I’ve added a category to the right-hand column of the Ouroboros main page: “Links: Search”.

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to filter the literature. For scientists attempting to keep abreast of relevant knowledge, efficient search is necessary — though certainly not sufficient; even the best modern search tools either yield an unacceptably high false-positive rate (i.e., results that aren’t really of interest) or require a large investment of time and effort in order to tune searches for the needs of a specific user.

Search is improving, however, and I enjoy playing with the newest technologies. I’ve been a longtime adherent of HubMed, which is simply a better skin for PubMed. Lately I’ve been enjoying the intuitive interface of novo|seek, which allows the user to rapidly configure their search based on a group of related concepts, which the search engine delivers automatically based on the initial query terms.

So I’ve started a list of useful or otherwise noteworthy search tools. Check them out, share your thoughts, and let us know whether you’ve got a favorite that’s not already listed.