Attention, researchers! Evidence Synthesis Essentials: A Three-Part Instructional Series 

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Are you considering undertaking a systematic review or another type of evidence synthesis, but you do not know where to start? Are you currently working on a review and need a refresher? If so, your Library is here to help.

The Library’s instruction team has adapted the single “Introduction to Systematic Reviews” session into a more digestible series this spring. This 3-part series will guide you through the entire evidence synthesis process: from PICO question formulation and protocol development to systematic searching techniques to data extraction and synthesis. We will highlight databases and tools to assist you and streamline your project.  

If you are interested, click on the links below to register for individual sessions. If you cannot attend the sessions, you can still register so that you will receive the recordings.

Evidence Synthesis Essentials, Part 1: From PICO to Protocol

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

1 – 2 p.m.

Evidence Synthesis Essentials, Part 2: Systematic Searching Techniques

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

1 – 2 p.m.

Evidence Synthesis Essentials, Part 3: Screening, Extracting, and Synthesis

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

1 – 2 p.m.

New antique medicine display at Outpatient Clinic

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At the beginning of each year, staff in the Special Collections Library & Archives exchange the items on display in the Outpatient Building on West Campus, and our newest exhibit features selections of antique medicine cases and medicines from our Medical Artifacts Collection. Several pieces were previously displayed in the main library, but by moving these items to the Outpatient Building, we are able to share the archives with more of our campus community.

Additional open access opportunities for UT Southwestern authors

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Two publishers have adopted a Subscribe to Open (S2O) model for their primary research journals, starting in 2025. Through this model, when a library renews its journal subscriptions, an institution’s authors are able to publish in it without incurring article processing charges (APCs).

The specific publishers we are highlighting today are as follows:

  • American Physiological Society: UT Southwestern corresponding authors may publish articles in one of the society’s 10 primary research journals with no APCs, and the published articles will be published as open access.
  • American Society for Microbiology: The S2O model has been adopted for the society’s six primary research journals, and UT Southwestern authors will benefit from uncapped open access publishing without incurring APCs. Page charges and supplemental material fees will apply, but discounts are available for authors courtesy of the Library’s current subscription.

Please note: If enough libraries renew subscriptions under this model, the journals are converted to open in their entirety for all readers. If not, the access to the journals remains restricted to subscribing institutions.

For more information or to review other open access opportunities, please see the Library’s APC Guide.

New illustration exhibit in the Library

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The Library’s exhibit space now features a selection of books, illustrations, and art focused on medicine and doctors. The works span two centuries and come from several of the archive’s collections, including the History of Medicine Collection, the Biomedical Communications Collection, and the Medical Artifacts Collection. The pieces on display are not only reference works; some also capture the public’s view of doctors and the field of medicine, contemporary to the time they were created.

The pieces meant for training include human figures from France in the 19th century, oil painting and charcoal works by our own Lewis Waters that capture human anatomy, and depictions of surgical procedures. There are also hand-drawn illustrations from local news cartoonists of the 1940s through the 1960s, prints from French caricature artists, and prints from Vanity Fair’s series on the important men and women of science.

Start using First Aid Forward!

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The Library is beginning a new subscription in 2025 to McGraw Hill’s First Aid Forward, which is an interactive learning resource that leverages the First Aid book content students have relied on for decades, in a digital platform. Trial access to the platform has been enabled through January 31, 2025, while the subscription terms are being negotiated.

To get started, users will need to create a personal account using the following instructions:

  1. Click on the registration link for First Aid Forward: Step 1 or First Aid Forward: Step 2.
  2. Follow the prompts to create or sign into your account. Important: Use your utsouthwestern.edu email address.
  3. You will be sent a “magic link” via email.
  4. Click on the “magic link” to sign into First Aid Forward. You now have access!
  5. If you would like access to both Step 1 and Step 2, repeat steps #1-4 using the other registration link to add the second product to your account. You will then be able to toggle between them from the First Aid Forward home page.

Library acquires Scopus AI

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The Library is pleased to announce that it has acquired Scopus AI. An add-on to the existing multidisciplinary Scopus database, this generative AI (GenAI) tool minimizes hallucinations and bias by only searching Scopus’ peer-reviewed and vetted content searches from 2003. The Scopus database covers more than 27,800+ peer-reviewed journals and 330,000+ books from over 7,000 scholarly publishers, as well as 50,000 open access (OA) publishers and OA repositories, and records from MEDLINE and EMBASE.

Scopus AI synthesizes abstracts from relevant documents to generate a Topic Summary and an Expanded Summary. It also identifies emerging themes, foundational papers and topic experts and generates concept maps. Scopus AI explains how it searched the Scopus database, includes references, indicates its confidence level in the relevancy of the response and suggests “go deeper” questions.

This resource is a great starting point for exploring topics and identifying potential areas of growth for research and funding. To learn more, visit Scopus AI FAQs or register for the January 30th 12 p.m. Scopus AI Library class.

New Year’s Resolutions Reminders

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Happy New Year! As we look ahead to 2025, here are a few notes and reminders:

  • UpToDate – To retain uninterrupted access to UpToDate Anywhere, you must re-verify your UTSW affiliation once every 90 days. 
  • Wiley APCs – UT Southwestern authors have fully utilized the 2024 maximum number of articles to be published at no charge in a Wiley or Hindawi fully open access journal or hybrid journal. But there is good news: the balance resets on January 1, 2025!
  • Author Profiles – Are your researcher profiles current in ORCID, Scopus, and Web of Science? These profiles function as persistent identifiers for you and will follow you throughout your career, increase the visibility of your scholarly activities to grant funders and potential collaborators, and improve the accuracy of your author level metrics.
  • Test Preparation – Did you know there are UT Southwestern test preparation resources available for residents/fellows, medical students, advanced practice providers and nurses?

Favorite Library “stocking stuffers”

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Don’t forget your favorite stocking stuffers from the Library:

·    Access the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review or Fortune for free with our institutional subscriptions.

·    BrowZine is an app for Apple or Android smart phones and devices that helps you flip through the scholarly electronic journals available through UT Southwestern Medical Center.

·    LibKey Nomad brings the Library’s journal holdings to wherever you are searching, both on- and off-campus.

·    Read & Publish Agreements demonstrate how the Library supports open access publishing. Participating publishers include Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Sage Premier, Wiley, and many more.

·    Upgrade to EndNote 21 to help manage bibliographic citations.

·    Brush up on your research skills and sign up for a class.

Take an Archives tour!

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Ever wondered how archival items are stored? Want to look at a book from the 1500s? Simply want to learn more about the university’s history? All three are great reasons to take a tour of the archives (including the rare book room), which are available by appointment with staff in the Special Collections Library and University Archives. The archivists can even pull specific items that you’d like to view ahead of the tour, so they are ready when you arrive. To request a tour or learn more, email archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

Answers to October 2024 Library and Archives Trivia Contest

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Out of the 423 entries received, we had one perfect score! Congratulations Ishrat Durdana! We had a tie for runner-up, Teri Lipscomb and Austin Matheis both only missed one. Thanks to all who participated! 

  • The UT Southwestern Library was founded in 1943. 
  • Southwestern Medical College was started by Dr. Edward H. Cary. 
  • The UT Southwestern Library’s Website can be accessed by all of the above. (Services Tab, Education & Training Tab on UTSW website, UTSW Clinical Portal, Google search by name)
  • You can get help from all of the above. (Ask Us link, Library FAQs section, and In Person Library assistance M-F, 9AM-4PM)
  • There are 9 librarians on staff at the UT Southwestern Library. 
  • The services offered by the library were all of the above. (Interlibrary Loan, exam proctoring, classroom reservations, and on-campus print services)
  • The oldest book in the Archives was published in the 16th Century. 
  • There were 1733 article requests for our Interlibrary Loan Unit that were filled in FY2024. 
  • The temperature setting of the archives is 63 degrees Fahrenheit. 
  • Our ILL Unit borrowed 485 items from other institutions for our patrons in FY 2024. 
  • Our library ILL services invoices can be paid by all of the above methods. (Check, Interdepartmental Request, and Credit Card)
  • We had 1436 document delivery requests filled for patrons in FY 2024. 
  • Writing a Literature Review is the most popular Library class.
  • In FY24, the Library had 920,437 books in all formats(e.g., print, electronic, audiovisual, etc.).
  • As an author, I can create profiles to manage my publications and scholarly activities in all of the above. (My Bibliography, ORCID, Scopus, and Web of Science)
  • Violet Baird began the Archives for the University. 
  • The Library’s most popular point-of-care resource is UpToDate. 
  • The Library subscribes to all of the above USMLE and Board Preparation resources (BoardVitals, StatPearls, and USMLE First Aid).
  • All of the above were new additions to the Library this year (Privacy Pods, Acoustic Tiles, New Carpet, and New Patterson Exhibit Space).  
  • The Library’s most popular subject guide in FY24 was the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guide.