What does “relevance” mean in HOLLIS? How is that calculated?

HOLLIS, like most databases, defaults to sorting results by something called “relevance.” Each database has its own proprietary formula, but generally, HOLLIS favors results that meet criteria such as: 

  • Recent publication date
  • Total number of matches to your search terms in the HOLLIS record
  • Matches to your search terms in the author, title, and subject fields
  • For articles, peer-reviewed or highly-cited articles

If you enter a person's name, HOLLIS will favor items written by that person over items about that person. HOLLIS also guesses whether you’re trying to search for a specific citation (as opposed to a general topic), and adjusts results accordingly.

More details available in the vendor knowledge base.

Have another HOLLIS question? Our HOLLIS User Guide provides an overview of HOLLIS's features and functions.

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