Health Information Retrieval -- State of the art report

Abstract

This report provides an overview of the field of Information Retrieval (IR) in healthcare. It does not aim to introduce general concepts and theories of IR but to present and describe specific aspects of Health Information Retrieval (HIR). After a brief introduction to the more broader field of IR, the significance of HIR at current times is discussed. Specific characteristics of Health Information, its classification and the main existing representations for health concepts are described together with the main products and services in the area (e.g.: databases of health bibliographic content, health specific search engines and others). Recent research work is discussed and the most active researchers, projects and research groups are also presented. Main organizations and journals are also identified.