Expanded Search Functionality for HSRPROJ Database

Beginning on August xx, 2014, Health Services Research Projects in Progress (HSRProj) (//www.nlm.nih.gov/hsrproj), the database of on-going projects related to health services research, will have a new search engine. The interface, IBM Data Explorer, features a clustering technology that allows the end user to quickly narrow and expand the search strategy by selecting data from specific fields within the larger search.

The database contains structured descriptions of health services research projects. Each record includes information about project funder and investigator(s), as well as a project abstract and other descriptors. Information about project funding has been included since early 2014.

The database offers a variety of methods to find the information you require. Simple search features allow textword searching of the projects’ various search; each project is also assigned MeSH headings. The new advanced search screen has added the ability to narrow the search by country of the organization performing the research, as is illustrated below (see Figure 1,):

Whether you do an advanced search or a simple one, the clusters on the left side of the screen will allow you to narrow your search quickly, and provide you with the number of hits you’ll retrieve once your search is narrowed (see Figure 2,):

Even after a search has been narrowed, the search engine allows you to eliminate some of the limits without losing all of your work. Just click on the “X” beside the term or terms you want to delete from your strategy, and the results will change accordingly (see Figure 3,):

Should you misspell a word, the search engine will attempt to suggest a new term, based on an extensive mapping feature.

The database currently contains over 20,000 records, starting in the early 1990s. The new search engine makes it easier than ever to constrain the search to recently funded/”ongoing” projects or to “completed” projects (within 5 years from project end date) or “archived” projects (beyond 5 years from project end date).

By Patricia Gallagher
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