title: A framework for characterizing drug information sources.
abstract: Drug information is complex, voluminous, heterogeneous, and dynamic. Multiple sources are available, each providing some elements of information about drugs (usually for a given purpose), but there exists no integrated view or directory that could be used to locate sources appropriate to a given purpose. We examined 23 sources that provide drug information in the pharmacy, chemistry, biology, and clinical medicine domains. Their drug information content could be categorized with 39 dimensions. We propose this list of dimensions as a framework for characterizing drug information sources. As an evaluation, we show that this framework is useful for comparing drug information sources and selecting sources most relevant to a given use case.
authors.affiliation: U.S. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bodenreider
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wacholder
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004346:Drug Information Services / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D013358:Subject Headings; D014481:United States