Training, support and events

The Medical Library is offering workshops on open access in the English language and in German. Current dates are to be found in the calendar of events.

Aimed at: The workshop is aimed at authors and anyone interested in the publishing landscape.

Content: Predatory journals publish articles and charge publication fees without ensuring adequate quality assurance procedures (peer review). Moreover, articles in predatory journals are often not indexed in the relevant subject databases, thus remaining hidden from the community and infrequently cited. The recent report of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) 'Combatting Predatory Academic Journals and Conferences'  reveals that more than 15,000 predatory journals exist, and the number is increasing.

The broad spectrum of behavior in predatory journals ranges from questionable and unethical to truly fraudulent practices. As methods become more sophisticated, it is increasingly difficult to identify predatory journals.

We will show you in our workshop how to spot predatory practices before submitting your manuscript.

Were / are you unsure about how reputable a particular journal is? Please bring those examples to the workshop and we will look at them together!

Workshop content:

• Basics of quality assurance for scientific publications
• Predatory publishing: definition, extent and consequences for all stakeholders involved
• Procedure and tools to distinguish serious from unethical journals
• What to do if you have submitted to a predatory journal
• Examples and practical exercise on how to recognize predatory journals

New dates will follow from summer 2024.

The Medical Library is offering workshops on Open Access in the English language or in German. Current dates are to be found in the calendar of events.

Aimed at: The workshop is suitable for both scientists and students at the Charité.

Contents: Besides the fundamentals of Open Access, this two hour workshop also offers practical demonstrations of important databases.

The workshop covers:

• Different options when publishing Open Access: the green and gold routes
• Expectations from publishers and funders, including:
• Versions: Pre-print, Post-print, Publisher pdf
• Embargos
• Creative Commons Licenses
•  Article Processing Charges or fees from the publisher and how to negotiate over these
•  Funding through the Charité OA Publication fund
•  Selection of a suitable OA repository for archiving

The BIH QUEST Center is offering workshops on open data, in the English language or in German. Current dates are to be found in the BIH events calender.

Aimed at: The workshop is suitable for both scientists and students at the Charité and the BIH.

Contents: This three-hour workshop provides an overview of the free availability of data (open data) and includes practical exercises on the PC. The workshop will answer the following questions:

• What is open data and why is it important to share data?
• How do I choose a suitable repository for archiving?
• How do I ensure that my data is easy to find and accessible?
• How do I ensure that my data are also re-usable in the long term?
• How can I consider privacy aspects?
• How do I search for useful data sets and how do I quote them?

Speaker: Dr. Evgeny Bobrov is a consultant for open data and research data management at the QUEST Center of the Berlin Institute of Health. He advises on the provision of biomedical data and is an advocate for open data. Previously, he was a brain researcher and then a laboratory manager at the Charité, and so has first-hand knowledge of research practice, including about the obstacles that sometimes hinder data sharing.

Goodbye Google, hello PubMed!

In this 90-minute workshop, you will learn how to search PubMed and use research techniques and tools to optimize your search.

• Prerequisites: none
• Target audience: Researchers, students, clinical staff
• Frequency: typically monthly
• Language: German and English (alternating each month)

CINAHL - an important database for health professions

In this 90-minute workshop, you will learn how to search CINAHL (EBSCO) and  and how to use research techniques and tools such as CINAHL Subject Headings. Particularly suitable for students and researchers in the fields of nursing, midwifery and physiotherapy

• Prerequisites: none
• Target audience: Researchers, students, clinical staff
• Frequency: approx. 3 times per year
• Language: German

Access to CINAHL (EBSCO) is restricted. Charité members usually have access in the IP area of the Charité or if the VPN is activated. Please test your proxy settings in advance.

Lunch & Learn:

Make the most of your lunch break! Get a concise overview of the medical library's databases and learn how to access them. As a special highlight, we'll introduce you to using Web of Science.

• Target audience: Researchers, students, clinical staff
• Frequency: approx. 2 times per year
• Language: German

EndNote I

In this 90-minute workshop, you will learn the basics of citation management using EndNote.  

• Prerequisites: download and install EndNote
• Target audience:  Researchers, students, clinical staff
• Frequency: typically monthly
• Language: German and English

Step up to Ovid - Searches in MEDLINE Ovid & Embase Ovid

In this 45-minute workshop you will learn how to conduct searches in MEDLINE Ovid and Embase Ovid (biomedical, pharmacological database). Differences will be explained.

• Prerequisites: Foundation Workshop (PubMed or CINAHL)
• Target audience: Researchers, students, clinical staff
• Frequency: typically every 3 months
• Language: German

Access to Ovid is restricted. Charité members usually have access in the IP area of the Charité or if the VPN is activated. Please test your proxy settings in advance.

EndNote II - advanced workshop upon request for members of Charité

Advanced functions such as Smart Groups, mass editing, EndNote Web or the use of EndNote in the course of a systematic/scoping review can be introduced. Contents are created individually by arrangement. 

• Target audience:  Researchers, students, clinical staff
• Language: German

Contact us with any questions, or to book this workshop.

Bibliothek Schulungen

If you are interested in an introduction to first steps of conducting a systematic or scoping review, we recommend taking first "What is what? Systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and another evidence synthesis", and then "Finding the evidence - systematic literature searches".

What is what? Systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and another evidence synthesis

We will discuss the differences between systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and other types of evidence synthesis. We will cover the approaches, objectives, and methodological steps involved. Selecting the appropriate method for evidence synthesis can often be challenging. To assist you in making this decision, we offer a 90-minute session.

• Target audience: researchers, students, clinical staff. Particularly suitable if you are planning an evidence synthesis project (systematic review, scoping review, etc.)
• Frequency: every 3-4 months
• Language: German and English

Finding the evidence - systematic literature searches

In this 135-minute workshop, you will learn how to develop a systematic search strategy. You will use various tools, for example, to identify search terms and transfer searches from one database to another.

Prerequisites: Participation in a database foundation workshop (either PubMed or CINAHL) and participation in Step up to Ovid (alternatively, please watch a 15 minute video by The Texas Medical Center Library about Ovid (from minute 2:15)).

• Target audience: Students, researchers, clinical staff. Particularly suitable if you are planning an evidence synthesis project (systematic review, scoping review, etc.)
• Frequency: approximately 6 times/year
• Language: English and German

Anyone who wants to can
a) bring their own research question (and PICO framework or similar) and
b) a publication that you want to find/include in your review.

Access to Ovid is restricted. Charité members usually have access in the IP area of the Charité or if the VPN is activated. Please test your proxy settings in advance.

The Medical Library offers this workshop in German. You can find more information on the German website.

90-minute workshop on searching in PubMed and citation management with EndNote.

Aimed at: Charité students taking M23

The workshop covers:

• PubMed refresher
• Research techniques, tools and MeSH-terms.
• Save and export results
• Introduction to EndNote 21 and basic functions
• Access to full texts

Members of the Charité can download and install EndNote 21 via this link (Intranet only).

Is organized by the degree programme, please contact the coordinators if you have any questions.

Dates: twice a year for students in M23

90-minute seminar: How do I formulate a scientific question and how do I specifically search for literature on this question in PubMed?

Aimed at: Charité students in BSc Health Sciences Module 8

The workshop covers:

• Understand PubMed and how to use the basic search feature
• Formulate researchable questions 
• Understand search techniques such as field tags and truncation
• Use the advanced search option in  PubMed to build a structured search
• Export data and access to full texts

Is organized by the degree programme, please contact the coordinators if you have any questions.

You can find more information on the German website