Title
askMEDLINE: a free-text, natural language query tool for MEDLINE/PubMed.
Abstract
Plain language search tools for MEDLINE/PubMed are few. We wanted to develop a search tool that would allow anyone using a free-text, natural language query and without knowing specialized vocabularies that an expert searcher might use, to find relevant citations in MEDLINE/PubMed. This tool would translate a question into an efficient search.The accuracy and relevance of retrieved citations were compared to references cited in BMJ POEMs and CATs (critically appraised topics) questions from the University of Michigan Department of Pediatrics. askMEDLINE correctly matched the cited references 75.8% in POEMs and 89.2 % in CATs questions on first pass. When articles that were deemed to be relevant to the clinical questions were included, the overall efficiency in retrieving journal articles was 96.8% (POEMs) and 96.3% (CATs.)askMEDLINE might be a useful search tool for clinicians, researchers, and other information seekers interested in finding current evidence in MEDLINE/PubMed. The text-only format could be convenient for users with wireless handheld devices and those with low-bandwidth connections in remote locations.
Year
DOI
Venue
2005
10.1186/1472-6947-5-5
BMC Med. Inf. & Decision Making
Keywords
Field
DocType
questionnaires,health informatics,efficiency,natural language,natural language processing,handheld device
Data mining,World Wide Web,Information retrieval,Computer science,Natural language user interface,Health informatics,MEDLINE,Plain language
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
5
1
1472-6947
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
18
1.29
1
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Paul Fontelo110513.37
Fang Liu27316.13
Michael Ackerman3305.68