1.
Introduction
The Hom-Inform
database is a searchable database of references to journal articles and books
on homoeopathy - subject terms have been assigned to these references and some
contain abstracts. The database was
developed in 1988 by the Academic Departments of Homoeopathic Medicine of
Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital under the supervision of Dr David Reilly and Mary
Gooch. For the first time a resource
was available which brought together the homoeopathic
literature in an easily searchable format similar to what had already been
available for the biomedical literature in the form of MEDLINE. Over the years the size and format of the
database has evolved and it now contains nearly 24,000 indexed references to
books and journal articles relating to homoeopathy. The Academic Departments are now proud to present a new version
of the database freely available for the first time on the internet.
2.
Contents of the Hom-Inform
Database
The database
contains indexed references to two types of material:
a) Books in the Glasgow
Homoeopathic Library up to the present
Books in the Faculty of Homoeopathy Library in London (up to
1993)
b)
Journal
articles which appear in journals relating to homoeopathy and complementary medicine
held by the Glasgow Homoeopathic Library and some additional articles held by
the British Library only which have been sourced from the AMED/CATS database.
The Glasgow Homoeopathic Library book catalogue can be accessed in the database
search screen by choosing Book from the Document
Type field box and choosing Glasgow Homoeopathic Library from the Location field box.
The following list represents runs of journals held by the
Glasgow Homoeopathic Library and which have been indexed on the Hom-Inform
database. (This list does not cover every journal reference on the database, as
there are also individual references to articles appearing in journals not held
by the Glasgow Homoeopathic Library.)
Journal titles appear in the database in an abbreviated form which can
be seen by browsing the word wheel in the Source
field box. Journal titles can only
be searched using these abbreviated forms.
Advent of Homoeopathy 1991, 1994-
Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung 1985-
Alternative and Complementary Therapies 1995-
Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 1995-
American Homoeopath 1994-
Archiv für Homoöpathie 1992-1997
Berlin Journal of Research in Homoeopathy 1990-1991
Biological Therapy 1989-1997
Biomedical Therapy 1997-
British Homoeopathic Journal 1911-
Cahiers de Biotherapie 1987-
CCRH Quarterly Bulletin 1988-
Classical Homoeopathy Quarterly 1988-
Communications of the British Homoeopathy Research Group 1984-
Complementary Medical Research 1987-1992
Complementary Therapies in Medicine 1993-
Complementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery 1995-
European Journal of Classical Homoeopathy 1996
Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies 1996-
Forschende Komplementarmedizin 1994-
German Journal of Homoeopathy 1989-1990
Hahnemannian Gleanings 1974-1984
Hahnemannian Homoeopathic Sandesh 1984-
Hahnemannian 1984-1990
Health and Homoeopathy 1991-
Health through Homoeopathy 1943-1947
Homéopathie Européenne 1993-
Homéopathie Fran?aise 1983-1992
Homeopathy Today (US) 1991-
Homeotherapy 1974-1984
HomInt R & D Newsletter 1990-
Homoeopath 1981-
Homoeopathic Heritage 1987-
Homoeopathy International 1987-
Homoeopathic Links 1991-
Homoeopathic World 1908-1935
Homoeopathy 1932-1942,
1951-
Homoeopathy Today (UK) 1987-1991
Indian Journal of Homoeopathic Medicine 1984-
International Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 1988-
International Journal of Veterinary Homoeopathy 1986-1989
Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 1995-
Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy 1965-
Journal of the LMHI 1987-1994
Journal of the OMHI 1988-1990
Midlands Homoeopathy Research Group Newsletter 1979-1984
New England Journal of Homoeopathy 1993-
Positive Health 1996-
Resonance 1994-1999
Revue Belge dHoméopathie 1989-
Simile 1991-
Simillimum 1994-
Zeitschrift für Klassische Homöopathie 1986-
The database is updated every 3 months.
4. Some
Search Hints
The All Terms field
The purpose of using a controlled set of key terms in the indexing process is
to allow material on a given concept to be retrieved always under one term thus
eliminating the uncertainty which synonyms pose, e.g. cancer and tumour are
synonyms for neoplasms, but all citations relating to these concepts in the
Hom-Inform database can be retrieved by entering neoplasms in the All Terms
field rather than the synonyms. It is
important to be aware of the appropriate keyterm for a concept in order to
maximise retrieval on this concept.
Browsing the Word Wheel in All Terms allows you to see which keyterms have been allocated and will
give you an idea of the best search terms to use. However the following table offers a few hints as to what terms
should be used to search for items on certain topics. The left-hand column relates to a topic or concept which people
commonly search for, and the right-hand column lists the controlled standard
indexing and search terms which should be applied to search for a citation on
that topic or concept.
|
CONCEPT |
STANDARD SEARCH TERM |
|
homoeopathy |
homeopathy |
|
cancer |
neoplasms |
|
allergies |
hypersensitivity |
|
childbirth |
pregnancy
OR labor |
|
cardiac
disease |
heart
dis |
|
stroke |
cerebrovascular
disorders |
|
AIDS |
acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome |
|
dentistry |
tooth
dis OR mouth dis |
|
oestrogen |
estrogen |
|
oedema
|
edema |
|
children |
child
OR infant |
Using the All Fields field box is perhaps the easiest way to do a search of
the database if not the most sophisticated.
It allows you to do searches unrestricted to a specific field any
search criteria (e.g., author; title; keyword; year) can be entered in this box
and the program will undertake what is called a free text search, i.e. it
searches for the search criteria throughout every field in the database. Terms or words can be combined in this
field: / is used to carry out an OR
search, e.g. asthma/ecezma searches
for all records which contain either the words asthma or eczema; & is used to carry out an AND search, e.g. asthma&eczema searches for all records which contain both the
words asthma and eczema.
Use the above to conduct more complex
searches when you want to combine one or more separate fields. See the program specific help for more
details on how to use these.
Hom-Inform endeavours to keep up-to-date
with new research in homoeopathy and realises that many users of the database
are especially interested in finding out about clinical trials of
homoeopathy. Clinical trials on humans
and with a control group have been very carefully indexed and the best way to
retrieve them is to enter controlled clinical trial into the All Fields box. To find other clinical trials enter
clinical trials.
5.
Document Delivery Service
Hom-Inform also operates a document delivery service. Articles can be ordered by e-mailing your request to Hom-Inform
from the search results page. Details
of our charges can be seen on our website http://www.hom-inform.org
under Charges.