The best practice guide was written by Carol Hollier.
Carol worked as Senior Information and Literacy Outreach Manager at IFIS Publishing, before leaving in 2023 to join the University of Iowa Sciences Library as Sciences Reference and Outreach Librarian. Before joining IFIS, Carol worked in instruction librarian roles for over 10 years at universities in the US and UK. She holds a Master’s in Library and Information Science, a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Literature searching can be a frustrating experience. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of information available,
and yet hard to find relevant reliable information to support your research needs. You will be aware of the potential impact of missing relevant research, including wasted time, wasted investment and even risks to consumers.
Whether you need information to:
you need the information you base your decisions on to be up-to-date and trustworthy.
Through explanatory notes and practical, step-by-step guidance, we aim to help you understand how to effectively plan and carry out your literature searches. This guide will teach you how to design a search that captures all the literature you need, then leverage that search to continue delivering the updates you need.
Author
Carol Hollier, IFIS' former in-house Senior Information Literacy and Outreach Manager
Peer reviewers and contributors
The guide is based on the Best Practice for Literature Searching For the Sciences of Food and Health.
Dr Helena Korjonen (University of Luxembourg) and Dr Mina Kalantar (Food Research & Regulatory Consultant) contributed to the original guide, and it was reviewed by the FSTA advisory board comprising eminent researchers worldwide in the sciences of food and health.
We plan to update this guide regularly as resources and techniques evolve. Please feel free to tell us what you think or to suggest additional material. Get in touch with us at support@ifis.org.