Levy Library Blog

Starting in June 2022, My NCBI account holders will be required to log in through one of the many listed federated account credentials. 

 If you have an My NCBI account and have not yet linked a 3rd party login to your My NCBI account, we encourage you to retire your username and password. For more information and to learn how to update your account, you can watch the My NCBI Password Retirement Update & Wizard Demonstration.

How to create/ log into your My NCBI Account

Creating or logging into an existing MyNCBI account begins with clicking the "Log In" box in the upper right-hand corner of PubMed. 

In order to create a new MyNCBI account, or to log into your existing account, you must use a "third-party login." Third party logins or federated credentials are credentials (username, password) you use on other sites such as Google, NIH, eRA Commons, ORCID, Login.gov, or Facebook. 

Existing Account: If you already have a MyNCBI account, you will be prompted to associate your account with a third-party login of your choice. Once associated, your MyNCBI username & password will be retired. 

New Account: When creating a new account, you will be asked to select from a list of third-party login options with which to associate your new account. 

ISMMS Institutional Sign-In: If you have an active ISMMS Google Suite account, you may select "more login options" at the bottom of the list and search for "Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai." You may then use your ISMMS Google account to login to your MyNCBI account. This option is only available for ISMMS users with Icahn Google Suite accounts. 

Login.gov Option: Alternatively, if you don't have an existing third party account, you can sign up for a Login.gov account which allows you to login securely across several government agency websites. Simply use select "Login.gov" from the list of third-party options and click "Create an Account." 

Once you have either created or re-authenticated your MyNCBI account with a third-party login option, you may use all of the exciting tools that MyNCBI has to offer!

For more information about NCBI account change, please visit one of the links below:

• NCBI Insights Blog: My NCBI Login Requirements
• NCBI Account Login Changes FAQs

To learn more about using NCBI, visit the library's PubMed Research Support Guide. 

Linda Paulls, MLIS 

Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Librarian

Consumer health information is information on health topics and medical conditions available to the general public at the layperson level, usually written in non-technical language. It’s estimated that 70% of U.S. adults search the web for health information.¹ Online information can influence health beliefs and health decision-making. Unfortunately, not all health websites are credible, accurate, or up-to-date. With so many seeking online health information, some less-than-credible or opportunistic websites can attempt to influence information-seekers for their own gain, rather than offer unbiased, evidence-based information. Some of these websites offer opinions not facts, while others are motivated by a sponsor or business with the goal of promoting something.

So, how can information-seekers identify a credible website from a bad website? Luckily, there is criteria for evaluating consumer health websites, sometimes referred to as the ABC’s of evaluating consumer health websites:

• Accuracy: Information should be based on facts from medical research, not opinion. Authors’ email address(es)/contact info, and credentials should be provided. Is this person qualified to write on this topic? Sources for factual information should be listed.
• Authority: Who created the website? Check the “About us” page. Check the website’s URL. The web address can provide information about the nature of the site. Websites from the U.S. government (.gov), a university (.edu), and health organizations or professional societies (.org) are considered reputable with no financial gain. In addition, author’s credentials and affiliations should be listed to demonstrate that he or she can write with authority on the topic.
• Bias/Objectivity: Information should be objective and free of bias. Is the purpose and intention of the site clear? There should be no advertisements, no marketing. Blogs are opinion-based, not reliable, authoritative sources.
• Currency: Is the information current? The date the website was last updated should be listed. If it contains links, are they up-to-date? 
• Coverage/Design: Is the site well-designed? It should be free of broken links, typos, spelling errors. These could be indicators that the site is not maintained, not up-to-date, or not from a credible source. You should be able to view information without fees or browser issues. 

  

Many consumer health websites choose to abide by the Health-on-the-Net Code (HON). The HONcode Symbol represents the code of conduct of the Health On the Net Foundation, one of the most widely used and best trusted ethical codes for consumer health websites. It is still advisable to evaluate website content even when the HONcode symbol is present.

For more information on evaluating consumer health websites, visit:

• The Levy Library Guide: Consumer Health Information, A Brief Guide: https://libguides.mssm.edu/consumer-health-information

• Medical Library Association (MLA): For Consumers and Patients, Find Good Health Information:  https://www.mlanet.org/page/find-good-health-information

• (National Library of Medicine) MedlinePlus: Guide to Healthy Web Surfing: https://medlineplus.gov/healthywebsurfing.html       

• AmericanFamilyDoctor.org: Finding Information on the Web, Finding Reliable Information: https://familydoctor.org/health-information-on-the-web-finding-reliable-information/?adfree=true

References

1. Sun Y, Zhang Y, Gwizdka J, Trace CB. Consumer evaluation of the quality of online health information: Systematic literature review of relevant criteria and indicators. J Med Internet Res. 2019 May;21(5): e12522. Available from DOI: 10.2196/12522

2. Kapoun, J. Teaching undergrads web evaluation: a guide for library instruction. C&RL News. 1998 July/August: 522-523. [cited 2021Nov4]. Available from https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/23707/31079

3. For health consumers and patients: find good health information [Internet] Medical Library Association (MLA); 2021 [cited 2021 Nov4]. Available from https://www.mlanet.org/page/find-good-health-information

4. Guide to healthy web surfing [Internet] MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine; 2015 [cited 2021Nov4]. Available from https://medlineplus.gov/healthywebsurfing.html

5. The commitment to reliable health and medical information on the internet [Internet] HonCode patient/individual. Health on the Net; 2018 [cited 2021 Nov4] Available from https://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Patients/Visitor/visitor.html

Lily Martin, MLIS (She/her/hers)

Reference & Instruction Librarian

If you’re involved in publishing your research, you may be required (or prefer!) to publish open access (OA). Over the past decade, as open access publishing models have evolved, various subtypes of open access have been identified. These are often referred to by a range of colors, gems, or precious metals and can be a bit tricky to differentiate. Let’s take a look at some of the most common subtypes of open access and where you may come across them:

Gold OA:

One of the most common types of open access is referred to as gold OA. Publishing in this model typically involves paying article processing charges (APCs) which may be paid by (or in combination by) library/institutional funds, personal funds, or grants. This ensures that the final version of record of an article (that is, a final, peer-reviewed manuscript) is freely available upon publication at the journal’s website. If all of a journal’s content fits this model it is referred to as a gold OA journal.¹

Green OA:

Another common type of open access, green OA, is a bit more difficult to define as it may cover several different cases, but in general refers to versions of articles self-archived in an open access repository.² In other words, green OA may be a version of an article that is posted somewhere other than a journal website. Examples include accepted author manuscripts posted on PubMed Central, pre-prints posted on a pre-print server, or manuscripts posted on an institutional repository. Green OA, in many cases, requires authors to be responsible for depositing a version of an article in an open access repository.¹ However, the final version of record of the article will typically be behind a paywall on a journal’s website.

Diamond OA:

Diamond OA refers to a type of gold OA that does not require article processing charges or subscription fees. In effect, diamond OA journals are free for both readers and authors. Funding for these journals comes from outside sources, such as non-profit organizations, public funds, or elsewhere.³

Bronze OA:

Bronze OA refers to articles that are made free to read on a publisher website. This access may be temporary, however, as it is not guaranteed by author payment or contract.⁴ An example of bronze OA you may have seen recently is a journal making its COVID-19-related content open and accessible to everyone.

Hybrid OA:

At the journal level, some traditional subscription journals also give authors to option to publish individual articles open access. These are referred to as hybrid OA journals. Generally, in these types of journals, individual open access papers (paid for by APCs) appear alongside paywalled articles that the library provides access to via licensing fees.²

This is just a brief overview of the many colors of the OA rainbow, and as OA continues to evolve, these definitions may change. We may even see more OA models develop in the future!

Interested in learning more about your open access publishing options? Visit our Open Access Guide!

References

1. Holley RP. Open Access: Current Overview and Future Prospects. Library Trends. 2018;67(2):214-40.
2. Hinchliffe, LJ. Seeking Sustainability: Publishing Models for an Open Access Age. [Internet] The Scholarly Kitchen; 2020 [cited 6 October 2021]. Available from: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2020/04/07/seeking-sustainability-publishing-models-for-an-open-access-age/
3. Fuchs C, Sandoval M. The Diamond Model of Open Access Publishing: Why Policy Makers, Scholars, Universities, Libraries, Labour Unions and the Publishing World Need to Take Non-Commercial, Non-Profit Open Access Serious. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society. 2013;11(2):428-43.
4. Piwowar H, Priem J, Larivière V, Alperin JP, Matthias L, Norlander B, et al. The state of OA: a large-scale analysis of the prevalence and impact of Open Access articles. PeerJ. 2018;6:e4375.

Samantha Walsh, MLS, MA (She/her/hers)

Manager of Information & Education Services

Did you know that many of the educational sessions offered by your Levy Librarians are recorded and available on our YouTube channel? Whether you can’t make the live session or just need a quick refresh on a topic, these videos are available on-demand to help you navigate library resources & further your research!

Check out these three videos: 

Review Types: Selecting the Right Review Methodology for Your Research Question

--> https://youtu.be/tjC_7PWVDcY 

Are you overwhelmed with the sheer amount of review types out there in the research literature? Don't understand the difference between systematic and scoping reviews? Recently heard of integrative reviews but are clueless as to what they entail? Join Librarian Carrie Levinson for a 60-minute session on the most popular review types, including literature/narrative, systematic, scoping, integrative, and rapid reviews. Each review type is defined and differentiated from the rest so that you can determine which review is most appropriate for your topic.

Searching the New PubMed

--> https://youtu.be/Wx8xqhzop8Q 

Launched in 2020, the redesigned PubMed has many features that even experienced PubMed searches may benefit from exploring! Join Librarian Lily Martin as she introduces the new display, navigation, and output features now available. The session then goes beyond new features to provide a refresher on PubMed best practices, including searching and working with search results.

How to Build a Search

--> https://youtu.be/5KW5Zd8DDso 

Beginning with an information need and concluding with a comprehensive search query, this quick 30-minute session will give you the tools you need to create an effective search strategy. While we focus on PubMed, the session is designed so that the skills learned may be used on any bibliographic database or search engine. Librarian Samantha Walsh goes over Boolean search operators (AND, OR, NOT), parentheses, asterisks, quotation marks, and using the Search Builder on PubMed's advanced search page to build a robust search strategy.

Browse our YouTube channel

Carrie Levinson, MSLIS (She/her/hers)

Reference & Instruction Librarian, Mount Sinai West & Mount Sinai Morningside

Many researchers decide that they want to utilize a test, survey or questionnaire as part of their research project. Putting together a research instrument can be daunting, however: What questions should be asked? What scale should be used? How should reliability and validity be measured?

Since there are many such tools already out there, sometimes the answer might just be to reuse an existing instrument that another research team has developed. This presents another problem, however: how do we find these ready-made instruments?

Enter two databases we have at the Levy Library: PsycTESTS and Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI). Both of these resources provide access to descriptions of tests, surveys, inventories, scales, measures, and questionnaires that fall under psychology, health, and related fields.

PsycTESTS

PsycTESTS allows users to not only find instruments, but also gives them a detailed description of them, including:

• The article the instrument was described in
• What kind of instrument it is (inventory, questionnaire, etc.)
• Format (e.g. Likert scale)
• Permissions and fee information
• Reliability, validity, and factor analysis
• Demographic/population
• Language(s) available

PsycTESTS sometimes provides the full text of the instruments themselves, which can include PDFs and multimedia files.

HAPI

HAPI provides information including:

• The source of the instrument
• Response options
• Sample items
• Number of questions
• Reliability and validity

Measures found in HAPI can be used for a variety of purposes, including studies, grant proposals, patient assessment, and program evaluation.

Why reinvent the wheel? The next time you need a survey or questionnaire, check out one or both of these resources to see if there’s one you can use! Need help navigating PsycTESTS or HAPI? Our librarians are always happy to help – just contact us at refdesk@mssm.edu or through our Ask-a-Librarian service.

Samantha Walsh, Manager of Information & Education Services

You may want to see if there are clinical studies that focus on healthcare disparities in your own area of interest. A combination of Boolean operators and PubMed filters can make this quick and easy!

First, access PubMed via the Levy Library homepage. You’ll see a link listed under “Popular Tools.” Next, run a search for (disparities OR disparity OR inequalities OR inequality).

There should be over 100,000 results. You’ve basically just searched for any records in PubMed that contain any of these four terms. Next, we want to limit to Clinical Studies. On the left-hand side of your screen, locate the Article Type filter. You most likely won’t see Clinical Study listed underneath, therefore you should click Additional Filters at the bottom of this column. On the pop-up, check off “Clinical Study” so that this filter appears under Article Type on your main screen. Once you click it on the search results page, your results should narrow significantly, and be comprised of mainly clinical studies & trials. 

Note: You may be wondering why you don’t need to invoke all of the study filters you see, such as “Clinical Trial Phase III” or “Observational Study.” This is due to the hierarchical, tree structure of these tags. By invoking the broad “Clinical Study” filter, you are actually searching all of the study types nested below it in the hierarchy. 

           

You’ll want to add keywords to narrow this search down to your own area of interest. You’ll do this by adding to your original keyword search using the Boolean operator AND. For example, return to the search bar at the top of the page and type AND (ovarian cancer OR gynecologic cancer OR cervical cancer). Add any synonyms that you can think of, connecting them with the operator OR. Your final search should look something like this: (disparities OR disparity OR inequalities OR inequality) AND (ovarian cancer OR gynecologic cancer OR cervical cancer).

Finally, be sure you’re sorting by Best Match. This will ensure that the most relevant studies come to the top of your results list. 

For more information on searching PubMed, visit our guide or schedule a consultation with a librarian!

Gali Halevi, MLS, PhD

Associate Dean of Libraries and Information Sciences

I am a well-known documentaries enthusiast. I find them to be informative and insightful. The main streaming channels like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and others have plenty to offer but they each require a subscription. Lately, I began to look for documentaries that are legally free to watch and do not infringe on copyrights and found a few good options. 

A simple Google search for “free documentaries” has a curated list of documentaries organized by topics. Each movie option lists all the channels where it is available to watch, including those that are free of charge:

Top Documentaries Films has a vast collection of free-to-watch documentaries. Organized by topics, this site makes it easy to browse which films are new or most popular:

Documentary Heaven has a big collection of free documentaries that are free to watch. Also organized by category and rankings, this easy-to-navigate site will help you find your next documentary to watch:

Finally, Documentary Tube includes a wide variety of full-length documentaries covering twenty-two categories:

What's your favorite documentary available for free? Let us know on Twitter!