Background: Small databases, such as Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) and Social Policy and Practice (SPP), can add value to systematic searches. Search strategies designed for large databases may not be appropriate in small sources. A different approach to translating strategies could ensure that small databases are searched efficiently.
Objectives: To establish the contribution HMIC and SPP made to public health guidelines (PHGs); and to recommend an efficient method of translating search strategies.
Methods: Eight PHGs were analysed to establish how many included publications were retrieved from HMIC and SPP. Six options for translating strategies from MEDLINE, using variations of free text and subject terms, were compared.
Results: Health Management Information Consortium contributed 15 and SPP eight of the 483 publications cited in the PHGs. The free-text only search was the one option to miss an included publication. The heading word (with truncation) option was more precise than applying subject headings.
Discussion: There is a risk of missing relevant publications in free-text only searches and it is preferable to include subject terms efficiently.
Conclusion: The heading word (with truncation) option did not miss the evidence included in the PHGs and was the most efficient method for translating MEDLINE to HMIC and SPP.
Keywords: database searching; information retrieval; review and systematic search; search strategies; subject headings.
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