Specialised Information Service Pharmacy – Germany-wide Service for Academic Pharmaceutical Research SIS Pharmacy starts third project phase in 2021
The Specialised Information Service (SIS) Pharmacy provides comprehensive and service-oriented access to pharmaceutical information resources for academic pharmaceutical research throughout Germany and supports researchers with a tailored and specific range of services. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the SIS Pharmacy for a further three years with 2.8 million euros in a third project phase. In this way, the University Library and the Institute for Information Systems at the Technische Universität Braunschweig are continuing the successful cooperation between information infrastructure and research-based informatics of the last six years.
As the central service of the SIS Pharmacy, the active substance-centered research platform PubPharm (www.pubpharm.de) has established itself in the specialist community with its precisely fitting infrastructure. PubPharm is freely accessible and contains more than 50 million subject-relevant resources from a wide variety of data sources, including journal articles, preprints, information on clinical trials and patents. In addition to the text-based search, it is also possible to search for chemical structures for which further (active ingredient) information is provided. In addition, the SIS Pharmazie licenses journals whose full texts can be accessed by all university pharmacy sites in Germany. SIS services also include open access activities, digitization of analog publications, long-term archiving, and consulting for the management of research data. Professor Knut Baumann, Institute of Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at TU Braunschweig and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, has accompanied the SIS from the beginning in 2015 as a member of its scientific advisory board: “The SIS and PubPharm are very valuable for pharmaceutical research and it is impossible to imagine Germany without them.”
Machine learning supports search for active ingredients
User-centered, sustainable search services have emerged in recent years as a result of intensive feedback with the specialist community and the early involvement of researchers in development. They show a high degree of innovation due to the integration of research results from the Institute for Information Systems (IfIS). For example, a context-based similarity search for biologically active compounds and diseases based on machine learning technologies emerged as a unique selling point of PubPharm. “The complementary connection between the university library and research-based informatics in the SIS Pharmacy team is the reason for the success of the project and is now firmly part of the “DNA” of the SIS,” emphasizes Professor Wolf-Tilo Balke of IfIS.
Intelligent search management
In the third funding phase, a new overall architecture for PubPharm will be established, in which the SIS services will be embedded in the sense of central access, and a document server for archiving will be set up. In addition, the content of pharmaceutical publications will be indexed automatically on the basis of an intelligent search function. This will integrate a completely new type of information search into PubPharm. “The reviewers were convinced of the success of the SIS Pharmacy so far and strongly recommended further funding of the project, which is a great incentive for us for the next three years,” rejoices library director Katrin Stump.