Semantic Search and Discovery in NLM Databases

This presentation will describe the NLMplus semantic search and discovery engine. The NLMplus project was initiated by WebLib LLC in response to a challenge by the National Library of Medicine to make innovative use of NLM’s vast collection of biomedical data and services. The NLMplus award winning app showcases a variety of natural language processing tools and solutions to provide an improved level of access to NLM’s rich content offerings.

NLMplus combines a number of leading-edge semantic knowledge resources and technologies, such as a biomedical knowledge base, a semantic search engine, a federated search engine, and a variety of smart content analysis and discovery services.

Users can concurrently access 60 NLM databases to find trusted information ranging from consumer health topics to drugs, news, clinical trials and translational medicine.  One of the important innovations of NLMplus is WebLib’s Semantic Search Engine, which typically produces relevant search results with improved precision and recall from 1.6 million PubMed Review articles. The reviews and meta-analyses are semantically indexed and searched on a WebLib server. The NLMplus application also sends conceptually enhanced user queries to NLM’s PubMed system for improved search results.

Providing flexible access to heterogeneous databases is a common challenge in medical libraries, biomedical research institutions and the health care industry. The same is true for non-biomedical content and applications. WebLib’s  innovative semantic indexing and searching technology, in combination with universal search and discovery solutions for free and fee-based content, allows all types of organizations to better serve their diverse user communities, including the public, researchers, professionals, and policy and decision makers.