Is 'self-medication' a useful term to retrieve related publications in the literature? A systematic exploration of related terms.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Self-Medication (SM), i.e. using medications to treat oneself, is a major concern for health researchers and policy makers. The terms "self medication" or "self-medication" (SM terms) have been used to explain various concepts while several terms have also been employed to define this practice. Hence, retrieving relevant publications would require exhaustive literature screening. So, we assessed the current situation of SM terms in the literature to improve the relevancy of search outcomes.

Methods

In this Systematic exploration, SM terms were searched in the 6 following databases and publisher's portals till April 2012: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google scholar, ScienceDirect, and Wiley. A simple search query was used to include only publications with SM ter

SUBMITTER: Mansouri A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4416799 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature