Comparative evaluation of the performance of online databases in answering toxicology queries

摘要

An evaluation of toxicology information resources is reported, comparing commercial online databases and a specialised in-house database. A mixed qualitative/quantitative approach, using 10 test queries and detailed failure analysis was used. The main conclusions are: the in-house database is superior to any `general’ database in recall and precision; commercial databases are a useful complement, usually providing unique material; a range of databases should be used for good recall; for the commercial databases, complex search strategies are necessary, using the specific access points of each database; retrieval failures are due primarily to coverage, secondly to poor indexing of specific toxic effect.