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Month: November 2025

Published on Leave a comment on 2025 Fall Colors Photo Contest Winners!

The 2025 Fall Colors Photo Contest drew 42 amazing entries across all of Himmelfarb Library's constituent groups: SMHS, School of Nursing, and the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Our judges, Laura Abate and Valerie Bowles from Himmelfarb, and MD students Nick Van Dyke and Eleanor Ball, had their work cut out for them!

Red autumn leaves
2025 Fall Colors Photo Contest winner: Radiance, photo by Vania Ballesteros Prieto, Horvath Lab staff member, SMHS

The contest winner was Radiance, by Vania Ballesteros Prieto, who is a staff member at SMHS. See below for an interview with Vania!

Autumn colors reflected in a pond with skyscrapers in the background
Second place winner in the 2025 Fall Colors Photo Contest: Fall Reflections, photo by Rana Rahman, MD student, SMHS.
Creek with trees with yellow leaves
Second place winner in the 2025 Fall Colors Photo Contest: Creekside Serenity, photo by Adam Herath, BSPH student, Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Two photos tied for second place: Fall Reflections, by MD student Rana Rahman, and Creekside Serenity, by BSPH student Adam Herath.

There were many beautiful photo entries, all of which are in the online gallery. Additionally, a print display of all photo entries is currently up at the library.

The Rotation asked Vania a few questions:

Can you share your GW journey? Did you study here? How long have you worked here?

I first came to the university in fall 2023 to pursue the MS program in Bioinformatics and Molecular Biochemistry. I successfully graduated in May of this year and have been a very happy part of the Horvath Lab team since then.

How long have you been taking photographs, and what are your favorite subjects?

I started taking photographs with a digital camera when I was young, initially just as a hobby. My favorite subjects are close-up pictures of flowers and small animals. I enjoy uncovering the small details that are often hard to see at first glance.

What can you tell us about how you got that winning shot?

I found a couple of trees with incredibly beautiful red and orange foliage near my house. I stood directly underneath them, and the afternoon sun lit the backs of the leaves making the colors more vibrant. This backlighting also allowed me to capture the veins of the leaves. I especially like how the close-up angle abstracts the location, leaving the surroundings open to the viewer's imagination.

How did you hear about the Fall Colors Photo Contest?

The Fall Colors Photo Contest was a topic of discussion in the lab. An email with the details was shared with all lab members, and I decided to participate.

I am intrigued that you entered the contest just two minutes before the entry form was deactivated! Tell us more about that?

I was planning to submit the picture earlier but my phone ran out of storage, which made every app (including the photos app) crash instantly upon opening. It was a frantic process of repeatedly opening the photos app, deleting one picture, having the app crash, and repeating the cycle. I finally managed to free up just enough storage to submit the entry two minutes before the form closed. Talk about lucky!

--

Vania stopped by Himmelfarb and got to meet some of the members of the Healthy Living @ Himmelfarb Committee, which has been in existence since 2012 and has as its goal creating ways for our community prioritize wellbeing and support healthy eating, exercise, and stress reduction. The committee has been running the Fall Colors and Spring Blossoms photo contests since 2023, along with other events such as beading workshops and the popular Basketball Toss contest, which raises funds for the GW Healing Clinic.

Vania Ballesteros Prieto, second from left, with members of Himmelfarb's Healthy Living Committee (L-R) Lonnie Williams, Deborah Wassertzug, and Valerie Bowles.
2025 Fall Colors Photo Contest winner Vania Ballesteros Prieto posts in front of the photo display of entries to this edition of the contest.

Published on Leave a comment on Himmelfarb Library’s Thanksgiving Hours

Himmelfarb Library wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

As a reminder, the library will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Our holiday hours are as follows:

DATE:HOURS:
Wednesday, November 26, 20256:00am - 6:00pm
Thursday, November 27, 2025CLOSED
Friday, November 28, 2025CLOSED
Saturday, November 29, 20259:00am - 8:00pm
Sunday, November 30, 20259:00am - Midnight

Our electronic databases, journals, and e-books are still available through the Himmelfarb Library website.

Published on
a banner for the art of science image contest with the deadline and cash prizes

Do you work in a research lab? Do you think the sciences and the humanities have more in common than most people think? Then you should submit to the 2025 Art of Science contest here at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The competition is open to GW SMHS medical students, graduate students, and postdocs. Submissions should reflect original research here at SMHS, and each person can submit one image. If your work is selected as a winner, you can win a cash prize. Previous winners have also had their work displayed in Ross Hall and Himmelfarb Library. 

Need more information? Check out the announcement page for the competition on the School of Medicine and Health Sciences Website! 

Published on
Photo of a manuscript spread out on a desk with highlighted sections and notes written on it.
Photo by Catherine Cronin; CC BY-SA 2.0

Do you have an article manuscript ready to submit for publication, but aren’t sure how to find the right journal? Finding an appropriate journal for your research can be daunting. With so many scholarly journals to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start when selecting a journal. But don’t fret - Himmelfarb Library is here to help! There are tools available to help you navigate your options and find the right journal for your research!

Journal Selection Tools

There are numerous tools available to help you identify possible journals that could be a good match for your research. 

Abstract Matcher Tools

The following tools let you copy and paste your abstract into the tool, and they provide you with a list of possible journals that could be a good fit for your manuscript:

Publisher Manuscript Match Tools

Multiple large publishers also have services that will help you match your abstract to an appropriate journal. 

Journal Information Tools

Once you have a list of potential journals, do your research about each title to determine which journal would best fit your needs. The following tools provide information about specific journal titles that can help you decide where to submit your manuscript:

  • Journal Citation Reports: Look up key journals in your field, sortable by impact factor, Eigenfactor, and other metrics.
  • Cabells Directory of Publishing Opportunities: Look up journal titles to find contact information, manuscript and submission guidelines, and metrics to support selecting titles for submission. Cabells also tracks predatory journals, which are described further below..

Learn more about these tools in Himmelfarb’s video tutorial: Journal Selection Tools: Choosing the Right Journal for Your Research

Is Your Manuscript a Good Match for a Journal?

Journals usually have “information for authors” pages on their websites that lay out the Aims and Scope of the research they publish. Once you have a list of possible journals, take a look at the Aims and Scope sections of each journal's website and decide whether or not your manuscript matches the research and topics the journal normally publishes. If you’re not sure if your paper is a good fit for the journal, reach out to the journal editor, send them your abstract, and ask them if they think your manuscript is a good fit for the journal.

Making Sense of the Metrics

Journals advertise citation metrics to demonstrate their relative importance in the field. Journals with higher citation metrics are usually more selective in the articles they publish. Various metrics evaluate relative journal quality, and each metric uses different methods. These metrics signify how frequently articles published in a specific journal are cited in other journal articles. Two important metrics to consider are Journal Impact Factor and CiteScore.

Journal Impact Factor

Journal Impact Factor (JIF), calculated by Web of Science, can be found on the Journal Citation Reports website (may be paywalled for non-GW affiliates). The Journal Impact Factor is the number of times a journal is cited during a given year divided by the sum of the number of articles published during the previous two years. Learn more in our Journal Impact Factors: What You Need to Know tutorial.

CiteScore

CiteScore, similar to JIF, is calculated by Elsevier’s Scopus. CiteScore is the number of citations articles in a journal received during the last four years divided by the number of articles published in the same four-year period. Check out CiteScore Methodology to learn more about this metric.

Metrics and Your Manuscript

It’s important to have realistic expectations when selecting a journal for your research. Journals with higher JIF or CiteScores are more likely to publish cutting-edge research with novel or important findings. Research with less novel findings tends to find homes in journals with lower JIF or CiteScores. Knowing how likely your article is to be published in a journal with a higher or lower JIF and CiteScores can help you save time by submitting your manuscript to a journal with an appropriate JIF or CiteScore.

Open Access Journals and Support From Himmelfarb

Deciding whether to publish your manuscript as open access is another key decision to make when considering where to publish. Publishing open access will make your article publicly available to everyone. Publishing in a traditional subscription-based journal means that your article will be paywalled and only available to readers who subscribe or have access through a library's purchased subscription to the journal. The following terminology is important to know when considering publishing open access:

  • Fully Open Access: Every article is published Open Access and made publicly available to read. Authors are often required to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) to cover the cost of publication.
  • Hybrid Journal: These journals allow authors to choose to pay an APC and publish their articles as Open Access or not pay an APC and have the article published behind a paywall.
  • Subscription Only or Closed Journal: These journals do not offer Open Access options, and all articles are published behind a paywall. These journals rely on revenue from libraries and other subscribers to pay for access via yearly subscriptions.

Free APCs at GW

GW has current “transformative agreements” with Cambridge University Press and The Company of Biologists that allow GW authors to publish research as open access at no cost to authors. Article Processing Charges (APCs) are waived with these publishers! Cambridge University Press publishes roughly 50 health sciences-related journals covered under this agreement. The Company of Biologists agreement includes 5 titles: 

Look Out for Predatory Journals

Before submitting your manuscript to a journal, do your due diligence to ensure that the journal is not predatory. Predatory journals pretend to be legitimate academic journals, promote false or misleading metrics, and have unethical business practices that fail to follow scholarly publishing best practices. Predatory journals often promise quick article publication, frequently lack a peer review process, and don’t have archiving policies, which can result in your work disappearing from the internet. 

Cabells Directory of Publishing Opportunities tracks predatory journals and provides violations of scholarly publishing best practices to help you avoid submitting your paper to a predatory journal. Be aware that not all predatory journals in the medical and health sciences fields are listed in this resource. If you have reservations about a title and can’t find it in Cabells, contact Ruth Bueter (rbueter@gwu.edu), who will investigate the journal on your behalf.

Learn more about how to identify predatory journals on Himmelfarb’s Predatory Publishing research guide.

Questions? Himmelfarb Can Help!

Still have questions about choosing a journal for your manuscript? Reach out to us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu, and we can help you navigate the resources discussed in this post!

Published on
Diabetes, photo by Artem Podrez on Pexels

November is National Diabetes Month. According to the CDC, 38.4 million people in the United States of all ages have diabetes. Among adults, this comprises 14.7% of the total population. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2024)

While the CDC statistical report provides one way of navigating available data on diabetes, PolicyMap, a resource available to you via Himmelfarb Library, can help you visualize data by showing its distribution across a geographic area.

Screenshot of searching the word diabetes on the mapping website PolicyMap
PolicyMap screenshot (PolicyMap, 2025)

Percent of births to mothers diagnosed with pregnancy-induced diabetes in 2023, PolicyMap screenshot (PolicyMap, 2025)

You can browse PolicyMap by topic (including health indicators) or by level of geography, and the resulting map can be saved, printed, edited, or annotated. PolicyMap also includes a handy citation button for attribution of its content.

The three most commonly seen types of diabetes are:

  • Type 1 diabetes mellitus, in which the body stops producing insulin;
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus, the most prevalent type, which is linked to genetics, lifestyle, and weight;
  • Gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy and can increase the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes later on.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) develops in 5-9% of pregnancies in the United States each year. While it may be asymptomatic, GDM testing, which occurs around the 24th week of pregnancy, can catch the condition before complications develop. All pregnant patients should be tested for GDM. (DynaMed, 2025) The testing involves a 1-hour non-fasting oral glucose test. If results from the 1-hour test show the blood glucose level as too high, a second, fasting test is conducted over three hours. (NIDDK, 2017)

In those patients who are diagnosed with GDM, treatment includes dietary changes and regular exercise targets. Initially, patients may need to self-monitor and log blood glucose. Medication is only required when target glucose levels cannot be attained through diet and exercise. (DynaMed, 2025) If blood glucose is well-controlled, patients with GDM can carry their pregnancy almost to term (39 weeks). (ACOG, 2018) The Canadian Diabetes Association, meanwhile, suggests doctors offer induction of labor between 38 and 40 weeks gestation to decrease the risks of stillbirth and cesarean birth. (Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines Expert Committee, 2018)

References

ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 190: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus. (2018). Obstetrics and gynecology, 131(2), e49–e64. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000002501

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). National Diabetes Statistics Report. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/php/data-research/index.html Accessed on November 12, 2025.

Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines Expert Committee, Feig, D. S., Berger, H., Donovan, L., Godbout, A., Kader, T., Keely, E., & Sanghera, R. (2018). Diabetes and Pregnancy. Canadian journal of diabetes, 42 Suppl 1, S255–S282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjd.2017.10.038

DynaMed. Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). EBSCO Information Services. Accessed November 12, 2025. https://www.dynamed.com/condition/gestational-diabetes-mellitus-gdm

PolicyMap. (n.d.). Crude percent of diagnosed diabetes among adults in 2022 [Map based on data from CDC_PLACES: Data downloaded from https://www.cdc.gov/places/index.html, August 2023]. Retrieved November 12, 2025, from http://www.policymap.com

National Institutes of Health. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2017) Tests & Diagnosis for Gestational Diabetes. Accessed November 12, 2025. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes/gestational/tests-diagnosis

Published on
Screenshot of a slide presentation. Text: Introduction to Systematic Reviews.

Do you have questions about systematic reviews? Ever wonder what the difference is between a systematic review and other types of literature reviews? Not sure what the steps are to conduct your own systematic review? Himmelfarb Library has a new Introduction to Systematic Reviews video series that can help answer these questions! Tom Harrod, Himmelfarb’s Associate Director of Reference and Instruction, breaks down key aspects of systematic reviews in five short videos (6 minutes or less), each covering easily digestible aspects of systematic reviews to help you learn the basics.

Types of Literature Reviews

Part 1 covers the different kinds of literature reviews and what makes systematic reviews unique. You’ll learn about the time frame, purpose, methodology, search strategy, article searches, and protocols of systematic reviews and how they compare to other types of literature reviews.

Systematic Review Steps

In Part 2, you’ll learn the steps involved in conducting a systematic review. Systematic reviews follow a well-defined methodology intended to minimize bias and ensure a high level of reproducibility. Learn more about this methodology in this video!

Effective Search Strategies

Part 3 examines how to create effective search strategies. Learn how to convert a research question into a PICO or PEO framework, use the PICO or PEO framework to create an initial search strategy, test and refine your search, and use your search in other databases in this video.

Overcoming Common Search Problems

Part 4 of this series explores common issues that arise with search strategies and how to address them. You’ll learn strategies for what to do when your initial search strategy doesn’t work as planned and you don’t get the results you expected.

Covidence

In Part 5, you’ll learn how to streamline the process of conducting systematic reviews with the Covidence software, available to GW Affiliates through Himmelfarb Library. Covidence is designed to guide you through the process of conducting a systematic review, facilitate teamwork, and help you document and maintain the records needed to write your systematic review. In this video, you’ll learn how to access Covidence through Himmelfarb and how to use the key features of this software.

Take the mystery out of systematic reviews and watch these easy and approachable videos!

Published on

Himmelfarb Library offers a variety of databases and search platforms to users for the discovery of scholarly literature and full-text services. We’ve recently made some changes to streamline full-text options in EBSCO research databases including CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, and Scopus using ThirdIron’s LibKey linking services. 

When you select Full-text options @ Himmelfarb, a window providing options to either open a PDF directly or view the article on the journal platform website will display.  

Screenshot of Full-text options button in Scopus.
Screenshot of LibKey full-text selection screen with Download PDF and Article Link options.

If the article has been retracted or withdrawn, LibKey’s retraction alert services will display a warning and links for further information.

In the event that the content you want is not open access and Himmelfarb Library does not have a subscription, you will be passed through to Health Information @ Himmelfarb, the library catalog, to request document delivery services for the item through Documents2Go. 

Screenshot of article record in the Himmelfarb catalog with Documents 2 Go link.

EBSCO databases, like CINAHL, and Scopus include additional full-text options when content is available open access or when we subscribe to the content directly with them. In Scopus, you will frequently see a View PDF button in the results.  

Screenshot of Scopus article record with blue View PDF button.

In EBSCO,  the Access options button allows a similar selection of direct PDF or full-text on the provider’s website.

Screenshot of EBSCO article record with Access options selections for PDF or Online full text.

For the best linking experience, we recommend launching literature searching services from the Himmelfarb website. The most used services are in the Popular Resources box at left, and you can access a full list of available databases with the All Databases link there.

We also recommend installation of the LibKey Nomad browser extension to find Himmelfarb full-text wherever you are on the web!

Published on

"I tell her how humiliated I am that I can't deal with it myself. I confess my hypocrisy, professing that I can help other people when I am such a mess myself. She responds that some of the best therapists are the ones with the most darkness in their lives" (Manning, 1994, p. 70).

The phrase "physician heal yourself" survived because of the Bible, but it occurs only in the gospel of Luke, which makes sense, as tradition considers Luke a doctor. Entertaining tradition, one can easily imagine the memory of this phrase – in the research done for his books – to be triggered by the author's profession. In modern times, the saying has come to mean something like, 'Take care of yourself, those who take care of others,' which of course is a valid and necessary concept, but simultaneously quite different from its original context. From the biblical story, we can ascertain that the proverb was used to call out quacks, i.e.: 'if you're selling a cure, prove it on yourself, and then we'll believe you.' For better or worse, Jesus rejects the demand, as did the author of the work selected for this Humanities Highlights: psychologist and depression-sufferer Martha Manning – albeit it with far more turbulence. I thought of both meanings when reading her fantastic mental health memoir, Undercurrents.

A copy of Undercurrents by Martha Manning sits on a shelf.

The book opens as a domestic comedy, with Manning describing her too-stuffed life with self-deprecating wit and a solid sense of scene making. It could be a family movie – tagline: woman has great career and family, if she can keep the plates spinning! – except for the darkness hinted beneath the surface, the titular "undercurrents," recounted through childhood memories and stories of her grandmother.

The opening allows us to appreciate her sensibilities before we dive into her depression, demonstrating the high contrast of lights and darks that can color the life of the depressed, and preempting stereotypes of the mentally unwell in the process.

As a psychologist herself, Manning suppresses guilt about her own depression, wondering how she can serve her patients while feeling "like an orthopedist in a full body cast giving consultation to someone with a broken leg" (p. 84). But with gumption and high tolerance, she pushes through – until she can't. She seeks treatment, beginning with talk therapy before cycling through SSRIs, and when those don't work, electing to try Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT).

The assistant head nurse gives me a tour and asks how I have gotten so depressed. I stare at her blankly and can't find the words. She might as well ask me why I have brown hair or why I'm not taller. I tell her that I am mostly depressed about being depressed. Her expression informs me that this clearly is not the correct answer. . . . She says dubiously, "Dr. Samuel said you are a psychologist," as if somehow that should make me more articulate about my pain. I reply sheepishly that I am a psychologist but that I'm not very good, in the hopes that this will explain any deficits in my clinical presentation. (p. 111)

But pain, by its very nature, is inarticulate. A burned hand may provoke a life time of philosophy but in the moment hardly prompts more than a monosyllable. The grammar of psychotherapy can only push a DIY mental health intervention so far, but Manning's guilt is understandable. Burdened by their own authority, healers risk this sense of guilty and maybe even fraudulence.

When used to suss out charlatans, "Physician heal yourself" may have limited merit, but clearly, a surgeon – outside of some remote disaster, getting crushed under a boulder when no one else is around – would not perform surgery on themselves. Nor would the dentist fill their own tooth. But when it comes to the mind, it's easy to assume we can operate on ourselves. This should not be.

We all need other people – and their expertise. We do not know everything, and sometimes we experience mental blocks that others can help us hurdle. But, because Manning undergoes these experiences, she is better able to understand the patient's humiliation. She lightens the pressure to dispense insight and better learns when she just needs to "look squarely at people's pain" (p. 172).

It's a great book, one whose application greatly exceeds the particulars that germinated it.

References: 

Manning, M. (1994). Undercurrents : a life beneath the surface (1st ed.). HarperCollinsPublishers.
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