The aim of the study was to assess and compare established search systems and approaches by using the search goal of identifying the first (as in oldest) nursing-related document, with reference to the first Swedish-affiliated document, in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed (Medline). In doing so, the objective was to provide concrete examples and illustrate how search systems and field code searches versus classification-based searches differ. The Scopus database, Web of Science database aggregator, and the PubMed (Medline) search engine were used for evaluations. Two different search strategies were compared in each database: one guided by field codes (i.e., text-based), and one guided by pre-existing categorizations within database infrastructures. Findings highlight several factors that are important to consider when formulating and executing a search strategy. The findings illustrate important aspects of search systems and search approaches, namely the publication year, delimitations related to a country or region, and features related to a subject or research area. The findings also highlight the importance of prioritizing between different ideals in retrieval. For example, is it more important to reach the oldest records (publication year), to identify as many records as possible (exhaustiveness), or to make sure they are as subject-relevant as possible (e.g., in terms of authors belonging to the same field)? Secondly, researchers using bibliometric methods to analyze research literature should be more transparent when reporting searches, as different search systems and search approaches yield varied numbers and quality of records. While most bibliometric researchers strive to combine different approaches, this is not always made clear in reporting.

翻译：本研究旨在评估并比较现有检索系统与方法，以识别斯高帕斯、科学引文索引及PubMed（Medline）中最早（即年代最久远）的护理相关文献为检索目标，并以首篇与瑞典相关的文献为参照。通过此过程，研究目标在于提供具体实例，阐明字段代码检索与基于分类的检索在检索系统中的差异。研究采用斯高帕斯数据库、科学引文索引数据库聚合器及PubMed（Medline）检索引擎进行评估。每个数据库中比较两种不同检索策略：一种基于字段代码（即文本型），另一种基于数据库基础设施中预存的分类体系。研究结果揭示了制定并执行检索策略时需重点考虑的若干因素，同时阐明了检索系统与检索方法的关键维度，包括发表年份、国家或地区限定条件，以及学科或研究领域特征。研究还强调了在信息检索中需优先权衡不同目标的重要性：例如，是更注重获取最早文献（发表年份）、最大化覆盖记录数量（穷尽性），还是确保文献与学科最相关（如作者所属领域一致性）？其次，采用文献计量方法分析研究文献的研究者应在报告检索过程时提高透明度，因为不同检索系统与方法会导致记录数量与质量的差异。尽管多数文献计量研究者力求综合不同方法，但这一策略在报告中的表述往往不够明确。