Removing Duplicate Records | Reviewing Duplicate Records

Remove Duplicate Records

OvidSP's multifile search capability lets you search from multiple resources as though they were one. OvidSP carries your query across all resources of the multifile and retrieves results from each.

Multifile Search Results in Search History

The same record may be retrieved from more than one resource and appear multiple times in a results set. These duplicate records skew results and clutter your output. OvidSP's deduplication feature allows you to eliminate duplicate records from either one of these two locations: the Search History Window or the Search Results Display.

Removing Duplicate Records

Deduplicating a results set:

Results sets that contain more than 6000 records may not be deduplicated.

Select the Remove Duplicates option from one of these two locations:

Search History Window:	Click the Remove Duplicates button located at the top of the Search History.
Search Results Display:	Click the Remove Duplicates link located at the top of the display.

OvidSP opens the Remove Duplicates Page.

	Select a set to deduplicate.
	Edit field and/or database preferences.
	Click the Continue button.
OvidSP ranks results according to field, then database preferences chosen on this page. In our example, we set preferences for records that originate in the Global Health database and have full text associated with them.

Results are posted to your search history.

Set Six: 112 Duplicate Records Removed from Set One

If OvidSP does not find duplicate records in the results set, it displays a "No duplicates were detected!" in the search history.

Reviewing Duplicate Records

Even after OvidSP deduplicates a set, you may review the duplicate records and make adjustments. Click the Review Duplicates button in your search history.

OvidSP opens the Review Duplicates Page.

All the results from the original set are displayed here. OvidSP groups pairs of duplicate records first. In addition, OvidSP applies the field and database preferences that you indicated from the Remove Duplicates Page. So, a field preference for records with full text results in preference given to records that include full text in the display. A database preference for Global Health records results in preference given to Global Health records over PsychINFO or OvidMEDLINE in the display.

Preferred and unique records are selected throughout. Eliminated records are displayed, but not selected. Use the record check boxes to revise selections. If you make changes, click the Keep Changes button to create a new results set in your search history.