Corrie Hess, MLIS  
Access Services Librarian  
Veterinary Medicine Library 
Louisiana State University  

Introduction  

VetMed Resource is a database with a specific focus on veterinary science research and animal health and welfare, developed and launched by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) in 2007. CABI previously launched the CAB Abstracts database in 1973, which is dedicated to agriculture and applied life sciences. Because it includes veterinary content, CAB Abstracts has been widely used in veterinary research institutes and veterinary schools. VetMed Resource is the result of CABI bringing together the veterinary section of its CAB Abstracts database along with CABI’s other published veterinary literature to make a comprehensive online veterinary science information resource.  

Content  

The content of VetMed Resource covers all aspects of veterinary medicine and animal health and welfare for the purpose of providing global veterinary information and research. The health and welfare of animals covered include livestock, companion animals, exotics, zoo and wild animals as well as fish and aquatic species. The content of VetMed Resource includes research gathered from over 120 countries in 50 languages from 1973 to present. Samples of subject areas include anesthesia and pharmacology, anatomy and physiology, animal behavior and welfare, bacterial diseases, and parasitology. A full list of subject areas as well as a list of animals covered can be found on their website. Subject area icons can be selected and will lead to a predefined search on that subject. 

Image 1: Clickable subject area icons (Credit: CABI Digital Library) 

VetMed Resource comprises more than 2.8 million indexed records of various content types that include abstracts, peer-reviewed research articles, journal articles, book chapters, news articles providing up-to-date developments in veterinary science and evidence-based practices,  disease datasheets, and grey literature such as conference papers, conference proceedings, and policy documents. As with all CABI database collections, VetMed Resource is compiled by a team of CABI’s subject specialists who select content included in the database based on quality and subject relevance. Rigorous selection criteria guidelines are followed, and each title is assessed. 

VetMed Resource is intended for those based in academic institutions as well as those in practice and industry, but anyone wanting access to extensive, global veterinary information would be attracted to this resource. Specifically, with its weekly updates and global insights, VetMed Resource is intended to support faculty at academic institutions in evidence-based teaching. It is also intended to help librarians support students and faculty by ensuring access to the latest global research in veterinary medicine, as well as to help researchers track emerging trends, innovations, global developments in veterinary science, and the latest cutting-edge research. VetMed Resource provides support to veterinary professionals in their practice for informed decision-making and professional development. 

Features & Functionality  

VetMed Resource is one of CABI’s seven subject collection databases. In July 2022, CABI launched a new platform, “CABI Digital Library,” that migrated all CABI’s collection databases into one location, allowing users to search across CABI’s subscribed and open access content from one place. VetMed Resource records are derived from CABI’s CAB Abstracts database and other veterinary content within the CABI Digital Library platform, and although it has its own homepage, the contents of VetMed Resource can also be searched and accessed from CABI Digital Library’s homepage. Digital content is available as PDFs and usually as full text XML as well. 

Searching functionality in VetMed Resource is intuitive and similar to other bibliographic databases. A basic search will search across all the various types of content available in VetMed Resource and return a broad range of search results. Advanced searches can be built by searching in various field types, using Boolean operators, and selecting date ranges and publication types. Search results can be narrowed by a variety of filters such as geographic locations or item type. Help guides are thorough and easy to find in several locations including the website footer, a pop-up box in the advanced search page, and under the Resources tab in the home menu. 

VetMed Resource has a number of features that enhance targeted searching. Every record in CABI’s databases is indexed using CABI’s subject codes from its controlled vocabulary, CABI Thesaurus, which helps support complex searching and improves discoverability of the most relevant content. The “Smart Searches” tab located in the Browse menu provides a list of commonly researched topics with links to predefined search strings developed by experts that provide highly relevant results. Also found in the browse menu is a list of various topic links such as “cattle” or “companion animals” that lead to predefined search strings; subject areas found on the homepage can also be selected that lead to predefined searches for those subjects. One of the more unique features of VetMed Resource are the selected animal health datasheets from the CABI Compendium on diseases, pathogens, and animal breeds for a variety of species with many including pictures and zoomable distribution maps. Below is a snippet of a datasheet on Aujeszky’s disease. 

Image 2: Abstract, identity, and pictures from datasheet on Aujeszky’s disease (Credit: CABI Digital Library)  

A zoomable distribution map shows where the disease is found by continent, country, or region. 

Image 3: Distribution map from datasheet on Aujeszky’s disease (Credit: CABI Digital Library) 

Another feature of VetMed Resource is the “Grey Literature” facet which allows users to easily identify and access grey literature records within their search results. The “Evidence Based Research” facet enables users to quickly find research grounded in evidence, supporting informed decision-making and professional development. Content is said to be updated weekly to provide users with the latest research, and over 80,000 records are added annually. Access is provided to over 270 CABI book chapters, over 390 CABI Reviews — specially commissioned, peer-reviewed articles written by experts in their field — and to the Animal Health and Production Compendium, which is a comprehensive, encyclopedic resource on the health and production of food animals. Recognizing that Evidence Summaries are useful for obtaining evidence-based answers to clinical questions, VetMed Resource recently added its first Evidence Summary, and stated that further summaries will be added shortly.  

VetMed Resource’s strengths include its extensive, global veterinary and animal health information, its reliable content selected by subject specialists, its coverage of historical as well as current research, and its unique features and tools that can be used for targeted searching. One of its main limitations is that it has no citation metric tools to measure research impact. There have been minor issues of excessive cookie messages and incomplete citation information, but once reported to a CABI representative, improvements were made in these areas. The database is intuitive and reasonably easy to navigate for retrieving successful results.  

Business Model  

VetMed Resource can be purchased as a stand-alone database, or with other CABI subscription database products. It should be noted that when both CAB Abstracts and VetMed Resource are purchased, there will be some overlap of content, but according to a CABI representative, discounts are available when both collections are purchased. Pricing information is not listed online and is customized according to an individual or institution. Contact information for local sales representatives is provided online for customers to inquire about pricing. The standard subscription period is for 12 months and may begin any time during the year. End users can access VetMed Resource using its homepage link or from the CABI Digital Library platform under Subject Collections. Depending on the institution, end users generally access the database by logging in via their institution, by IP authentication, or by signing in to their CABI Digital Library personal account. Users can create personal accounts to save searches, citations, search queries, and other projects. Subscriptions can be placed for institutions or for individuals.  

CABI offers usage reports that meet the specifications of the COUNTER Code of Practice, Releases 5 and 5.1. Through an Institutional Administrator Account, COUNTER 5 reports for content accessed from the CABI Digital Library can be collected and customized by date range.  

Breakthrough  

The increased need for global veterinary information and for “evidence-based” veterinary medicine make VetMed Resource a valuable resource. Its extensive global veterinary information and research, both current and historical, make it especially useful for academic veterinary libraries, veterinary practices, and institutions supporting programs with a focus on animal health and veterinary science. 

References Consulted  

CABI Digital Library. About VetMed Resource. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/product/ve/about 

CABI Digital Library. Abstracting and Indexing. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/databases/abstracting-indexing 

CABI Digital Library. Access options. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/access-options 
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/subject-collections

CABI Digital Library. CABI COUNTER Reports. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/counter-reports 

CABI Digital Library. CABI Platform Migration: Librarian FAQ’s. https://www.cabi.org/wp-content/uploads/CABI-Platform-Migration-FAQs-Libraries-December-2022.pdf 

CABI Digital Library. Evidence Summaries. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/product/ve/evidence-summaries 

CABI Digital Library. Journal Selection Criteria. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/databases/review-process 

CABI Digital Library. Search Expertise. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/databases/search-expertise 

CABI Digital Library. Subscription products FAQs. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/contact/sales-information/subscriptions 

CABI Digital Library. VetMed Resource. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/product/ve 

Taylor, R. (2010) VetMed Resource: developing an online resource for practicing veterinarians 

ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43511517_VetMed_Resource_developing_an_online_resource_for_practicing_veterinarians