Chemistry: SciFinder -- References

SciFinder -- Research Topic

Concepts -- What does SciFinder mean by "concept"?

Three simple rules
     Best terms
     Prepositions
     Parenthetical OR

Analyze / Refine / Categorize

Combine searches

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Steps in a SciFinder Research Topic search

1. Enter keywords -- Your knowledge of chemistry and SciFinder impacts this!
   • SciFinder search algorithm identifies "concepts"
   • SciFinder constructs a pick list of results based on "concepts" and syntax
2. Select one, or more, results from the pick list.
3. Use the Analyze, Refine, and Categorize tabs to learn more and to refine results

Concepts => The SciFinder search algorithm identifies "concepts". What is a concept? That depends on your search. Really, it depends on your search! It can be a single word or a phrase. Examples below will clarify.

One concept

     gold

     nanoparticle

     gold nanoparticle

     density functional theory

     gold nanoparticle density functional theory => This is one concept

     cyclic voltammetry

     gold nanoparticle cyclic voltammetry

     electron transfer gold

Two concepts

     gold nanoparticles electron transfer

     gold electron transfer nanoparticle => Very odd concepts identified!!!

Singular and plural are usually lumped together – but not always!

     Lumped together:

          enzyme (enzymes)

          polymer (polymers)

          sulfide (sulfides)

     Not lumped together:

          thiol (thiols)

Automatic truncation is often applied.

• oxidation finds oxidant, oxidative, oxidized, and oxidizer by truncating to oxid*
• product finds production, produce, and produced by truncating to prod*
• motor finds motion, mother, and motif by truncating to mot*

Secret dictionary connects some synonyms into the same concept

     dairy finds milk

     cancer finds neoplasm

     Antabuse finds 97-77-8 and N,N,N',N'-tetraethyl-thioperoxydicarbonic diamide

• The most valuable part of the "secret dictionary" are substance synonyms.
• The most important substance synonym is the CAS Registry Number.

Ignored words => By looking at the results of a search, you can see how SciFinder treats a word.

     Some words are ignored by SciFinder. These include:

          articles (a, an, the)

          words that usually have little meaning (effect, results, etc.)

Abbreviations => Chemical Abstracts (aka SciFinder) has a long history of using abbreviations starting back in the print era when space on the printed page was valuable. However, Chemical Abstracts continues to use abbreviations. Knowing about CAS Abbreviations is useful for keyword searches and to correctly read an abstract in a CAS record. A better version of the same list can be found in chapter 10 of the ACS Style Guide (see pages 169-202). Sometimes the CAS abbreviation is a better search term than the word or phrase it represents. For example, LCAO is a better search term than is "linear combination of atomic orbitals". In contrast, HOMO and "highest occupied molecular orbital" are treated identically by SciFinder. These are a two examples of how tricky it can be to find the "best terms" with which to search SciFinder.

 

Three simple rules

• Best terms
• Prepositions
• Parenthetical "OR"

The first rule addresses concepts

The 2nd and 3rd rules deal with syntax.between concepts

Best terms => The first rule is deceptively simple. There are two types of "best terms" -- (1) Terms that SciFinder uses for a concept (aka controlled vocabulary) and (2) Terms that researchers use (aka "jargon"). The controlled vocabulary of SciFinder is found in the Indexing terms in a SciFinder record. The terms used by researchers shows up in the article title, the abstract, and the uncontrolled portion of Index terms in SciFinder. Yes, index terms in SciFinder use both controlled vocabulary and uncontrolled vocabulary!

Experiment with different words to find what works best. It may take a couple of searches (or even weeks or months) to find the best terms for your search needs. For example, CAS Registry Numbers are usually better search terms than common names.

Identifying the "best terms" also depends on your chemical knowledge -- as your understanding of a topic improves, often so do your searches.

SciFinder does not interpret parentheses in the usual way (i.e, as a priority operator).

Instead, SciFinder sees parentheses as an implied Boolean OR operator.

 

         A (B)  =  A   OR   B    where A & B are "concepts"

 

In SciFinder, A (B) is a better way to run an "OR" search than the traditional way =>  A   OR   B.

 

Examples:                   mercaptan (thiol) = mercaptan OR thiol

       mercaptan (thiol, sulfhydryl) = mercaptan OR thiol OR sulfhydryl

The "parenthetical OR" can be distributed over a preposition.

"mercaptan (thiol) with electron transfer" would be interpreted by SciFinder as meaning ...

"mercaptan with electron transfer OR thiol with electron transfer".

Boolean Operators -- Do not rely on Boolean operators in SciFinder!

Some Boolean operators work partially, but give quizzical results when used in tandem (which is how they usually used).

Which Boolean operators work? It is a short list.

 

NOT

     phenol NOT resin => Finds records in SciFinder  the word phenol shows up, but not when the work resin also shows up

What Boolean operators only work in the most trivial case?

 

AND

     The exception is the trivial case:  A   AND   B

                                               palladium AND catalyst

OR

     Exception is the trivial case:  A   OR   B

                                     mercaptans OR thiols

   

     It is much better to instead use the "Parenthetical OR" or to Combine searches..

Parentheses

     As discussed above, in SciFinder they do not work as Boolean parentheses (i.e. as,priority operators)..

     In SciFinder, parentheses should only be used for the "Parenthetical OR".

Analyze

• Best if you want to know more about your search results
• Most useful options => Index terms, Authors, Company/Organizations, Journal Title, CA Section, Year
• SciFinder is divided into 80 CA Sections. Each CA Section covers only one broad area. Each abstract appears in only one CA Section. This can be a powerful way to limit search results especially when a research topic is of interest to different types of chemists (e.g., an analytical chemist and an organic chemist.). Use the Analyze tool to limit by CA Section.
• Analyze by Year and sort the results "alphabetically" to see how much research has been done on a topic as a function of time. Some topics are on the rise (gold nanoparticles) while other topics have have waxed and waned over the years (e.g., Clemmensen reduction)

 Refine

• Best if you know how you want to limit your search
• Most useful => Publication Type for reviews
• The keyword limit becomes an "AND" search. It is usually better to revise your search instead and use a preposition with the new concept.

 Categorize

• Best if you want to see how Index terms and substances fit into categories
• This is a highly recommended "Discovery Tool". Use it to learn more about the search results.
• Fairly fast
• Can only be run on < 5,000 references
• Generates a pick list of index terms & substances
• Especially useful to find better keywords to use in SciFinder

Combining searches can be a good way to narrow a search.

1. Save the results from a search
2. Run another search
3. From the Tools pull-down menu (top of page), select "Combine Answer Sets"
4. Choose the previously saved search
5. Choose either Combine (OR), Intersect (AND), or one of the two Exclude (NOT) options