The Ovid multifile searching function allows users to choose up to five databases to search simultaneously. Terms are searched in all of the keyword fields in each database.
To use Ovid’s multifile searching feature, from the database menu choose the tab labeled “select more than one database to search.” Put a checkmark next to up to five databases to search. Click the blue bar on the left to begin your search. If all of the licenses for a given database are in use at that time, you will not be able to search that database.
Enter your search terms. The total number of hits will display in the search history box, but the number of citations retrieved from each database, along with the fields searched, will display just above the individual search results.
Ovid multifile searching offers the opportunity to remove duplicates from your search results. This feature compares results from all of the databases you selected. Where the same citation is found in more than one database, it will display only the citation that most closely matches your preferences for the format and source of the article. Because this feature is comparing results from different databases, it sometimes will not recognize citations as duplicates.
As always, for the most thorough results we recommend optimizing your strategy for each of the databases you select. This can be done by running the strategy again in each database with good results. If you would like to use the de-duplicate feature, refine your search strategy separately in each database, and enter a strategy in the combined search window that includes all of the terms from your individual searches.
For searching by specific fields, Ovid lists all of the options available from all the databases. Choose as many entries as may be relevant to your search. As an example, an author may be listed by last name then by first initial or first name, or with a comma preceding the first initial.
Limits for all of the databases also appear. However, if the limit is not included in the original database, it will not be applied to results in the multifile search. For example, limiting results to English Language will apply only to citations from those databases which have this language option.
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