The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) developed a comprehensive and publicly available literature review and ontology dashboard to organize Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) literature. This new capability streamlines the ability for end users and practitioners to access peer-reviewed and methodologically sound research products to develop an evidence base in the field of terrorism prevention for what works, what doesn’t, and why.
To develop this capability, S&T reviewed TVTP articles published in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as current TVTP research, existing TVTP research, and evaluations of TVTP programs. Queries focused on major TVTP concepts such as diversion, mitigation, resilience, program evaluations, transferrable programs, and international programs.
Articles in the ontology dashboard are searchable by Title, Author, Abstract, Author Keywords, and Themes (also known as nodes). Articles are hierarchically organized in the dashboard, which can show relatedness through parent and child nodes. For instance, an article about a diversion program in the UK would be coded under diversion programs and international programs. Content was coded through two qualitative approaches: content analysis and ground theory coding. The coding process was iterative, allowing for changes and additions as new themes and understandings emerged.
Mendeley – a free and publicly accessible desktop application and website that allows users to manage, share, and discover content and authors for research – was selected to host the literature library. Mendeley offers both a downloadable desktop application and web-based mode.
Desktop Features
- Automatic extraction of bibliographic information
- Full-text search (including grep) as well as filters (authors, keywords, etc.)
- Sharing of library with colleagues
Website Features
- Full-text search (including grep) as well as filters (authors, keywords, etc.)
- Online backup of library
- Ability to “follow” topics and authors as new research becomes available and recommendations for similar papers and topics based on user history
- Ability to export files as .xml
Create Account and Sign In
- Go to www.mendeley.com.
- Click “Create account” in banner at top of page.
- Enter your email address and choose a password.
- Return to www.mendeley.com
- .
- Click “Sign In” in the banner on the top of the page.
- Enter username and password.
- Click “Sign In.”
Importing the Master Library
- Go to the "Terrorism Prevention Literature Dashboard BIB File" page.
- Download the BibTex file for the Master CVE Library; save this file to your local drive.
- Navigate to the Library tab and locate icon in the top left corner (+ Add).
- Navigate to the .bib file on your local drive, select and open the file to import.
- To synchronize the web version with the desktop version (if users choose to download the app), open the desktop version, and it should sync automatically. If not, click the “Sync” button in the top menu.
Users, Groups, and Functionality Explained
Each user has access to their own unique library. Each user can customize their own unique library with folders, tags, and articles.
To share an article with the group, go to the “Groups” tab and click “Attach Documents” to select the article you wish to share. All members of the group will now see the article, and can then add it to their own library.
This allows each member to customize their own library to their specifications, and changes they make will not affect other users’ libraries.