For all your literature search needs…

Searches are performed by expert searchers in the Research Department. A librarian consults with the requester to clarify the subject and to refine terminology and parameters. Next, the best databases are identified for the topic. Search strategies are built and results are compiled and emailed to the requester.

Literature search request

What is an Expert Searcher?

A library professional with training and in-depth knowledge in numerous areas such as:

• Clinical and Biomedical Resources
• Databases and Vendor Systems
• Controlled Vocabularies / Thesauri
• Search Methodologies
• Publishing / Open Access
• Systematic Reviews
• Meta-analyses

Results include the search strategies used, citation data and abstracts (when available). Customized output may be requested. Results Do Not include the full text of the articles. The UAMS Library provides these specialized search services to all UAMS faculty and staff.

Will my results include Google Scholar? RCSS expert searches do not generally include results from Google Scholar (GS) for a variety of reasons.* We can, if specifically requested, send a screenshot of a proposed Advanced Search strategy for GS that you may wish to use on your own. We can also send a screenshot of the first few results; there is no way to send a group of GS results to another person except via screenshot or by exporting the result items one-by-one to a citation management product or CSV file.

This service is free to all UAMS faculty, staff, and residents. Students working on class assignments should request an in-person or telephone consultation by calling 501.686.6734 or via the Ask a Librarian form rather than submitting a literature search request. Free literature search services are also available to Arkansas health professionals. If you do not reside/work in Pulaski County, click here to find the Regional Center library that serves your area. Under exceptional circumstances, access to databases to which the Library does not have a subscription may be available for a fee. Please contact RCSS for details.

Sometimes people use the phrase “systematic review” to indicate that they want a comprehensive literature search on a given topic in support of a review article. In biomedical literature, the term systematic review is used to mean a specific type of journal article with a standard structure and process. Such systematic reviews are usually about a narrow clinical topic, such as comparing randomized, controlled trials of various drug therapies.

This web page describes the process and structure of a systematic review:  Steps to Conducting a Systematic Review.

The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) has created an extensive statement of standards for the performance of systematic reviews: Finding What Works in Health Care: Standards for Systematic Reviews. Please note that the NAM standards mandate not only the participation of qualified health sciences librarians in the construction of search strategies and performance of the searches, but author-level contributions by librarians to the Methods section of the resulting article. If you will be requesting a literature search in support of a systematic review, please contact RCSS for a consultation.