Search Hints

In order to search Embase, all you need to do is to type one or more words in the text box of any of the Search Forms and click Search.

Use the Boolean Operators AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, NEXT to combine search statements, execute phrase searches using quotes, modify searches using proximity searching and wildcards, and combine searches using hashmarks.

In addition you can apply limits to searches (see Quick Limits and Advanced Limits section), map to Emtree preferred terms, execute explosion searches, or apply drug subheadings or disease subheadings. You may also restrict search terms to specified fields (see Fields and Field Abbreviations), and for index terms, authors and journal names use an ’exact search’ (see command-line syntax / exact search) to define the exact term or name you wish to retrieve.

In all cases, your search is registered in the Session History using so-called command-line syntax. You can use this language, if you wish, to specify any search in full in the search text box on any Search Form. In addition, command-line syntax is used as the basis of editing searches.

If you are not familiar with command-line syntax, a readable tabular format is available on the Session Results, Saved Searches and E-mail Alerts pages. In tabular format, all fields, limits and mapping syntax are described in normal language, so that the search details are easy to read.

Notes:

  • You can modify your search by using proximity operators or wildcards in your query.
  • The use of upper-case characters is optional; Embase is not case-sensitive.
  • Special rules apply to non-alphanumeric characters, which are frequently used in drug names.
  • For a complete description of search syntax, see command-line syntax.
  • When All Years is selected, searches are executed without any date limitation. This is especially useful for combined searches (e.g. #1 and #2), in which a date limit might be confusing. For more tips, see command line syntax).
  • Your chosen date limitation set will be maintained in your subsequent searches, untill you set a new date limitation.
  • If you search without using quotes, then each word is mapped separately, and unmapped words are searched as free text. For example, the plural form heart attacks (without quotes) is not listed in Emtree, and neither is the word attacks. However heart maps to ‘heart’. Therefore the search is executed as ‘heart’/de AND attacks. For a further explanation of the code de , see Fields and Field Abbreviations.