A colleague who is starting out in prior art searching for pharma & biotech
patents would like to know what is considered 'best practice' in terms of
databases for prior art searching . In other words, which are the
essential databases to cover and which hosts provide the best search tools
? For example, after searching CAS on STN, is it really necessary to do a
complementary search on Derwent WPI ? One of the concerns here is
money & getting value for money.
As he comes from a scientific background, not an information professional
one, arguments such as 'in-depth indexing' or 'access points' do not mean
much to him. (Another difficulty is for someone who is used to 'free' use
of Medline to understand why searching patent information databases costs
significantly more.)
What would be useful would be an objective & in-depth comparison of several
searches carried out on various databases & on various hosts, - in
particular, a comparion of generic structure searching using CAS Marpat and
MMS. Does anyone know of published articles on this topic ?
If you feel it's useful, I'll summarize for the list. Thanks for your
help,
regards,
Nicole Gullu-Isler
Information Services, Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute
**********************************************************************
The information in this e.mail and any attachments is confidential and
is intended for the addressee only. Reading, copying, disclosure or
use by anybody else is not authorised. The contents do not represent
the opinion of Ares-Serono S.A. or any of its affiliates except to the
extent that it relates to their official business. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this message and any attachments and
advise the sender by return e.mail.
**********************************************************************