Matching MEDLINE/PubMed Data with Web of Science (WoS): A Routine in R language

Abstract

We present a novel routine, namely medlineR, based on R-language, that enables the user to match data from MEDLINE/PubMed with records indexed in the ISI Web of Science (WoS) database. The matching allows exploiting the rich and controlled vocabulary of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of MEDLINE/PubMed with additional fields of WoS. The integration provides data (e.g. citation data, list of cited reference, full list of the addresses of authors' host organisations, WoS subject categories) to perform a variety of scientometric analyses. This brief communication describes medlineR, the methodology on which it relies, and the steps the user should follow to perform the matching across the two databases. In order to specify the differences from Leydesdorff and Opthof (2013), we conclude the brief communication by testing the routine on the case of the "Burgada Syndrome".