IACUC Resources and Searching Tips

Searching for Alternatives: Alternatives Literature Searching

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recommends a database search as the most effective and efficient method for demonstrating compliance with the requirement to consider alternatives to painful/distressful procedures. (USDA, APHIS, Animal Care Policy #12: Consideration of Alternatives to Painful/Distressful Procedures)

-- From the National Agricultural Library's Alternatives Literature Searching page.

Databases via UH Manoa

Other Databases - Finding Alternatives

Search Strategy

A step-by-step guide to systematically identify all relevant animal studies provides detailed guidance for conducting a systematic review with databases.  It explains what to do, as well as how and why to do each step.  An extraction of the headings results in this briefly outlined strategy:

1. Formulate Research Question

Within animal research, a specific research question generally contains the following components: (1) intervention/exposure; (2) disease of interest/health problem; (3) animal/animal species/population studied; and (4) outcome measures. A well-formulated research question could then be: ‘What is the effect of [intervention/exposure] on [outcome measures] in [animal/animal species/population studied] for [disease of interest/health problem]?

2. Identify appropriate databases and other sources to search
3. Transform research question into search strategy (repeated for each database)
   • Split research question into critical search components (SC)
   • Identify relevant search terms for each SC 
     • MeSH terms, subject headings, or other controlled vocabulary
     • Free-text or natural language terms
   • Combine all relevant terms for an SC into a one search string using Boolean “OR” 
     • Note that low precision and many hits are common results for a comprehensive search strategy
     • Evaluate search results and adjust search terms as appropriate
     • Repeat for each database
   • Combine all SC search strings using Boolean “AND”
   • Evaluate search results and adjust terminology or limits as appropriate
     • “In order to be as complete as possible, it is quite usual to have 3000–5000 hits.”
   • Transfer search results into a reference manager program such as Endnote
4. Collect search results of all databases and remove duplicate citations
5. Identify potentially relevant papers
   • Perform a quick screening of title and abstract to exclude citations that are clearly irrelevant
   • Set criteria for study in- and exclusion for a secondary screening
     • Document reasons for removal of citations for transparency and future study review