Fellowships and training - Cochrane Library in Ireland

The Cochrane Collaboration produces systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and disseminates them in the Cochrane Library. The Health Research Board (HRB) co-funds free national access to the Cochrane Library.

Cochrane Fellowships

The HRB are offering fellowships to healthcare practitioners, researchers, academics and policy makers to carry out their own systematic review. It provides the Fellow with protected time of up to two days per week for up to two years to conduct a review. The award covers systematic review training costs, salary-related costs and research expenses.

The deadline is 12.00 noon on 20 May 2010. Full details and guidance notes on the HRB website (www.hrb.ie).

Cochrane Library Training Courses

The aim of the courses is to build awareness and capacity in conducting systematic reviews. On offer are:

• Introduction to Cochrane - this half-day course will train people with little or no previous experience to access and use the Cochrane Library
• Cochrane Systematic Review Course - this intensive two-day course will cover systematic review methodologies and critical appraisal skills. Suitable for those who may be thinking of conducting a systematic review themselves.

The deadline for applications is 12.00 noon on 26 March 2010. Further details and guidance notes available on the HRB website (www.hrb.ie).

Challenging Google Scholar

An article by Peter Jasco in the journal Online Information Review challenges the use of Google Scholar in evaluating the publishing performance and impact of journals and of researchers. Citing examples of phantom authors, unindexed names, and volatile hits, Jasco concludes that bibliometric measures based on Google Scholar may be unreliable.

Title: Metadata mega mess in Google Scholar
Author(s): Peter Jacso
Journal: Online Information Review
Year:2010 Volume:34 Issue:1 Page:175 - 191

Available direct to RCSI users: DOI: 10.1108/14684521011024191

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - find the evidence

From 2010, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews will be published monthly.

A systematic review identifies an intervention for a specific disease or healthcare problem and determines if it works. Evidence is located, appraised and synthesized from as many relevant scientific studies as possible. Systematic reviews adhere to a strict design in order to make them more comprehensive, thus minimizing the chance of bias and ensuring reliability.

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews comprises over 4,000 reviews and almost 2,000 protocols (reviews in progress).

From 2008, it also includes systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy. These reviews assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test(s) for a given target condition in a specific patient/participant group or setting.

Changes to the review and protocol headers

From 2010, the header reflects the most recent status of the review, for example if there has been a new literature search conducted, or the conclusions have changed, or the review has been edited.

Click picture to enlarge.

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is part of the Cochrane Library. Find it at http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/

Research strengths in Ireland

Research strengths in Ireland:a bibliometric study of the public research base

HEA Forfás Nov 2009

Forfás and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) have published two reports which profile research activity in Ireland and which measure Irish research outputs against various international markers.The bibliometric report measures performance outputs from the Irish universities and research institutions in terms of published journal papers in various disciplines. RCSI's substantial and growing research impact is noted in a number of contexts. A second report maps the extent of Irish research collaboration with institutions worldwide.

The bibliometric and collaboration reports are available for download from the HEA site at

http://www.hea.ie/files/files/file/Research/ResearchStrengthsInIreland.pdf
http://www.hea.ie/files/files/file/Research/ResearchStrengthsInIreland%20Collaboration.pdf

Paul

Renewing books online

You can renew your own books online using your user id number (from your RCSI id/library card) and your library password. Get your password from the service desks in the Mercer or Beaumont Hospital libraries.

• Go to the Library's website and choose Catalogues
• Sign in to the RCSI Library catalogue using your user id number and password
• Click on My Library Account to display your record
• Click on the link for Loans
• Click on Renew All to renew your loans
• Or renew loans individually by clicking on the item number and then the Renew button

Note - you may not renew an item if:

• there is a hold on it
• you have outstanding fines
• you have already renewed it six times

Email us at library@rcsi.ie or phone us at 402 2407 (Mercer) or 809 2531 (Beaumont) if you have questions.

Wellbeing Book Collection

We have a new collection of books aimed at helping you cope with the stresses of student life covering topics like stress, addiction, anxiety, men's health, pregnancy and miscarriage, coping with panic attacks and relaxation techniques.

Search for "wellbeing" in the library catalogue for a full list of the titles available or ask a member of staff for more details.

Find it@RCSI Library

1. I have found the abstract (summary) of a really good article and I have the full reference (volume and page numbers) – where do I go to find the full text?

2. I have to find information on the overuse of medication, which database should I use to find articles on the topic?

3. Google gives me loads of irrelevant sites – biased, commercial – is there an alternative?


Looking for answers to these or similar questions?

Ask us at the Service Desks in the Mercer and Beaumont Hospital Libraries.

Email us at library@rcsi.ie

Explore the Library’s website :

• Ejournal portal to link through to the full-text of articles


• Databases page to find articles on a topic


• Ebooks page for the full text of a large range of electronic textbooks and digests


• Library guide for opening hours and staff contacts

Sign up to the Information & Library Skills section on Moodle for lots of support on searching the web, using databases to find articles, doing literature reviews and using citation styles

Keep an eye on the Library blog for lots of information

Answers:
1. Use the Ejournal Portal on the Library’s website
2. The Medline and Embase databases include articles on biomedical and healthcare topics – see the databases page on the Library’s website
3. Try using Scirus – a search engine which focuses on government, healthcare, academic, technical websites