EBSCOhost Mobile App for iPhone. Version 3.0

The EBSCOhost Mobile App for iPhone is included with an institutional subscription and provides users with the ability to search the EBSCOhost databases that their institutions subscribe to via the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. This application (app) must be downloaded from the iTunes Store, and the person downloading it must have registered for access through an institutional subscription. As of April 30, 2012, there is a link at the bottom of each EBSCOhost database page where users can register their email addresses to download the app. Users should pick an email account that can be accessed on the mobile device where they plan to download the app, and the link that they are emailed for authenticating is only good for twenty-four hours. After that time, users must register through EBSCOhost again [1].

This reviewer tested an iPhone 4S for the most part but also looked at the app on a first-generation iPad. The only notable difference in the app on the two devices was image distortion with the iPad. The registration process is very simple, and downloading the app took less than a minute. To run searches, the device must be connected to a cellular network or WiFi, but authentication via an institutional proxy is not necessary after the initial installation. (Note: After nine months, a new authentication key is needed [2].) The default settings allow users to complete basic keyword searches of all databases that the users' institutions have subscribed to.

The home page shows the affiliated institution, options for retrieving Recent Searches (up to 25), Saved Searches, Saved Articles, Help, and Legal. The bottom of the screen shows navigation options for Home, Search, Settings, Recent, and Saved.

Users can run keyword searches from the Search screen. It appears that truncation and nesting work as well as field searching. With field searching, users have to know what codes to use. For example, [SU “pressure ulcer”] (minus the brackets) will run a search for articles indexed with the subject heading for “pressure ulcer.” Once a search is run, the default is twenty results per page, but there is an option for loading more results. An interesting feature is that in a mobile device's landscape mode, the search results look similar to album covers in iTunes and can be flipped through easily. In instances where a portable document format (PDF) file is available through EBSCOhost, an icon will appear near the bottom right of the citation. Clicking on a result gives users the option to view an abstract when available, save the citation (or PDF if available) to the Save section of the app, check for full text via the institutions' link resolvers, click on citation elements to run new searches, email the citation (and PDF, if available), or access the PDF, if available. When PDFs are available, there is an option to save them to another app on users' devices. Examples include Kindle, Stanza, iBooks, Mendeley, or Dropbox. These other apps also provide options for printing articles. According to the iTunes description, users should be able to save or email multiple citations or articles from a search result at one time, but this reviewer was unable to do so [3].

Near the top of the Search screen are buttons to Refine or Save. The options for Refine change a bit depending on which databases are activated. For example, options for CINAHL Plus included limiting by journal, SubjectMajor, SubjectAge, and SubjectGender. The Save button allows users to save the search indefinitely. As mentioned earlier, the app automatically saves the most recent twenty-five searches, but a limit for saved searches is not listed. One thing that stood out is that the app cannot be connected to a personal EBSCO account, which means that users are unable to save searches in a way that would be accessible through another device later on. Right below the search box on the search screen are buttons where users can choose to sort results based on relevance or by date (newest to oldest).

Using the Settings screen, users can choose which EBSCO databases they would like to search. The default is for the app to search all the databases available through the users' institutions, but this can easily be changed using check boxes to the left of each database. Database descriptions are not provided. Users may also set search options on this page, such as limiting to full text, peer reviewed, publication name (the title must be entered manually), or publication date. The Settings page also has options for turning on Autocomplete in the search box and changing the search results from ten, twenty, or thirty per page. Most users would likely look for limits such as full text or peer reviewed from the “Refine” button on the Search page, and it is unclear why limits are placed under Settings. However, if one does change the settings and then clicks on the Search page, the results are updated automatically.

The Recent page provides access to both recent searches as well as recently viewed articles, and the Saved page provides access to both saved searches as well as saved citations or articles. Both pages have an Edit button near the top right, so that searches and articles can be deleted from the lists.

Access to the EBSCOhost iPhone app is provided automatically to subscribing institutions, and users are directed to register for access via a link at the bottom of all EBSCO database pages. Unfortunately, statistics for app usage appear to be unavailable; although, the administration view does provide statistics for EBSCO Mobile (this is a mobile version of the database that does not require downloading an app).

One of the most obvious advantages to using the app over the mobile website for EBSCO is authentication. When users access a database through their libraries' websites, they are generally required to enter a username and password before they can search the resource, unless they are on campus and using WiFi via their institution. Another advantage is the ability to save searches and articles or citations to the app.

However, using the mobile website does provide users with several options that are not available through the app. For example, the CINAHL Plus mobile website has options that allow limiting to “pre-CINAHL” or to “exclude MEDLINE records.” These did not show up on the app. In addition, a list of field codes is provided in EBSCO Mobile for the advanced searcher. The app searcher can use field codes but must find them elsewhere. If PDFs are available, the features on the iPhone 4S give users the option of opening them in other apps where they can be stored for later reading. Finally, the EBSCO Mobile version allows searchers to email results by screen rather than having to email citations one at a time.

Both the EBSCO Mobile and the EBSCOhost for iPhone contain simplified versions of EBSCOhost databases, and neither allows access to My EBSCOhost accounts.

Overall, the EBSCOhost for iPhone app is fairly robust and provides both a quick search interface as well as the ability for advanced searchers to do fairly complicated tasks. The automatic authentication and options for saving searches as well as citations or PDFs make it worth using, despite the fact that EBSCO also provides a mobile web version of its databases. The lack of offline searching access is understandable given the amount of information carried in EBSCO's databases. The major features lacking are the ability for users to link the app to their My EBSCOhost accounts and a specialized app for the iPad that would be more visually pleasing, but the price (free with institutional subscriptions) makes the lack of those two things very palatable.