. However, the shift to automated indexing of Medline records has raised concerns about the use of subject-heading-based search techniques. We sought to de...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of the Medical Library Association |
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| Online Access: | http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1972 |
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| _version_ | 1841536199526711296 |
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| author | Nicole Askin Tyler Ostapyk Carla Epp |
| author_facet | Nicole Askin Tyler Ostapyk Carla Epp |
| author_sort | Nicole Askin |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Objective: Use of the search filter ‘exp animals/ not humans.sh’ is a well-established method in evidence synthesis to exclude non-human studies. However, the shift to automated indexing of Medline records has raised concerns about the use of subject-heading-based search techniques. We sought to determine how often this string inappropriately excludes human studies among automated as compared to manually indexed records in Ovid Medline.
Methods: We searched Ovid Medline for studies published in 2021 and 2022 using the Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy for randomized trials. We identified all results excluded by the non-human-studies filter. Records were divided into sets based on indexing method: automated, curated, or manual. Each set was screened to identify human studies.
Results: Human studies were incorrectly excluded in all three conditions, but automated indexing inappropriately excluded human studies at nearly double the rate as manual indexing. In looking specifically at human clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the rate of inappropriate exclusion of automated-indexing records was seven times that of manually-indexed records.
Conclusions: Given our findings, searchers are advised to carefully review the effect of the ‘exp animals/ not humans.sh’ search filter on their search results, pending improvements to the automated indexing process.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-abc7398ad705442eb96b8f84ef3fda1e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1536-5050 1558-9439 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of the Medical Library Association |
| spelling | doaj-art-abc7398ad705442eb96b8f84ef3fda1e2025-01-14T23:39:30ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghJournal of the Medical Library Association1536-50501558-94392025-01-01113110.5195/jmla.2025.1972Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesisNicole Askin0Tyler OstapykCarla EppUniversity of Manitoba Objective: Use of the search filter ‘exp animals/ not humans.sh’ is a well-established method in evidence synthesis to exclude non-human studies. However, the shift to automated indexing of Medline records has raised concerns about the use of subject-heading-based search techniques. We sought to determine how often this string inappropriately excludes human studies among automated as compared to manually indexed records in Ovid Medline. Methods: We searched Ovid Medline for studies published in 2021 and 2022 using the Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy for randomized trials. We identified all results excluded by the non-human-studies filter. Records were divided into sets based on indexing method: automated, curated, or manual. Each set was screened to identify human studies. Results: Human studies were incorrectly excluded in all three conditions, but automated indexing inappropriately excluded human studies at nearly double the rate as manual indexing. In looking specifically at human clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the rate of inappropriate exclusion of automated-indexing records was seven times that of manually-indexed records. Conclusions: Given our findings, searchers are advised to carefully review the effect of the ‘exp animals/ not humans.sh’ search filter on their search results, pending improvements to the automated indexing process. http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1972Evidence SynthesisAbstract and IndexingMedical Subject Headings (MeSH)Automated indexing |
| spellingShingle | Nicole Askin Tyler Ostapyk Carla Epp Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis Journal of the Medical Library Association Evidence Synthesis Abstract and Indexing Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Automated indexing |
| title | Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis |
| title_full | Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis |
| title_fullStr | Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis |
| title_short | Filtering failure: the impact of automated indexing in Medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis |
| title_sort | filtering failure the impact of automated indexing in medline on retrieval of human studies for knowledge synthesis |
| topic | Evidence Synthesis Abstract and Indexing Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Automated indexing |
| url | http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1972 |
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