You may need to search additional or different databases, depending on the subject of your systematic review question.
For help deciding which databases are relevant for your question, please consult the Subject Guide for your discipline, or contact the relevant Research or Clinical Librarian for help.
| Databases | Ovid (Medline, JBI, Embase, PsycINFO) | PubMed | Cochrane | CINAHL | Web of Science | Scopus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controlled vocabulary/Thesaurus | MeSH (Medline), Emtree (Embase), PsycINFOThesaurus (PsycINFO). Default is unexploded heading. | MeSH. Default is exploded heading. | MeSH | CINAHL Headings | Not available. | IndexTerms |
| Boolean Operators | AND, OR and NOT | AND, OR and NOT | AND, OR and NOT | AND, OR and NOT | AND, OR and NOT | AND, OR and AND NOT |
| Proximity Operators | ADJ | Not available. | NEAR | N or W | NEAR/ | W/ or PRE/ |
| Capital letters required for Operators? | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Truncation | $ or * | * | * | * | * | * or ! |
| Wildcard | # or ? | Not available. | ? or * (within or before a word) | ? or # or * (between words) | ? or * (within a word) | ? or $ or * (within a word) |
| Phrase Searching | Searches as a phrase automatically unless an operator is used. | "" but note, this turns off automatic mapping to MeSH terms. | "" but cannot use in conjunction with wildcards. | "" | {} for exact phrase, "" for approximate phrase. | "" |
Search Operators for Different Databases, a table provided by the University of Tasmania, is a useful resource.
For more information and examples look at the 'Help' section within each database.
Also see Flinders University's guide to translating textword strings:
Search filters are strings of search terms that are used to limit search results. Many databases feature a built-in set of search filters that are commonly used to limit search results by age group, publication type, study type, and more.
When conducting a systematic review, however, there is a possibility that these filters may exclude relevant studies. For this reason, search experts and institutions have developed their own search filters, and many are available online for public use.
Look at the links listed below to see if there is a search filter relevant to you:
Many databases allow you to create a personal account and save your searches for your records or to re-run in the future. Saving your search will also enable you to set up search alerts, to automate the process of re-running your search to check for updates.
Have a look in the Help section of a database to get further information on setting up an account and saving searches.
A Journal Table of Contents alert is used to alert you when a new issue of a journal is published. TOC alerts can be set up for email or RSS. It is necessary to register for a Personal Account in each database where you have TOC Alerts.