A systematic literature search of clinical research in Malaysia on diabetes mellitus, obesity, smoking and sense organ dysfunctions
Cheong Lieng TENG. MMed (Fam Med). Professor, Department of Family Medicine, International Medical University, Malaysia. Email: tengcl@gmail.com
ZUHANARIAH Mohd Nordin. MSc Info Sc & Lib Studies (Strath). Chief Librarian, International Medical University, Malaysia
Introduction
This article describes the search methods of this bibliography. The search methods follow a previous
bibliography (Bibliography of Clinical Research in Malaysia) published partly as a supplement in Medical Journal of Malaysia (2014 Volume 69 Suppl A). The preparation of this bibliography is funded by a grant from National Clinical Research Centre to International Medical University (Project ID No. IMU R 150/2014). The project leader is Professor CL Teng. Searchers were made by CL Teng, Zuhanariah Mohd Nordin, Goh Cheng Chun, Ng Chun Sien and Sivasangari Subramaniam.
Search methods
The search methods will be briefly described here. For a more complete description, kindly refer to the following reference: Teng CL, Zuhanariah MN, Ng CS, et al. Bibliography of clinical research in Malaysia: methods and brief results. Med J Malaysia 2014;69 Suppl A:4-7
http://www.e-mjm.org/2014/supplement-A/bibliography-of-clinical-research-in-Malaysia.pdf
A search was conducted on the following:
1. Bibliographic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and other databases) using search terms that maximize the retrieval of Malaysian publications;
2. Malaysian health-related journals; 3. Google and Google Scholar;
4. Malaysian and foreign institutional repositories;
5. Ministry of Health and Clinical Research Centre websites.
Coverage of this bibliography
As per funder request, this bibliography includes four topics, as follow:
a. Diabetes mellitus. In view of the large number of items (n=689), this topic is divided into the seven parts.
i. Diabetes mellitus, type 2 [Mesh term: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2] ii. Diabetes mellitus, type 1 [Mesh term: Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1]
iii. Gestational diabetes and diabetes in pregnancy [Mesh term: Diabetes, Gestational] iv. Diabetic nephropathy [Mesh term: Diabetic Nephropathies]
v. Diabetic neuropathy [Mesh term: Diabetic Neuropathies] vi. Diabetic retinopathy [Mesh term: Diabetic Retinopathy] vii. Diabetic foot [Mesh term: Diabetic Foot]
b. Obesity (n=297) [Mesh term: Obesity; Obesity, Abdominal; Overweight]
c. Smoking (n=298) [Mesh term: Smoking; Smoking Cessation, Tobacco Use Disorder] d. Sense organ dysfunctions (n=75). This topic is divided into two parts
i. Hearing loss [Mesh term: Deafness; Hearing Aids; Hearing Loss; Hearing Loss, Conductive; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural]
ii. Vision disorder [Mesh term: Blindness; Reflective Errors; Vision Disorders]
The publication years included were 2000-2014 (last search date 28 Dec 2014). We have included conference proceedings (but not conference abstracts), relevant theses/dissertation, books/book chapters, reports and clinical practice guidelines. Where available, link to free full text is provided.
Naming conventions for journal titles and authors
We used PubMed abbreviated journal title where available; for non-PubMed journals, we used the full journal name unless an abbreviated journal title from the publisher is available.
For authors’ name, we used the following naming style:
2. Authors without surnames: First name, followed by initials of other names (e.g. Noor Zurani MHR for “Noor Zurani Md Haris Robson”, Sivalingam N for “Sivalingam Nalliah”)
3. Where it is uncertain, the last name is used, followed by initials of other names.
4. Honorifics (e.g. Dato’) and part of name indicating relationships (a/l, a/p, anak, bin, binte) are excluded.
Limitations
