Comparison of the Utility of Korean Bibliographic Databases for Searching Domestic Literature Related to Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Baek-Nam Kim

doi:10.3947/ic.2009.41.1.20

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Kim: Comparison of the Utility of Korean Bibliographic Databases for Searching Domestic Literature Related to Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Original Article

Infection and Chemotherapy

Infection and Chemotherapy 2009; 41(1): 20-29.

Published online: 28 February 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2009.41.1.20

Comparison of the Utility of Korean Bibliographic Databases for Searching Domestic Literature Related to Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Baek-Nam Kim, M.D.

Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Correspondence : Baek-Nam Kim, M.D. Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University Sanggye-paik Hospital Sanggye 7-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-707, Korea. Tel: +82-2-950-1005, Fax: +82-2-950-1955, kimbn@paik.ac.kr

Received 14 October 2008 Accepted 30 December 2008

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Backgrounds

Korean bibliographic databases are used to search and retrieve domestic literature for research purposes. However, doubts about their accuracy, completeness, and coverage have been raised since their development and implementation. There have been controversies as to which database is best for searching domestic medical literature. This study was conducted to investigate the usefulness of Korean bibliographic databases in identifying domestic literature related to microbiology and infectious diseases.

Materials and Methods

Four bibliographic databases, including KoreaMed (www.koreamed.org), KISS (kiss.kstudy.com), KMbase (kmbase.medric.or.kr), and RISS (www.riss4u.net), were used for this study. One public bibliographic database, which discontinued its update, and other commercial database services were not evaluated. After performing searches utilizing representative terms related to microbiology and infectious diseases, numbers of retrieved results were compared. The results of bibliographic records gathered by using KoreaMed were compared with those of three other databases; only the journals published from 2001 to 2007 were taken into account.

Results

The number of search results retrieved by using each of the four databases ranged from 3 to 5,444 records depending on the search terms. In general, more search results were identified with KMbase and RISS than with KoreaMed and KISS. The concordance rate of the search results, utilizing the same search terms, between KoreaMed and three other databases ranged from 0% to 93.3%. Bibliographic errors including wrong order of authors, misspelled authors' names, use of the old journal title, and duplicate records were found in all databases.

Conclusions

Total number of results obtained from each of the four Korean bibliographic databases using the same search terms was different and discordant. Researchers are recommended to take into account their characteristics and limitations when using Korean bibliographic databases for medical researches.

Keywords: Database, Bibliographic databases, Literature, Research, Medical informatics

Figures and Tables

Figure 1

Examples of bibliographic errors found in the Korean bibliographic databases. A) Duplicate records, B) Wrong order of authors, C) Misspelled english names, D) Errors in the volume and issue number, E) Misspelled titles, which were incidentally encountered while using an incorrect search term 'staphylococus,'F) Wrong title. The original title of the latter article is 'Evaluation of Morphological Plasticity in the Cerebella of Basketball Players with MRI.'

Table 1

Characteristics of Korean Bibliographic Databases Used for Medical Research

Adapted from references (16-19).

^*Free to institutional members but can be provided to individuals on online payment at other website (www.papersearch.net).

^†A photocopy can be provided on payment.

^‡Free to institutional members but can be provided to individuals on online payment.

Table 2

Search Results Retrieved from Korean Bibliographic Databases Using Representative Terms Related to Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from Pre-1960s through 2007

^*There was one record of year 1873 in each search term but both were originally published in 1973.

Table 3

Rate of Concordant Records of the Search Results with KoreaMed Compared with Those with Other Korean Bibliographic Databases in 2001-2007

Note: One or more bibliographic errors (see below) were found using all four databases.

^*Duplicates were excluded when counting concordant records.

^†Including one article retracted in 2006.

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ORCID iDs: Baek-Nam Kim
https://orcid.org/http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5551-2132
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