POPLINE
Encyclopedia
POPLINE is a reproductive health database
, containing citations with abstracts to scientific articles, reports, books, and unpublished reports in the field of population
, family planning
, and reproductive health
issues. POPLINE is maintained by the K4Health Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
/Center for Communication Program, and it is funded by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID).
. In 1978, the database, along with Population Information Program, moved to the Johns Hopkins University
. Between 1980 and 2001, renamed POPLINE, the database became part of the United States National Library of Medicine
's (NLM) Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS) along with MEDLINE
and other NLM databases.
Since 2001, POPLINE has been maintained by the INFO Project, formerly PIP, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
/Center for Communication Programs. Access to POPLINE is available free of charge at its website. Other organizations contributed to POPLINE throughout its history, such as the Center for Population and Family Health (CPFH) Library/Information Program at Columbia University
, Population Index at Princeton University
, and the Carolina Population Center (CPC) at the University of North Carolina
.
The database consists of bibliographic citations
and abstracts
to a variety of materials including journal articles, monographs, technical reports, and unpublished literature.
Subjects covered internationally include family planning methods and programs, fertility
, and population law and policy. Additional subjects covered in reference to developing countries include adolescent reproductive health, demography
, environmental health
, gender and health, health communication
, sexually transmitted infections, maternal and child health, population and environment, and women in development
.
, and offers customized searches provided on request to persons or institutions in developing countries. Full-text copies for most of the documents cited in POPLINE can be requested free of charge via mail or sent by email. In addition to free text searching, the database can be searched by keywords from the POPLINE Thesaurus, a controlled vocabulary of 2,400+ terms used to index documents in the database.
had instructed the POPLINE search engine to ignore the search term "abortion", as it ignores search terms such as "a" and "the", in February 2008 in response to pressure from the United States Agency for International Development
. Making the term a stop word removed the ability of users to search for this common term for a reproductive health issue.
Librarians were informed by a POPLINE manager: "We recently made all abortion terms stop words... As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now." After learning of the restriction on finding abortion-related articles, the dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
, Michael J. Klag, lifted the restriction. A representative of POPLINE responded that this change was done due to their federal funding.
Bibliographic database
A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records, an organized digital collection of references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government and legal publications, patents, books, etc...
, containing citations with abstracts to scientific articles, reports, books, and unpublished reports in the field of population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
, family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
, and reproductive health
Reproductive health
Within the framework of the World Health Organization's definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene, addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system...
issues. POPLINE is maintained by the K4Health Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
/Center for Communication Program, and it is funded by the United States Agency for International Development
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
(USAID).
History
The original database consisted of citations from Popinform, a database maintained from 1973 to 1978 by the Population Information Program (PIP) at George Washington UniversityGeorge Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
. In 1978, the database, along with Population Information Program, moved to the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
. Between 1980 and 2001, renamed POPLINE, the database became part of the United States National Library of Medicine
United States National Library of Medicine
The United States National Library of Medicine , operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is a division of the National Institutes of Health...
's (NLM) Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS) along with MEDLINE
MEDLINE
MEDLINE is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care...
and other NLM databases.
Since 2001, POPLINE has been maintained by the INFO Project, formerly PIP, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
/Center for Communication Programs. Access to POPLINE is available free of charge at its website. Other organizations contributed to POPLINE throughout its history, such as the Center for Population and Family Health (CPFH) Library/Information Program at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Population Index at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and the Carolina Population Center (CPC) at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
.
Coverage
POPLINE provides more than 370 thousand records citing worldwide literature in the area of reproductive health. The majority of items are published from 1970 to the present, but there are selected citations dating back to 1827. The database adds 12 thousand records annually and is updated weekly.The database consists of bibliographic citations
Citation
Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated...
and abstracts
Abstract (summary)
An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a...
to a variety of materials including journal articles, monographs, technical reports, and unpublished literature.
Subjects covered internationally include family planning methods and programs, fertility
Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
, and population law and policy. Additional subjects covered in reference to developing countries include adolescent reproductive health, demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
, environmental health
Environmental health
Environmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health...
, gender and health, health communication
Health communication
Health communication may be defined as“The art and technique of informing, influencing, and motivating individual, institutional, and public audiences about important health issues...
, sexually transmitted infections, maternal and child health, population and environment, and women in development
Women in Development
Women in Development is an approach to development projects that emerged in the 1970s, calling for treatment of women's issues in development projects...
.
Services
POPLINE has both basic and advanced searches, RSS feeds, publishes the entire database on CD-ROMCD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
, and offers customized searches provided on request to persons or institutions in developing countries. Full-text copies for most of the documents cited in POPLINE can be requested free of charge via mail or sent by email. In addition to free text searching, the database can be searched by keywords from the POPLINE Thesaurus, a controlled vocabulary of 2,400+ terms used to index documents in the database.
Controversy
In 2008, the New York Times reported that Johns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
had instructed the POPLINE search engine to ignore the search term "abortion", as it ignores search terms such as "a" and "the", in February 2008 in response to pressure from the United States Agency for International Development
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
. Making the term a stop word removed the ability of users to search for this common term for a reproductive health issue.
Librarians were informed by a POPLINE manager: "We recently made all abortion terms stop words... As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now." After learning of the restriction on finding abortion-related articles, the dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Michael J. Klag, lifted the restriction. A representative of POPLINE responded that this change was done due to their federal funding.