The Core Clinical Journals (CCJ) list, produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), has been used by clinicians and librarians for half a century for two main purposes: narrowing a literature search to clinically useful journals and identifying high-priority titles for library collections. After documentation of low usage of the existing CCJ, a review was undertaken to assess current validity, followed by an update to current clinical needs.
An MLA-NLM joint committee, co-chaired by HSLS Librarians Michele Klein-Fedyshin and Andrea Ketchum (retired), conducted an in-depth analysis of the NLM’s Core Clinical Journals list, resulting in an updated list of 241 clinically useful titles covering 80 subjects, which the committee renamed the Clinically Useful Journals list.
Starting with an evaluation of what subjects the list needed to cover, journal usage at hundreds of clinical sites was incorporated with patient-driven indicators to designate subjects and then usage-selected journals. This new list has a wider focus encompassing more health care professions. Since the new list can push clinically used journals to the first pages of results, it has been renamed Clinically Useful Journals.
Healthcare providers and students can use the list to limit their database searches to the most clinically relevant journals. Librarians can use the data-driven list to create customized searches in PubMed for their institutional clinicians to apply; plus, it’s a tool for journal collection development. Search efficiency is very important to librarians and clinicians alike.
With 75%-80% of the physicians in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom searching PubMed, the potential increase in search efficiency from a clinically grounded journals filter is substantial. Time constraints present a major barrier to pursuing answers to clinical questions, especially when too much of the retrieved information is not clinically relevant. The time to select documents from a list of search results could be significantly reduced with the new filter, increasing the likelihood of evidence-informed care.
The results of this project can be used by a wide variety of healthcare professionals to quickly find information applicable to real-world clinical questions.
Read the full article from JMLA
Copy the code to save the CUJ list as a PubMed Custom Filter
If you have specific questions about using the filter, contact Michele Klein-Fedyshin.
~ Michele Klein-Fedyshin and Colleen Ashley