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Structured abstracts: do they improve citation retrieval from dental journals?
Helen A Stevenson1, Jayne E Harrison
1Liverpool University Dental Hospital, Liverpool, UK.
Journal of Orthodontics
|March 17, 2009
Summary
Structured abstracts did not enhance the retrieval of clinical trials from dental journals using MEDLINE searches. Precision of retrieval was actually higher in journals that maintained unstructured abstracts.
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Dental Research
- Information Science
Background:
- Structured abstracts are intended to improve the clarity and searchability of scientific literature.
- Their impact on the retrieval of clinical trials from specialized databases like MEDLINE remains an area of investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate whether structured abstracts improve the sensitivity, precision, and yield of retrieving clinical trials from dental journals via electronic searches.
- To compare retrieval metrics between dental journals that adopted structured abstracts and those that maintained unstructured formats.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective, observational study design was employed.
- Six dental journals were analyzed: three adopting structured abstracts and three maintaining unstructured formats between 1995 and 1998 (with an extension for one journal).
- Clinical trials were identified using handsearching and specialized databases (Cochrane Oral Health Group's Trials Register, CENTRAL), with MEDLINE used for electronic searches.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were found in the sensitivity or yield of clinical trial retrieval between journals with structured and unstructured abstracts.
- Journals that did not adopt structured abstracts showed a significant increase in precision over time.
- In the later period, precision of retrieval was significantly better for journals with unstructured abstracts compared to those with structured abstracts.
Conclusions:
- The adoption of structured abstracts does not demonstrably improve the sensitivity, precision, or yield of retrieving clinical trials from MEDLINE.
- Unstructured abstracts may offer superior precision for clinical trial retrieval in dental literature searches.
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