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From the Editor

Why is everyone migrating to ProQuest Dialog™? Just pick up the September 4 issue of FUMSI titled “ProQuest Dialog for Novice and Experienced Searchers” for a description of features on ProQuest Dialog that illustrate reasons users are migrating. For example, as a novice you can create precision searches using the thesaurus step-by-step, or as an experienced user, just enter commands. Read the article to see more examples that might inspire you to give ProQuest Dialog a try!

Also in this issue, learn more about the migration process, new demo databases to practice for free, service plans and much more. We also have news about content reloads and the Incidence and Prevalence Database, the featured file for this month. Try Ron's tips in the always informative and entertaining “A Proximal and a Distal Tip,” and sign up for the latest training.

 

ProQuest Dialog Updates

Unearth references and cited references on ProQuest Dialog

Researchers not surprisingly want to know: “On what authority are these writers basing their facts?” Some specialty files, including Lancet Titles, New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), PsycINFO^®, and Derwent Drug File, provide live links to references that take you directly to the papers' references and cited information. Reference links appear on both the Results page and the full document view.

From the Results page, a References link showing the number of references displays below the title and highlighted key words in context. Click the link to see references.

The full record display shows the number of references on the right panel.

Click the References link to view the references. There are 294 documents with shared references. This link identifies articles that use the same sources. Some references show hyperlinked titles pointing to the referenced article available in other databases on ProQuest Dialog.

Locate additional references using field tags
Five new field codes allow you to find records throughout ProQuest Dialog that have references within the abstract or text:

• Cited Author — CAU
• Cited Publication — CPUB
• Cited Document Title — CTI
• Cited Publication Date — CYR
• General reference search — REF

This example uses the REF field code to find records that reference the Journal of the American Medical Association. If you click the title to record #3, you will see why this record from Inspec^® is included.

 

Where it all comes together: ProQuest Dialog Migration Center

Be sure to regularly check the ProQuest Dialog Migration Center for new additions to help you easily manage the transition to ProQuest Dialog.

• Users: Review the Getting Started Guide and Checklist to become familiar with ProQuest Dialog during the migration process.
• Account Administrators: Follow the Step-by-Step Guide showing you how to use administrative features in My Research Administrator and more. A Checklist keeps you on target.
• All searchers: Read about Alerts and Saved Searches and how to edit and manage migrated Alerts.

 

ProQuest Dialog and Service Plan Options

With ProQuest Dialog you can choose from three plans:  Transactional, Commitment or Flat Rate, each offering predictable cost.  Here are the service plans and pricing options you can expect when you migrate to ProQuest Dialog.

1.   The Transactional Pricing Plan 
What if you never again had to worry about how much time you spend online while searching or how long it takes to construct a complex search or how many databases you include? Now, with ProQuest Dialog, you can walk away from connect time and DialUnits forever!

Searching on ProQuest Dialog is easy and powerful. While browsing, you can sample your returns using the document Preview feature, narrow or refine results using navigation filters, and modify content sources. There is no charge until you choose to view documents from the results list. 

On ProQuest Dialog, you pay for the documents you use, plus an access service fee proportional to your output costs. Under the standard transactional plan, the access fee is 25% of total output cost each month. Or, you can choose the session access fee instead, and pay a flat access fee of $26 per session (a session is from logon to logoff, across any databases you choose).

Charges for output and Alerts will be the same as on Dialog, making it easy to predict and budget based on your normal usage patterns. And, a semi-annual service fee of $240 per bill-to replaces the current fee of $108 per user ID. You can have as many user IDs as you need, at the same predictable price.  And you can search easily and efficiently across broad content with predictable costs and easily bill costs back to clients as needed. 

2.   The Commitment Plan
For more savings and increased predictability, consider the Commitment Plan to lock in great savings on output, Alerts and the access service fee. 

Just commit to a minimum annual payment of at least $10,000, which can be billed monthly, quarterly or annually. The cost of output and alerts will be deducted from your commitment, at a discount to retail price. The higher your commitment, the higher your discount will be on these variable usage elements. When the cost of your output and alerts exceeds your annual commitment, that discount continues.

The access fee is allocated as 20% of your total commitment, so no matter how much you spend on output and Alerts, the access fee remains at the same flat rate throughout the plan period.  And, under this plan, the service fee is rolled into the overall commitment, so you get more search value for your budget.

Customers currently on capped commitment plans such as the Dialog Advantage Plan automatically migrate to the Commitment Plan. It's an ideal choice for customers with volume usage who want to earn discounts while maintaining access to the full range of content sources.

With the Commitment Plan, you can search easily and efficiently across broad content with predictable charges, while earning discounts based on your level of commitment.  

3.   Flat Rate Plans
Flat-rate plans will continue to be offered for specific content sources or collections under ProQuest Dialog. Under the Choice plan, a wide range of content is available for unlimited use based on an annual payment, billed monthly, quarterly or annually. The plan cost is determined by the databases selected and the number of knowledge workers with access to the content. For certain premium databases, a site license is required, which will be negotiated with the content provider by Dialog on behalf of the customer.

With both Choice plans and site licenses, the service fee is included and there is no usage threshold.  These plans offer the maximum amount of budget control and predictability, making them ideal for organizations with high use of specific content sources across a department or user community.

These three plans offer choices to meet the needs of all Dialog user groups — it's what you've been waiting for!

 

It's easy on ProQuest Dialog

Ready, aim, target relevant content types and databases
ProQuest Dialog lets you take aim at certain kinds of records right from the initial Basic Search form. In an initial search you can qualify to full text only, abstract available, scholarly journals or peer-reviewed items — and you can use a field code to specify which database to use. Content-type qualifiers include:

• ftany(yes) — results will have full text
• abany (yes) — results will have abstract
• peer(yes) — results are peer-reviewed   
• schol(yes) — results are scholarly journals

In a general search, records will return from all databases that carry the particular filters. You can get an idea if they are present in a database by check boxes on the Basic or Advanced Search form. Knowing the codes and whether they are available in the databases you want to reach, you can simply enter them in the query box as part of the search string. It's so easy to do!

The syntax is <limiter field code>(yes). For example, to find full-text articles about forecasts or trends in the pharmaceutical market on drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis, limited to articles published in the current year, log into ProQuest Dialog and enter RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND (FORECAST OR TREND) AND FTANY(YES) AND PY(2011) right in the opening Basic search form.

Home in on a database with the From Database field code
An exciting enhancement to ProQuest Dialog is the ability to specify particular databases using the FROM DATABASE (FDB) field code. The syntax requires FDB(database name) or FDB(ID). Find a list of database names and codes in Help by searching for FDB. Database names are intuitive, e.g. promt for Gale Group PROMT^®. Each file also has a Database ID — a number such as 1000139 for PROMT.

Search directly from the first screen for market forecasts in the treatment of regenerative medicine in Adis Pharmacoecononics & Outcomes News. The FDB name is pharmacoeconomics or Database ID1008203.

FDB(PHARMACOECONOMICS) AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE AND FORECAST

A word of caution when searching for peer reviewed literature; e.g., peer(yes). Not all databases have this filter. For example, some biomedical files might instead have a thesaurus term for peer review, and it's not available as a check box filter. Find out which databases have the filter peer.

• Enter peer(yes) at the opening screen.
• On the Results page click Databases in “Narrow results by” on the right side of the Results page.

In short: whether you're a command searcher or a novice, you can charge right into ProQuest Dialog, fire a command, find your content type and database and get the answers you need!

 

October Highlights

New: Search ProQuest Dialog Demonstration

As you plan your migration to ProQuest Dialog, take advantage of tools to help you learn more about searching the new interface. Use Basic, Advanced and Command Line search, review documents, translate abstracts, try the post-processing tools and more.

To help you get started, review the module Free Practice on ProQuest Dialog to learn how to navigate ProQuest Dialog and become familiar with its features and advantages. Practice with the exercise topics and review sample answers.

Click GO and take this opportunity to practice searching in several databases on ProQuest Dialog for free!

 

Featured File in October: Incidence and Prevalence Database

Incidence and Prevalence Database (IPD) is a comprehensive database in the medical and healthcare areas, featuring epidemiology databases designed to be the most comprehensive "first-look" at any disease, procedure, symptom, or health issue. The IPD covers more than 4,500 diseases and procedures for incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, co-morbidity, treated or diagnosed rates, cost and much more. Every data citation is attached to its original source. The database covers these kinds of facts from 1994 to the present and is updated quarterly by Timely Data Resources, Inc.

Comprehensive content coverage includes more than 280 medical journals, over 35 government and industry agencies and all countries and regions where data is available. Reports, statistics and research projects, as well as data retrieved from Websites, surveys and associations, are reviewed when compiling information for IPD.

If you are involved in market research, product or new business development, strategic planning, clinical research, licensing, stock-market analysis, or the medical field in general, you will find the Incidence and Prevalence Database contains valuable information. Data is divided into U.S. and international non-U.S. country-specific data. Statistical summaries, including six-year U.S. trend data, allow researchers to see all prevalence and incidence data found in the IPD for a particular disease or procedure. Condensed notes about the study design are also included to provide vital contextual information. Ranked lists of the top 300 inpatient diseases, in/outpatient procedures, length of stay, physician office visits and emergency department visits illustrate where patient activity is focused.

The Incidence and Prevalence Database provides unique, comprehensive information about medical issues worldwide. Explore the database and learn what IPD can do for you! Check the ProSheet for ProQuest Dialog or the Bluesheet when searching legacy Dialog. Review the overview to learn more about the database, and attend an online Webinar discussing more uses and benefits of this comprehensive, authoritative source.

 

ERIC annual reload completed

In 2011, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center Database) (File 1) introduced additional source coverage, as well as enhancements to existing content. This year there will also be a reload to the current Related Terms Thesaurus, which hasn't been updated since 2008.

As part of these changes ERIC has provided a full annual reload to the database on Dialog; therefore, Dialog Accession Numbers have been reassigned based on the Publication Date of the record, rather than a sequential number based on the updates. ERIC will provide a complete reload each year. The database design remains the same.

ERIC contains 1.3 million bibliographic citations to a broad collection of education-related resources, from government reports to journal articles. Other materials include conference proceedings, project and program descriptions, curriculum guides, bibliographies and more. A number of records include hotlinks to HTML or PDF records with many available in full-text PDF.

 

Market: Business and News Content Updates

Dialog NewsRoom Annual Rollover: New Database Groupings

The annual rollover for Dialog NewsRoom was completed in September. This year 2004 and 2005 data will be combined into File 997. In addition, all prior years will be shifted offsetting the entire backfile collection (Files 991-996) by one year. See the list below. There will be no changes in Files 989 and 990 besides the usual monthly rollover of data.

Dialog Newsroom Databases after the 2011 Rollover

File	File Name	Dates	Recs Est
989	NewsRoom Alert	Current Week	600K
990	NewsRoom Current	4-5 months	10.2M
991	NewsRoom 2011	2011	21.3M
992	NewsRoom 2010	2010	35.5M
993	NewsRoom 2009	2009	36.5M
994	NewsRoom 2008	2008	36.6M
995	NewsRoom 2007	2007	36.9M
996	NewsRoom 2006	2006	33.3M
997	NewsRoom 2004-2005	2004-2005	50.5M
998	NewsRoom 2000-2003	2000-2003	49.8M

Note: There is no change or loss in the overall dates of coverage for Dialog NewsRoom, only changes to the databases that contain the content.

 

Validate: Intellectual Property Content Updates

Japanese classifications and English-translated abstracts in INPADOC

INPADOC/Family and Legal Status (File 345) now has Japanese classifications and the English translated abstract from Patent Abstracts of Japan. The EPO (European Patent Office) added the new data in update week 201131 and also introduced a new format for U.S. classifications. The search and display of the new data are described and illustrated below.

1. Japanese classifications consist of FI Terms (based on the IPC version 4 classification with enhancements) and F-Terms (a matrix classification developed by the Japanese Patent Office. The FI and F-Terms are displayed under the label “National Class”: with FI terms followed by F-Terms. Both types of terms are searchable using the prefix JC=. F-terms consist of two parts — the theme and the viewpoint which are separated by a slash. Dialog's cascade function allows searching just on the theme (e.g., JC=2C056/EA13 or JC=2C056). FI terms can be searched much like IPCs, as the whole class code including enhancements or cascaded at the 4th and 8th positions, e.g.,
   JC=B41J-003/04 101Y
   JC=B41J-003
   JC=B41J
2. The English translated abstract in Japanese patents follows the standard search and display for abstracts with the suffix /AB. Note that the abstract may not be present in all records.  The record illustrates the display of FI terms, F-terms, and the English translated abstract.

The INPADOC update for week 201131 also includes some improvements to the U.S. classification. The new format for U.S. class codes uses the standard nine-digit number and includes trailing letters indicating if the class is Original. Primary, Secondary, or cross-reference (X). It is also displayed with the label “National Class.” U.S. class codes, whether in old or new format, are searchable using CL=. For example, CL=427115000S (EPO-provided) and CL=427115000 (standard format) will retrieve the same record. Examples of the new format are highlighted in the following sample record.

 

A Proximal and a Distal Tip
by Ron Kaminecki, MS, CPL, JD, director, IP segment, U.S. patent attorney

Losing strategies
I am forever losing things. So, after long experience with not being able to keep my stuff, I have developed some strategies for finding lost items. Some are applicable for patent searching, including a strategy for finding a lost coin. If you lose a coin, drop another and watch where it goes. It can bounce and land nearby, fall flat and stay put, or land on the edge and roll away in a random direction. The "bounce and land nearby" is like a normal patent search using concepts and class codes, etc.; the "fall flat and stay put" is a quick look up strategy like an author or assignee search. And the "roll away in a random direction" is the troubling one because dropping a second coin does not help predict which way the coin will roll.

I recall helping a searcher who had a lot of information about a patent, including the patent number, but when he looked up the patent by number, it did not correspond to the rest of the data. What to do?

We started with the assumption that something was wrong and thought the problem may actually be the focus of the search: the patent number was wrong. So, we used all the other information we were given but the patent number. This resulted in a list of hits we interrogated until we found an entry that was the closest match to the erroneous patent number.

A traditional search for a non-traditional topic may never find what you're looking for, no matter how diligently you conduct it. Yes, it is true that no matter how tasty the bread, how fresh the vegetables or how many condiments you add, a goat sandwich is still a goat sandwich.

How to be a(s) smart as....
For example, if a patent is assigned to an inventor and has not yet been reassigned to the eventual owner, no amount of searching the patent assignee field will find it. No matter how hard you look, you may never find anything useful if you are given the wrong information in the first place!

Like a patent claim, you might want to broaden your strategy to pick up nuances in case the requesting information is slightly off. So, it's a good thing to ask. For example, anytime anyone gives me an issue date for a granted U.S. patent, I check that the date is a Tuesday (or a Wednesday for EPO grants). This is because since shortly after the time the U.S. Patent Office's collection caught fire while stored offsite in 1836, U.S. patents have always issued on Tuesdays. If the date you are given to search did not fall on a Tuesday, then the date is wrong! If it's a Thursday, it might be a U.S. published application. Can you believe I have actually found these pieces of trivia useful?

So, ask yourself if you are feeling lucky. Someone asked you to look up a patent by date and instead of logging into the proper database, you ask, "You gave me the U.S. grant date of April 3, 1999. Do you happen to know if that was a Tuesday?" Asking this lame question may do more than cause you to be labeled as smart as you can be or even get you labeled as a troublemaker, though the answer could be the key to solving the question. If this person gave you an incorrect date, what are the odds that this person would even know the corresponding correct day of the week? Maybe it is best to verify the date independently (there are lots of calendars on the web that can verify the day/date) rather than take on the wrath of a partner, senior scientist or your boss! If the date is not a Tuesday, assume the date is wrong and look elsewhere.

What to do with all that loose change in your pocket
So, if your search request has taken a flyer and is now rolling in a random direction, how do you proceed? I don't suggest typing random terms in the hopes of getting lucky. Maybe, try a totally different approach. Maybe the goat sandwich would be tastier if you kept all the same bread and condiments but just didn't use goat. Look at anything but the single focus of the search and also broaden your strategy. Maybe the patent's class code is wrong, thus a search by class code will be ineffective. Maybe the search term you have been given is spelled wrong or used incorrectly. Consider looking for additional or outside data. Or, do like I do, and flip a coin.

 

A Refresher: Enhanced searching of Japanese records in DWPI

Searching with Japanese national classifications—File Index codes (FI codes) and File Forming Terms (F Terms), applied by Japanese Patent Examiners to Japanese patent and Utility Model applications—can enhance the recall and precision of your searches in Derwent World Patents Index^® (DWPI^SM) (351/352,350).

The FI codes are similar to International Patent Classification Codes (IPCs) and are applied to classify the patent into a particular area of technology. The F Terms provide a much more detailed view of the patent and essentially are used to index the patent from a variety of viewpoints, which in turn makes using F terms a very effective search aid. This is particularly powerful in technical fields (e.g., LCD technology) where Japanese companies are strong.

Japanese patents are regularly reclassified as new codes are introduced, or patents are reviewed further as part of the examination process. Any reclassified records are updated in DWPI on a quarterly basis at the same time as the reclassification updates IPCs, U.S. Classes and ECLA codes.

Searchers in DWPI can benefit from various Patent Office classification systems, including F Terms and FI codes, IPCs, ECLA codes and U.S. Classes, as well as the Thomson Reuters proprietary DWPI manual codes and deep indexing, further enhancing the recall and precision of invention-based searching in the file.

Learn more about FI codes and F terms and their importance in DWPI.

 

Learn about ProQuest

ProQuest ranks 65th in 2011 InformationWeek 500

ProQuest has ranked 65th in the 2011 InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology. InformationWeek is a premier source of news and analysis of leading-edge products and vendors in the business IT industry. Its InformationWeek 500 list is considered unique among industry rankings for its spotlight on the power of innovation in information technology.

"This is a particularly meaningful honor for ProQuest because when we're innovative, it means the important work of research benefits," said Kurt Sanford, ProQuest CEO. "We are driven to excel because we believe in the work, in the discoveries, in the advancements of those who rely upon us. This kind of recognition fuels us to set the bar ever higher."

This is ProQuest's third consecutive appearance in the top 100 of the InformationWeek 500. The company is being recognized for its ability to navigate a highly competitive industry, where new market entrants come from non-traditional sources. ProQuest has continued to thrive through the development of services that enable researchers to discover, interact and use content. Particularly noted is the company's engagement in partnerships that accelerate discovery of information that is often below the search radar. Earlier this year, ProQuest's business unit Serials Solutions' Summon™ service partnered with HathiTrust, a digital archive of more than eight million books common to academic libraries, to enable instant searching of these works — even those in print — down to the word on a page.

"For 23 years, the InformationWeek 500 has chronicled and honored the most innovative users of business technology," said InformationWeek Editor In Chief Rob Preston. "In this day and age, however, being innovative isn't enough. Companies and their IT organizations need to innovate faster than ever before to stay a step or two ahead of their customers, partners, and competitors. This year's ranking placed special emphasis on those high-octane business technology innovators."

The judges also noted ProQuest's acquisition of and investment in companies with specialized technologies that benefit research communities. Earlier this year, ProQuest acquired imaginative ebook company ebrary. This union creates a uniquely comprehensive research content pool supported with data management tools. ProQuest also acquired the acclaimed Congressional Information Service (CIS^®) and University Publications of America (UPA) product lines from LexisNexis.