bims-librar Biomed News
on Biomedical librarianship
Issue of 2021‒12‒05
forty-one papers selected by
Thomas Krichel
Open Library Society


  1. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 618-623
      Objectives: Within many institutions, there are debates over whether medical librarians should be classified as faculty or professional staff, a distinction that may have considerable effect on the perception of librarians within their local institutions. This study is a pilot exploration of how faculty status may affect the professional experiences of academic medical librarians within their local institutions.Methods: Surveys were sent to 209 medical librarians listed as having some instructional function at Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredited medical institutions in the United States. Survey responses were captured using Qualtrics survey tool and analyzed for frequencies and associations using SPSS version 27.
    Results: Sixty-four medical librarians at academic medical institutions completed the survey developed for this study. Of the respondents, 60.9% indicated that librarians at their institution have faculty status, while 71.9% believe that librarians at their institution should have faculty status. Ninety percent of librarians with faculty status reported that they are expected to generate scholarly materials, compared to 28% of those without faculty status.
    Conclusions: Many medical libraries offer faculty status to librarians. While many medical librarians are active in instruction, research, and other activities normally associated with faculty status, it is not clear if faculty status impacts how librarians are perceived by other health care workers within their institutions.
    Keywords:  faculty perceptions; faculty status; medical librarians
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1138
  2. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 590-598
      Objective: We sought to determine how many abstracts presented at the 2012 and 2014 Medical Library Association (MLA) annual conferences were later published as full-text journal articles and which features of the abstract and first author influence the likelihood of future publication. To do so, we replicated a previous study on MLA conference abstracts presented in 2002 and 2003. The secondary objective was to compare the publication rates between the prior and current study.Methods: Presentations and posters delivered at the 2012 and 2014 MLA meetings were coded to identify factors associated with publication. Postconference publication of abstracts as journal articles was determined using a literature search and survey sent to first authors. Chi-squared tests were used to assess differences in the publication rate, and logistic regression was used to assess the influence of abstract factors on publication.
    Results: The combined publication rate for the 2012 and 2014 meetings was 21.8% (137/628 abstracts), which is a statistically significant decrease compared to the previously reported rate for 2002 and 2003 (27.6%, 122/442 abstracts). The odds that an abstract would later be published as a journal article increased if the abstract was multi-institutional or if it was research, specifically surveys or mixed methods research.
    Conclusions: The lower publication rate of MLA conference abstracts may be due to an increased number of program or nonresearch abstracts that were accepted or a more competitive peer review process for journals. MLA could increase the publication rate by encouraging and enabling multi-institutional research projects among its members.
    Keywords:  congresses as topic; health sciences librarians; libraries, medical; publishing
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1220
  3. Health Info Libr J. 2021 Dec 01.
      BACKGROUND: Information specialists conducting searches for systematic reviews need to consider key questions around which and how many sources to search. This is particularly important for public health topics where evidence may be found in diverse sources.OBJECTIVES: The objective of this review is to give an overview of recent studies on information retrieval guidance and methods that could be applied to public health evidence and used to guide future searches.
    METHODS: A literature search was performed in core databases and supplemented by browsing health information journals and citation searching. Results were sifted and reviewed.
    RESULTS: Seventy-two papers were found and grouped into themes covering sources and search techniques. Public health topics were poorly covered in this literature.
    DISCUSSION: Many researchers follow the recommendations to search multiple databases. The review topic influences decisions about sources. Additional sources covering grey literature eliminate bias but are time-consuming and difficult to search systematically. Public health searching is complex, often requiring searches in multidisciplinary sources and using additional methods.
    CONCLUSIONS: Search planning is advisable to enable decisions about which and how many sources to search. This could improve with more work on modelling search scenarios, particularly in public health topics, to examine where publications were found and guide future research.
    Keywords:  bibliographic databases; database searching; grey literature; information sources; information storage and retrieval; knowledge synthesis; literature searching; public health; supplementary searching; web sites
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12414
  4. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 656-666
      Background: The objective of this study was to determine if search request forms, which are used when a patron's request for information cannot be fulfilled at the time of contact with the library team, can be used to identify gaps in consumer health library collections.Case Presentation: Search request forms were collected from 2013 to 2020 and analyzed independently by two reviewers. Search request forms were included if they were complete and contained a record of how the request was fulfilled. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patron characteristics. Search request forms were iteratively coded to identify themes in the data and determine if resources provided to patrons could be found within the library collection. The study team subsequently reviewed search request forms to determine reasons for identified gaps. Two hundred and forty-nine search request forms were analyzed. Six main content themes were identified: 1) understanding the cancer diagnosis, 2) cancer treatments, 3) understanding disease prognosis, 4) support during and after treatment, 5) natural health products and therapeutic effects in oncology, and 6) research literature. The majority of patrons were patients (53%). Over half (60%) of the submitted search request forms reflected collection gaps, and many (16%) contained queries for information about rare cancer diagnoses. The main reason that queries could not be satisfied was that there was limited consumer health information on the requested topics (53%).
    Conclusions: Search request forms are a useful resource for assessing gaps in consumer health library collections.
    Keywords:  collection development; consumer health; gap analysis; neoplasm
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.895
  5. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 561-574
      Objective: Locating systematic reviews is essential for clinicians and researchers when creating or updating reviews and for decision-making in health care. This study aimed to develop a search filter for retrieving systematic reviews that improves upon the performance of the PubMed systematic review search filter.Methods: Search terms were identified from abstracts of reviews published in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the titles of articles indexed as systematic reviews in PubMed. Both the precision of the candidate terms and the number of systematic reviews retrieved from PubMed were evaluated after excluding the subset of articles retrieved by the PubMed systematic review filter. Terms that achieved a precision greater than 70% and relevant publication types indexed with MeSH terms were included in the filter search strategy.
    Results: The search strategy used in our filter added specific terms not included in PubMed's systematic review filter and achieved a 61.3% increase in the number of retrieved articles that are potential systematic reviews. Moreover, it achieved an average precision that is likely greater than 80%.
    Conclusions: The developed search filter will enable users to identify more systematic reviews from PubMed than the PubMed systematic review filter with high precision.
    Keywords:  PubMed; information retrieval; search filter; search strategies; systematic reviews
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1223
  6. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 599-608
      Objective: The aim of this project was to validate search filters for systematic reviews, intervention studies, and observational studies translated from Ovid MEDLINE and Embase syntax and used for searches in PubMed and Embase.com during the development of evidence summaries supporting first aid guidelines. We aimed to achieve a balance among recall, specificity, precision, and number needed to read (NNR).Methods: Reference gold standards were constructed per study type derived from existing evidence summaries. Search filter performance was assessed through retrospective searches and measurement of relative recall, specificity, precision, and NNR when using the translated search filters. Where necessary, search filters were optimized. Adapted filters were validated in separate validation gold standards.
    Results: Search filters for systematic reviews and observational studies reached recall of ≥85% in both PubMed and Embase. Corresponding specificities for systematic review filters were ≥96% in both databases, with a precision of 9.7% (NNR 10) in PubMed and 5.4% (NNR 19) in Embase. For observational study filters, specificity, precision, and NNR were 68%, 2%, and 51 in PubMed and 47%, 0.8%, and 123 in Embase, respectively. These filters were considered sufficiently effective. Search filters for intervention studies reached a recall of 85% and 83% in PubMed and Embase, respectively. Optimization led to recall of ≥95% with specificity, precision, and NNR of 49%, 1.3%, and 79 in PubMed and 56%, 0.74%, and 136 in Embase, respectively.
    Conclusions: We report validated filters to search for systematic reviews, observational studies, and intervention studies in guideline projects in PubMed and Embase.com.
    Keywords:  first aid; guideline development; search filters; study design filters
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1219
  7. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 672-676
      Background: In a flipped, required first-year drug information course, students were taught the systematic approach to answering drug information questions, commonly utilized resources, and literature searching. As co-coordinator, a librarian taught three weeks of the course focused on mobile applications, development of literature searching skills, and practicing in PubMed. Course assignments were redesigned in 2019 based on assessment best practices and replaced weekly multiple-choice quizzes used in prior iterations of the course.Case Presentation: Following two weeks of literature searching instruction, students were assigned a drug information question that would serve as the impetus for the search they conducted. Students (n=66) had one week to practice and record a screencast video of their search in PubMed. Students narrated their video with an explanation of the actions being performed and were assessed using a twenty-point rubric created by the course coordinator and librarian. The librarian also created general feedback videos for each question by recording screencasts while performing the literature searches and clarifying troublesome aspects for students. The librarian spent about twenty-four hours grading and six hours writing scripts, recording, and editing feedback videos.
    Conclusion: Most students performed well on the assignment and few experienced technical difficulties. Instructors will use this assignment and feedback method in the future. Screencast videos proved an innovative way to assess student knowledge and to provide feedback on literature searching assignments. This method is transferrable to any medical education setting and could be used across all health professions to improve information literacy skills.
    Keywords:  competency-based assignment; drug information; pharmacy students; screencast videos
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1270
  8. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 583-589
      Objective: We previously developed draft MEDLINE and Embase (Ovid) geographic search filters for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to assess their feasibility for finding evidence about the countries. Here, we describe the validation of these search filters.Methods: We identified OECD country references from thirty National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines to generate gold standard sets for MEDLINE (n=2,065) and Embase (n=2,023). We validated the filters by calculating their recall against these sets. We then applied the filters to existing search strategies for three OECD-focused NICE guideline reviews (NG103 on flu vaccination, NG140 on abortion care, and NG146 on workplace health) to calculate the filters' impact on the number needed to read (NNR) of the searches.
    Results: The filters both achieved 99.95% recall against the gold standard sets. Both filters achieved 100% recall for the three NICE guideline reviews. The MEDLINE filter reduced NNR from 256 to 232 for the NG103 review, from 38 to 27 for the NG140 review, and from 631 to 591 for the NG146 review. The Embase filter reduced NNR from 373 to 341 for the NG103 review, from 101 to 76 for the NG140 review, and from 989 to 925 for the NG146 review.
    Conclusion: The NICE OECD countries' search filters are the first validated filters for the countries. They can save time for research topics about OECD countries by finding the majority of evidence about OECD countries while reducing search result volumes in comparison to no filter use.
    Keywords:  geography; literature searching; search filter
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1224
  9. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 690-692
      The electronic information and technology accessibility project is a strategic overhauling of the digital instructional materials of the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) to comply with the accessibility standards established in a 2020 University of Pittsburgh policy. Though these technologies have existed for quite some time, library instructors were not skilled in the actual creation and design of documents, web content, and presentations with accessibility in mind. Over the past year and a half, a team within HSLS developed detailed guidance and education on universal design and creating an inclusive online learning environment. These guidelines were developed in accordance with Section 508 and the WCAG2.1, with a focus on an improved experience for the D/deaf community and those with visual impairments. We initially made accessibility improvements to online subject guides, in-person presentations, and digitally shared class materials. The COVID-19 pandemic and complete shift to virtual instruction then necessitated the evaluation of platforms used in remote learning (such as Zoom and Panopto), where accessibility best practices needed to be incorporated. This article highlights going beyond in-program accessibility checkers and describes how library technology experts and content creators worked together to bridge the gap of accessibility in the information we share.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1361
  10. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 624-630
      Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate knowledge sharing practices among health sciences librarians in African countries.Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was employed. The study population consisted of African health sciences librarians that attended the 16th Biennial Conference of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa on October 14-18, 2019, at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics.
    Results: The types of knowledge most commonly shared by respondents were information on conferences, workshops, and seminars as well as information on new trends and technologies in librarianship. The main avenue of knowledge sharing was face-to-face interaction. Unwillingness to share knowledge and a lack of awareness about current trends and issues were the top identified challenges to knowledge sharing.
    Conclusion: These survey results establish the existence of a low level of knowledge sharing among health science librarians in Africa and suggest that concerted efforts should be made to overcome barriers to knowledge sharing within and across African countries.
    Keywords:  AHILA; information; knowledge sharing; librarian; social exchange theory
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1183
  11. Nucleic Acids Res. 2021 Dec 01. pii: gkab1112. [Epub ahead of print]
      The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) produces a variety of online information resources for biology, including the GenBank® nucleic acid sequence database and the PubMed® database of citations and abstracts published in life science journals. NCBI provides search and retrieval operations for most of these data from 35 distinct databases. The E-utilities serve as the programming interface for the most of these databases. Resources receiving significant updates in the past year include PubMed, PMC, Bookshelf, RefSeq, SRA, Virus, dbSNP, dbVar, ClinicalTrials.gov, MMDB, iCn3D and PubChem. These resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab1112
  12. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 540-560
      Objectives: To identify the engagement of health sciences librarians (HSLs) in open science (OS) through the delivery of library services, support, and programs for researchers.Methods: We performed a scoping review guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework and Joanna Briggs' Manual for Scoping Reviews. Our search methods consisted of searching five bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, LISTA, and Web of Science Core Collection), reference harvesting, and targeted website and journal searching. To determine study eligibility, we applied predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria and reached consensus when there was disagreement. We extracted data in duplicate and performed qualitative analysis to map key themes.
    Results: We included fifty-four studies. Research methods included descriptive or narrative approaches (76%); surveys, questionnaires, and interviews (15%); or mixed methods (9%). We labeled studies with one or more of FOSTER's six OS themes: open access (54%), open data (43%), open science (24%), open education (6%), open source (6%), and citizen science (6%). Key drivers in OS were scientific integrity and transparency, openness as a guiding principle in research, and funder mandates making research publicly accessible.
    Conclusions: HSLs play key roles in advancing OS worldwide. Formal studies are needed to assess the impact of HSLs' engagement in OS. HSLs should promote adoption of OS within their research communities and develop strategic plans aligned with institutional partners. HSLs can promote OS by adopting more rigorous and transparent research practices of their own. Future research should examine HSLs' engagement in OS through social justice and equity perspectives.
    Keywords:  health sciences librarians; health sciences libraries; open science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1256
  13. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 648-655
      Background: The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is home to one of the world's largest cohorts of faculty, students, researchers, and clinicians who rely on seamless and immediate access to digital biomedical and health resources. This group is served by the TMC Library, with a collection that includes over 380,000 ebooks and 59,000 ejournals. In 2018, the TMC Library implemented OpenAthens, a federated authentication system to replace a locally hosted instance of EZproxy.Case Presentation: The TMC Library is unique in its multi-institutional user population, which presents distinct challenges in adopting a single sign-on authentication system. Our project involved OpenAthens technical support, information technology teams from six academic institutions, and over thirty publishers. Implementation included the creation of an OpenAthens parent account, an active user directory, a resource catalog, and installation of our OpenAthens credentials at each publisher site. Because the TMC Library serves multiple institutions, OpenAthens built a custom login page and a portal to support both single sign-on and a generic username and password option. This case report discusses the reasons why OpenAthens was chosen, the preparation methods for implementation, the various challenges encountered and resolved, and recommendations for other health sciences libraries considering this system.
    Conclusions: The OpenAthens system provides important benefits: granular usage reports, single sign-on access, and data to negotiate reduced pricing for online resources. With prior knowledge and preparation, health sciences libraries can successfully implement OpenAthens with customizations tailored to their specific resources and user population.
    Keywords:  EZproxy; OpenAthens; health sciences libraries; remote authentication; system migration
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1170
  14. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Nov 29. 10(11): e29398
      BACKGROUND: A barrier to practicing evidence-based medicine is the rapidly increasing body of biomedical literature. Use of method terms to limit the search can help reduce the burden of screening articles for clinical relevance; however, such terms are limited by their partial dependence on indexing terms and usually produce low precision, especially when high sensitivity is required. Machine learning has been applied to the identification of high-quality literature with the potential to achieve high precision without sacrificing sensitivity. The use of artificial intelligence has shown promise to improve the efficiency of identifying sound evidence.OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this research is to derive and validate deep learning machine models using iterations of Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) to retrieve high-quality, high-relevance evidence for clinical consideration from the biomedical literature.
    METHODS: Using the HuggingFace Transformers library, we will experiment with variations of BERT models, including BERT, BioBERT, BlueBERT, and PubMedBERT, to determine which have the best performance in article identification based on quality criteria. Our experiments will utilize a large data set of over 150,000 PubMed citations from 2012 to 2020 that have been manually labeled based on their methodological rigor for clinical use. We will evaluate and report on the performance of the classifiers in categorizing articles based on their likelihood of meeting quality criteria. We will report fine-tuning hyperparameters for each model, as well as their performance metrics, including recall (sensitivity), specificity, precision, accuracy, F-score, the number of articles that need to be read before finding one that is positive (meets criteria), and classification probability scores.
    RESULTS: Initial model development is underway, with further development planned for early 2022. Performance testing is expected to star in February 2022. Results will be published in 2022.
    CONCLUSIONS: The experiments will aim to improve the precision of retrieving high-quality articles by applying a machine learning classifier to PubMed searching.
    INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/29398.
    Keywords:  NLP; bioinformatics; biomedical; evidence-based medicine; literature; literature retrieval; literature surveillance; machine learning; medical informatics; model development; natural language processing
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/29398
  15. PLoS One. 2021 ;16(11): e0260643
      This study assessed the modifying role of primary source of COVID-19 information in the association between knowledge and protective behaviors related to COVID-19 among adults living in the United States (US). Data was collected from 6,518 US adults through an online cross-sectional self-administered survey via social media platforms in April 2020. Linear regression was performed on COVID-19 knowledge and behavior scores, adjusted for sociodemographic factors. An interaction term between knowledge score and primary information source was included to observe effect modification by primary information source. Higher levels of knowledge were associated with increased self-reported engagement with protective behaviors against COVID-19. The primary information source significantly moderated the association between knowledge and behavior, and analyses of simple slopes revealed significant differences by primary information source. This study shows the important role of COVID-19 information sources in affecting people's engagement in recommended protective behaviors. Governments and health agencies should monitor the use of various information sources to effectively engage the public and translate knowledge into behavior change during an evolving public health crisis like COVID-19.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260643
  16. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 680-683
      This project describes the creation of a single searchable resource during the pandemic, called the COVID-19 Best Evidence Front Door, with a primary goal of providing direct access to high-quality meta-analyses, literature syntheses, and clinical guidelines from a variety of trusted sources. The Front Door makes relevant evidence findable and accessible with a single search to aggregated evidence-based resources, optimizing time, discovery, and improved access to quality scientific evidence while reducing the burden of frontline health care providers and other knowledge-seekers in needing to separately identify, locate, and explore multiple websites.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1353
  17. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 688-689
      As part of a larger project to understand the publishing choices of UVA Health authors and support open access publishing, a team from the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library analyzed an open data set from Europe PMC, which includes metadata from PubMed records. We used the Europe PMC REST API to search for articles published in 2017-2020 with "University of Virginia" in the author affiliation field. Subsequently, we parsed the JSON metadata in Python and used Streamlit to create a data visualization from our public GitHub repository. At present, this shows the relative proportions of open access versus subscription-only articles published by UVA Health authors. Although subscription services like Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions allow users to do similar analyses, we believe this is a novel approach to doing this type of bibliometric research with open data and open source tools.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1360
  18. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 575-582
      Objectives: Academic health sciences librarians sought to evaluate the efficacy and future of the Health Information Specialists Program, a five-year consumer health information outreach collaboration with public libraries across the state.Methods: Five focus groups were held with participants from all five years of the program. Thirty-four participants from the program attended. Facilitators used structured interview guides consisting of eleven questions regarding the impact of the collaboration on participants' abilities to connect themselves or others to health information; the usefulness of materials or knowledge gained and its applications; any consumer health outreach projects that arose from the program; and suggestions for future topics, formats, or modifications. Data was hand-coded and analyzed using the framework analysis methodology for qualitative research.
    Results: Participants reported feeling improved confidence and comfort in providing health information services to their patrons. Numerous instances of knowledge transfer-in their personal lives, with their colleagues, and for their patrons-were described. Participants reported improved abilities to both find and evaluate consumer health information, and many adapted class materials for their own programming or teaching. Suggestions were provided for future class topics as well as a program website.
    Conclusion: Based on data from the five focus groups, the Health Information Specialists Program has positively impacted participants in a number of ways. Primary among these were self-reported improvement in both health information retrieval skills and the ability to evaluate the reliability of health information online, as well as in the confidence to help patrons with their health information needs.
    Keywords:  consumer health information; outreach; qualitative research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.987
  19. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 643-647
      Background: Every step in the systematic review process has challenges, ranging from resistance by review teams to adherence to standard methodology to low-energy commitment to full participation. These challenges can derail the project and result in significant delays, duplication of work, and failure to complete the review. Communication during the systematic review process is key to ensuring it runs smoothly and is identified as a core competency for librarians involved in systematic reviews.Case Presentation: This case report presents effective communication approaches that our librarians employ to address challenges encountered while working with systematic review teams. The communication strategies we describe engage teams through information, questions, and action items and lead to productive collaborations with publishable systematic reviews.
    Conclusions: Effective communication with review teams keeps systematic review projects moving forward. The techniques covered in this case study strive to minimize misunderstandings, educate collaborators, and, in our experience, have led to multiple successful collaborations and publications. Librarians working in the systematic review space will recognize these challenges and can adapt these techniques to their own environments.
    Keywords:  communication; expectations; process management; project management; systematic review; team management
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1222
  20. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 637-642
      Background: The proliferation of systematic reviews has impacted library operations and activities as librarians support, collaborate, and perform more tasks in the systematic review process. This case report describes a toolkit that librarians with extensive experience in supporting multiple review teams use to manage time, resources, and expectations in the systematic review process.Case Presentation: The toolkit is a compilation of documents that we use to effectively communicate with and help review teams understand and navigate each stage of the systematic review process. Elements included in the toolkit and discussed in this case report are intake forms, communication templates and memoranda, a process flow diagram, library guides on tools for retrieval and data appraisal, and established standards for guidance during the write-up stage. We describe the use of the toolkit for both education and project management, with a focus on its use in helping manage team time, resources, and expectations.
    Discussion: The systematic review toolkit helps librarians connect systematic review steps and tasks to actionable items. The content facilitates and supports discussion and learning by both librarians and team members. This toolkit helps librarians share important information and resources for each stage of the process.
    Keywords:  expectations; process management; project management; systematic review; team management; toolkit
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1221
  21. Front Psychol. 2021 ;12 712703
      Cyberchondria is considered "the anxiety-amplifying effects of online health-related searches." During the COVID-19 pandemic, people are likely to search health-related information online for reassurance because of fear and related physical symptoms, while cyberchondria may be triggered due to the escalation of health anxiety, different online seeking behavior preference, information overload, and insufficient e-health literacy. This study aimed to investigate the status and influencing factors of cyberchondria in residents in China during the epidemic period of COVID-19. The participants were 674 community residents of Nanyang city surveyed from February 1 to 15, 2020. We administered online measures, including the Chinese Short Form of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (C-CSS-12), Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI), eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS), Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), and COVID-19-related online information seeking behavior questionnaire. In our study, the average C-CSS-12 total score of residents was 30.65 ± 11.53 during the virus epidemic; 25% of participants scored 22 or below, 50% scored 23 to 38, and 21.9% scored 39 to 60. The SHAI total score (β = 0.598 > 0, P < 0.001), the use of general search engines (β = 1.867 > 0, P = 0.039), and searching for information on how to diagnose COVID-19 (β = 2.280 > 0, P = 0.020) were independent risk factors for cyberchondria, while searching lasting less than 10 min each (β = -2.992 < 0, P = 0.048), the use of traditional media digital platforms (β = -1.650 < 0, P = 0.024) and professional medical communication platforms (β = -4.189 < 0, P = 0.007) were independent protective factors. Our findings showed that nearly a quarter of the participants scored 39 or higher on the C-CSS-12 in Nanyang city during the pandemic, which should be taken seriously. Health anxiety and COVID-19-related online information seeking behavior including online duration, topics and choice on different information channels were important influencing factors of cyberchondria. These findings have implications for further research and clinical practice on cyberchondria in China.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; cyberchondria; health anxiety; health-related information seeking; residents
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712703
  22. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 613-617
      Introduction: Consumers commonly use the Internet for immediate drug information. In 2014, Google introduced the snippet block to programmatically search available websites to answer a question entered into the search engine without the need for the user to enter any websites. This study compared the accuracy and completeness of drug information found in Google snippet blocks to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) medication guides.Methods: Ten outpatient drugs were selected from the 2018 Clinical Drugstats Database Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Six questions in the medication guide for each drug were entered into the Google search engine to find the snippet block. The accuracy and completeness of drug information in the Google snippet block were quantified by two different pharmacists using a scoring system of 1 (less than 25% accurate/complete information) to 5 (100% accurate/complete information). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the scores.
    Results: For five out of the six questions, the information in the Google snippets had less than 50% accuracy and completeness compared to the medication guides. The average accuracy and completeness scores of the Google snippets were highest for "What are the ingredients of [the drug]?" with scores of 3.38 (51-75%) and 3.00 (51-75%), respectively. The question on "How to take [drug]?" had the lowest score with averages of 1.00 (<25%) for both accuracy and completeness.
    Conclusion: Google snippets provide inaccurate and incomplete drug information when compared to FDA-approved drug medication guides. This aspect may cause patient harm; therefore, it is imperative for health care and health information professionals to provide reliable drug resources to patients and consumers if written information may be needed.
    Keywords:  Internet; drug information; patient care; pharmacists; search engine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1229
  23. Rev Port Cardiol (Engl Ed). 2021 Nov;pii: S2174-2049(21)00283-X. [Epub ahead of print]40(11): 815-825
      INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The Internet is a fundamental aspect of health information. However, the absence of quality control encourages misinformation. We aim to assess the relevance and quality of acute myocardial infarction videos shared on YouTube (www.youtube.com) in Portuguese.METHODS: We analyzed 1,000 videos corresponding to the first 100 search results on YouTube using the following terms (in Portuguese): "cardiac + arrest"; "heart + attack"; "heart + thrombosis"; "coronary + thrombosis"; "infarction - brain", "myocardial + infarction" and "acute + myocardial + infarction". Irrelevant (n=316), duplicated (n=345), without audio (n=24) or non-Portuguese (n=106) videos were excluded. Included videos were assessed according to source, topic, target audience and scientific inaccuracies. Quality of information was assessed using The Health on the Net Code (HONCode from 0 to 8) and DISCERN (from 0 to 5) scores - the higher the score, the better the quality.
    RESULTS: 242 videos were included. The majority were from independent instructors (n=95, 39.0%) and were addressed to the general population (n=202, 83.5%). One third of the videos (n=79) contained inaccuracies while scientific society and governmental/health institution videos had no inaccuracies. The mean video quality was poor or moderate; only one video was good quality without any inaccuracies. Governmental/health institutions were the source with the best quality videos (HONCode 4±1, DISCERN 2±1).
    CONCLUSIONS: One third of the videos had irrelevant information and one third of the relevant ones contained inaccuracies. The average video quality was poor; therefore it is important to define strategies to improve the quality of online health information.
    Keywords:  Comunicação em saúde; Educação em saúde; Enfarte agudo miocárdio; Gestão de informação médica; Health communication; Health education; Health information management; Myocardial infarction; YouTube
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.repce.2021.10.001
  24. Am J Infect Control. 2021 Nov 26. pii: S0196-6553(21)00758-6. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND: The correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the Covid-19 pandemic is mandatory to minimize the contagion risk. The current study aimed to evaluate quality information of YouTube™ videos on PPE use during the pandemic.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using Google™ Trend tool, the frequency of worldwide YouTube™ and Google™ searches for "donning and doffing" was examined. We queried YouTube™ with terms related to donning and doffing of PPE. Validated quality information assessment tools were used.
    RESULTS: From the 1st December 2019 to the 31st January 2021, according to YouTube™ and Google™ searches, both peaks occurred in April 2020 (69.5 and 72.0%,respectively). Of all videos, 144 were eligible for the analyses. According to misinformation tool, 90 (62.5%) videos contained inaccuracies. The median DISCERN Section 1 ranged from 3 to 5. The median DISCERN Section 3 was 4. According to Global Quality Score, 8.3% (n=12), 14.6% (n=21), 22.9% (n=33), 30.6% (n=44) and 23.6% (n=34) were classified as poor, partially poor, moderate, partially good and excellent quality videos, respectively.
    CONCLUSIONS: Nowadays, YouTube™ may be recommended as a reliable source of information. Nevertheless, a not negligible number of videos contained inaccuracies. Future authors should improve videos contents to provide more complete information.
    Keywords:  PPE; Sars-CoV-2; doffing; donning; internet; social media
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2021.11.013
  25. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 631-636
      Background: Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a telehealth initiative that aims to reduce disparities in delivery of health care by leveraging technology and local expertise to provide guidance on specialized subjects to health care providers across the world. In 2018, a new ECHO hub convened in Indianapolis with a focus on health care for individuals in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ+) populations. This ECHO iteration was one of the first of its kind and would soon be followed by a new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ECHO as well.Case Presentation: In a novel approach, information professionals participated in the early planning stages of the formation of these ECHO teams, which enabled the provision of real-time medical evidence and resources at the point-of-need once the teams were launched. This case study demonstrates proof of concept for including health sciences librarians and/or information professionals in the ECHO as hub team members. In this case study, the authors describe and quantify the value added to the HIV and LGBTQ+ ECHO sessions by the medical librarians, as well as provide a template for how other telehealth initiatives can collaborate with their local health information professionals.
    Conclusions: Librarian involvement in Project ECHO over the past three years has been enthusiastically received. The librarians have contributed hundreds of resources to ECHO participants, helped build and curate resource repositories, and expanded the embedded librarian program to an additional two ECHO iterations. ECHO hub team members report high rates of satisfaction with the performance of embedded librarians and appreciate the provision of point-of-need evidence to ECHO participants.
    Keywords:  community health services; information literacy; sexual and gender minorities; telemedicine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1262
  26. Int Ophthalmol. 2021 Nov 29.
      PURPOSE: To evaluate the reliability, quality and effectiveness of YouTube videos addressing treatment of keratoconus.METHODS: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional and register-based study. A YouTube search was performed using the keyword treatment of keratoconus, and the first 100 videos that came out were included in the study. The numbers of views, likes, dislikes, comments, daily viewing rate (number of views per day), uploaded source (physicians, public or private institution, health channel or patients), country of origin, video type (patient experience, scholarly information), and described treatment technique (contact lens, corneal cross-linking, intrastromal corneal ring, topography-guided photorefractive keratectomy, keratoplasty) were evaluated for all videos. They were also evaluated regarding their DISCERN, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), global quality score (GQS) and usefulness score by two independent ophthalmologists.
    RESULTS: Of the top 100 videos, 83 videos met the criteria. The mean DISCERN, JAMA, GQS and usefulness score were 42.92 ± 18.14, 2.7 ± 0.73, 3.07 ± 1.25 and 2.99 ± 1.44, respectively. Of the 83 videos, 35(42.2%) had been uploaded by physicians, 19(22.9%) by patients, 15(18.1%) by health channel, and 14(16.9%) by institutions/private health institutions. In the correlation analysis, the four scoring systems showed a statistically significant and strong positive correlation with each other (p < 0.001). In addition, viewing rate DISCERN, GQS, usefulness scores, number of likes, dislikes and comments showed a statistically significant positive correlation.
    CONCLUSION: The content of YouTube videos regarding treatment of keratoconus is of generally good quality and is educational for patients. Increasing the number of videos uploaded by healthcare professionals will increase the quality, reliability and informative features of the videos.
    Keywords:  DISCERN score; Global quality score; Journal of the American Medical Association score; Keratoconus; YouTube
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-02139-8
  27. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 667-671
      Background: Few electronic resources are available for new mothers with concerns about changes in their pelvic floor following childbirth. Patients may struggle when seeking authoritative information regarding pelvic floor conditions online given the sensitivity of the topic as well as the inadvertent connection to obscene or demeaning content found online. A health sciences librarian partnered with the Motherhood and Pelvic Health Study, an interdisciplinary research group, to provide expert searching skills for a particularly challenging health condition that patients struggle to find useful information on.Case Presentation: A custom rubric was developed to evaluate existing information products, which included criteria for cultural sensitivity, conflicts of interest, and other red flags. This evaluation process enabled the research team to identify top-tier evidence-based materials that were culturally congruent. This collaborative evaluation process led to the creation of a web-based toolkit resource for new mothers concerned about changes in their pelvic floor. The toolkit connects women to pertinent information on a national health organization's patient portal, supplemented by videos created by the team to serve as models of communication for women and health care providers.
    Conclusion: When developing a web-based resource, health sciences libraries can partner with research teams to find, evaluate, and disseminate information. Culturally congruent toolkits such as this one can improve access to health information and lead to improved health outcomes. To ensure that the information highlighted in toolkits is both culturally congruent and authoritative, research teams should form advisory committees and partner with relevant professional medical associations.
    Keywords:  Internet; toolkit
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1078
  28. BJU Int. 2021 Nov 30.
      OBJECTIVE: To describe the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical literature and trial data extraction, and its applications in uro-oncology. This bridging review, which consolidates information from the diverse applications of AI, highlights how AI users can investigate more sophisticated queries than with traditional methods, leading to synthesis of raw data and complex outputs into more actionable and personalized results, particularly in the field of uro-oncology.METHODS: Literature and clinical trial searches were performed in PubMed, Dimensions, Embase and Google (1999-2020). The searches focused on the use of AI and its various forms to facilitate literature searches, clinical guidelines development, and clinical trial data extraction in uro-oncology. To illustrate how AI can be applied toaddress questions about optimizing therapeutic decision making and individualizing treatment regimens, the Dimensions-linked information platform was searched for "prostate cancer" keywords (76 publications were identified; 48 were included).
    RESULTS: AI offers the promise of transforming raw data and complex outputs into actionable insights. Literature and clinical trial searches can be automated, enabling clinicians to develop and analyze publications expeditiously on complex issues such as therapeutic sequencing and to obtain updates on documents that evolve at the pace and scope of the landscape. An AI-based platform inclusive of 12 trial databases and >100 scientific literature sources enabled the creation of an interactive visualization.
    CONCLUSION: As the literature and clinical trial landscape continues to grow in complexity and with increasing speed, the ability to pull the right information at the right time from different search engines and resources while excluding social media bias becomes more challenging. This review demonstrates that by applying natural language processing and machine learning algorithms, validated and optimized AI leads to a speedier, more personalized, efficient and focused search compared with traditional methods.
    Keywords:  artificial intelligence; automated; literature extraction; machine learning; prostate cancer therapy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/bju.15662
  29. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 693-696
      Increasing diverse author representation within medical librarianship scholarship among BIPOC information professionals is an important endeavor that requires closer examination. This commentary looks to examine the ways in which the profession can support Latinx librarians and library workers in fully participating within the scholarly pipeline by exploring our unique and authentic voices, structural barriers, hesitation and fears, Whiteness in the profession and knowledge production, bias in the peer review process, lack of resources and support, and finally, a call to action.
    Keywords:  BIPOC; Chicanx; Hispanic; Latinx; health sciences librarians; information professions; library workers; medical librarians; representation; scholarly pipeline
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1295
  30. Surg Endosc. 2021 Nov 29.
      BACKGROUND: More patients are turning to the internet for their health information than ever before. This is a growing problem as it is well recognized that medical information on the internet is highly variable. We assessed the quality of information on the internet regarding the anti-reflux procedure, Nissen Fundoplication. Three commonly used measures of website quality are the Health On the Net code, the Journal of the American Medical Association Benchmark criteria, and the DISCERN tool. The HON code is a seal of approval awarded by an independent organization where the JAMA Benchmark and DISCERN Tool are a set of standards that can be utilized by an internet user or webpage creator.METHODS: We performed a Google search using the term "Nissen Fundoplication", where we analyzed the top 75 websites. We included English language websites and excluded advertisements, websites for medical professionals, duplicates, and requiring a login. Each website included was evaluated for presence of the HON seal and scored with the JAMA Benchmark and DISCERN criteria to determine quality.
    RESULTS: Only 16.28% of websites were found to be HON code certified. The average JAMA benchmark score was 1.23, with 9.3% websites scoring the maximum 4 points and 39.53% receiving a score of 0. The average DISCERN score was 34.65 out of a total possible score of 75, where the mean score for the overall quality of the website (question 16) was 2.19 out of a maximal score of 5.
    CONCLUSION: This study, using 3 commonly used validated measures, has found that the quality of online information pertaining to Nissen Fundoplication is sorely lacking. The implications of these results are twofold as an important reference for institutions to update their source material and a guide when providing patients with adequate resources.
    Keywords:  DISCERN tool; General surgery; HON code; JAMA Benchmark; Nissen fundoplication; Quality of Online information
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-021-08895-z
  31. Nat Commun. 2021 Dec 03. 12(1): 7062
      Vast amounts of personalized information are now available to individuals. A vital research challenge is to establish how people decide what information they wish to obtain. Here, over five studies examining information-seeking in different domains we show that information-seeking is associated with three diverse motives. Specifically, we find that participants assess whether information is useful in directing action, how it will make them feel, and whether it relates to concepts they think of often. We demonstrate that participants integrate these assessments into a calculation of the value of information that explains information seeking or its avoidance. Different individuals assign different weights to these three factors when seeking information. Using a longitudinal approach, we find that the relative weights assigned to these information-seeking motives within an individual show stability over time, and are related to mental health as assessed using a battery of psychopathology questionnaires.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27046-5
  32. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 528-539
      Health sciences librarianship has historically benefited from avoiding critical conversations around the role of race in the profession, reflected through a select few number of articles on the topic. The purpose of this study was to add to this body of literature and apply a critical librarianship framework on the early scholarly record of health sciences librarianship and the legacy of integration within the Medical Library Association (MLA). Three Southern medical works and the integration views of Mary Louise Marshall, the longest-serving president of MLA from 1941 to 1946, were thematically and textually analyzed to redress the profession's long-standing legacy with Whiteness and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) representation. In reframing the historic past of MLA both through Marshall's works and her views, the goal is to acknowledge ways in which the profession has impeded progress and present steps to remedy appropriate outreach for the future.
    Keywords:  JMLA; MLA; critical librarianship; critical race theory; historical revisionism; history of health sciences librarianship; integration; library leaders; whiteness in LIS
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1261
  33. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 677-679
      Background: In 2017, an academic health sciences library in Utah developed a multimedia studio for students, faculty, and academic staff. Educational projects needing video, audio, and lecture capture could utilize a one-button studio for recording video sessions, microphones for audio, and various screen capture software for lectures. Since the pandemic, this service has seen rapid growth due to academic lectures going exclusively online. In response, the library launched a dedicated podcasting suite to accommodate the increase in students and faculty needing to record lectures or podcasts for others in the medical profession.Description: This article will outline the process of creating the podcasting suite and provide equipment rosters and methods other libraries may consider for establishing their own studio. Administrating duties of the studio will also be included, such as handling reservations and user assessment. An instructional guide for users is also included to assist patrons in accomplishing their podcast creations.
    Conclusion: Podcasts created in the space range from topics about teaching strategies in medicine to diagnoses and treatments of skin disorders. A podcasting suite is another way libraries can provide valuable services for asynchronous learning and student projects. Students, staff, and faculty have appreciated the ease of the service and the support behind it. A feedback loop was developed to further improve the space to meet the needs of users.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1349
  34. Neurol Sci. 2021 Nov 28.
      BACKGROUND: Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an untreatable disease that negatively impacts patients' and caregivers' quality of life.OBJECTIVES: The aims were to improve the quality of the information for FRDA patients and caregivers and suggest a possible tool to spread this information.
    MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-four FRDA patients and 45 caregivers were interviewed separately using a structured self-administered survey about their information-seeking behavior, their level of expectation and satisfaction for the information received, and the need for further information.
    RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: For patients and caregivers, the main source of information was the FRDA specialist and the media. The most searched items were "general information"; patients and particularly caregivers desired to get more information on existing and experimental therapies. Adequate information supply is part of good medical care; therefore, a deeper insight of clinicians in information-seeking behavior of FRDA patients and caregivers would provide tailored information and improve therapeutic alliance.
    Keywords:  Digital information resources; Friedreich’s ataxia; Information sources; Patient information
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05738-6
  35. J Med Internet Res. 2021 Dec 02. 23(12): e30855
      BACKGROUND: The internet is one of the most popular health information resources, and the Chinese constitute one-fifth of the online users worldwide. As internet penetration continues to rise, more details on the Chinese population seeking online health information need to be known based on the current literature.OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the sociodemographic differences in online health information seeking (OHIS), including the frequency of OHIS and the types of online health information sought among the general Chinese population in mainland China.
    METHODS: A cross-sectional study for assessing the residents' health care needs with self-administered questionnaires was implemented in 4 counties and districts in China from July 2018 to August 2018. Pearson's chi-square test was used to identify the sociodemographic differences between infrequent and frequent online health information seekers. We also performed binary logistic regression for the 4 types of online health information as the dependent variables and the sociodemographic factors as the independent variables.
    RESULTS: Compared with infrequent online health information seekers, frequent seekers were more likely to be female (infrequent: 1654/3318; 49.85%; frequent: 1015/1831, 55.43%), older (over 60 years old; infrequent: 454/3318, 13.68%; frequent: 282/1831, 15.40%), married (infrequent: 2649/3318, 79.84%; frequent: 1537/1831, 83.94%), and better educated (bachelor's or above; infrequent: 834/3318, 25.14%; frequent: 566/1831, 30.91%). They were also more likely to earn a higher income (over RMB ¥50k [RMB ¥1=US $0.15641]; infrequent: 1139/3318, 34.33%; frequent: 710/1831, 34.78%), have commercial health insurance (infrequent: 628/3318, 18.93%; frequent: 470/1831, 25.67%), and have reported illness in the past 12 months (infrequent: 659/3318, 19.86%; frequent: 415/1831, 22.67%). Among the 4 health information types, health science popularization was the most searched for information by Chinese online health information seekers (3654/5149, 70.79%), followed by healthy behaviors (3567/5149, 69.28%), traditional Chinese medicine (1931/5149, 37.50%), and medical concerns (1703/5149, 33.07%). The binary logistic regression models showed that males were less likely to seek information on healthy behaviors (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.69, 95% CI 0.61-0.78) and traditional Chinese medicine (AOR 0.64, 95% CI 0.57-0.73), and respondents who had at least 1 chronic disease were more likely to seek information on medical concerns (AOR 1.27, 95% CI 1.07-1.51) and traditional Chinese medicine (AOR 1.26, 95% CI 1.06-1.49).
    CONCLUSIONS: Sociodemographic factors were associated with the frequency of OHIS and types of information sought among the general Chinese population. The results remind providers of online health information to consider the needs of specific population groups when tailoring and presenting health information to the target population.
    Keywords:  China; Chinese population; demography; information seeking behavior; information types; online health information; online health information seeking; sociodemographic factors
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/30855
  36. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 697-698
      In the swirl of current events including a pandemic and new chapters in the awareness of race and gender, it is the professional responsibility of librarians and archivists to create durable records for future scholars, so they can understand our present.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; archival management; history; race and gender studies
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1316
  37. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 705-706
      LYRASIS Learning. LYRASIS, 1438 West Peachtree Street, NW, Suite 150, Atlanta, GA 30309; 800.999.8558; https://www.lyrasis.org/Leadership/Pages/LYRASIS-Learning.aspx; individual class pricing available for members and nonmembers, contact for member pricing.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1343
  38. J Med Libr Assoc. 2021 Oct 01. 109(4): 526-527
      In this profile, Kristine M. Alpi, AHIP, FMLA, Medical Library Association (MLA) president, 2021-2022, is described as committed to public health, professional development, and the growth and evolution of MLA. She teaches and speaks on the shared health impact from interactions among animals, humans, and the environment, and she mentors graduate students and fellows in librarianship and informatics. Alpi earned her PhD in educational research and policy analysis in 2018 and directs the Oregon Health & Science University Library.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2021.1387
  39. J Biomed Inform. 2021 Nov 27. pii: S1532-0464(21)00285-9. [Epub ahead of print] 103956
      Extracting entities and their relations from unstructured literature to form structured triplets is essential for biomedical knowledge extraction. Because sentences in biomedical datasets usually have many special overlapping triplets, it is difficult to use previous work to extract these triplets effectively. In this work, we propose a novel tagging strategy to achieve joint extraction in the machine reading comprehension framework. On the one hand, our method uses Query in the machine reading comprehension framework to introduce the information of the specific relation. On the other hand, our method introduces a tagging strategy for overlapping triplets in the biomedical domain. We use CHEMPROT and DDIExtraction2013 datasets to evaluate our method. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method can enhance the model's ability to deal with overlapping triplets, improving extraction performance.
    Keywords:  MRC; joint extraction; machine reading comprehension; text mining; triplet extraction
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2021.103956