Can I use Boolean operators, wildcards and proximity operators in Embase?
Last updated on September 02, 2025
Embase supports several search syntax operators. You can use them in any search form, including Quick Search.
However, we advise you to first explore the other search options in Embase for this level of complexity.
How
Embase supports the following operators to design your search:
The following Boolean operators can be used with all search options in Embase:
Boolean Operator |
Example |
|---|---|
AND |
Both words or phrases must be present in the record but do not have to be adjacent - e.g. depression AND tricyclic |
OR |
At least one word or phrase must be present in the record - e.g. elderly OR geriatric OR aged |
NOT |
The word or phrase before the 'NOT' must be present in the record; the word or phrase after the 'NOT' must be excluded - e.g. depression NOT tricyclic |
When combining the different Boolean operators, the following rules apply:
- The parts of your query in parentheses are executed first
- After the rule above is observed, your search query will be read from left to right
- Parentheses that do not affect your search are removed when your search is displayed in your search history
- One Boolean operator does not take precedence over another Boolean operator. The order depends on the rules given above.
For example:
- (A AND B) OR (C AND D) will display in your search history as A AND B OR (C AND D)
- (A OR B) AND (C AND D) will display in your search history as A OR B AND C AND D
The following proximity operators can be used with all search options in Embase:
Proximity Operator |
Example |
|---|---|
NEAR/n |
Requests terms that are within 'n' words of each other in either direction - e.g. blood NEXT/2 cardio* NEAR/5 system* retrieves: ”…and vegetative nervous system, disorders of blood coagulation, cardio haemodynamics…”. Please Note: In Embase NEAR/1 signifies the two words are next to each other without any other words in between. |
NEXT/n |
Requests terms that are within 'n' words of each other in the order specified - e.g. cancer* NEXT/4 cell* NEXT/6 therapy retrieves the article: “Interplay between ROS and autophagy in cancer cells, from tumor initiation to cancer therapy” |
The following wildcards can be used in Embase:
* |
For variable truncation (i.e., one or more letters) - e.g. sul*ur retrieves ‘sulfur’, ‘Sulphur’ and cat* retrieves ‘cat’, ‘cats’, ‘catalyst’, ‘catastrophe’ |
? |
For single-letter truncation - e.g. sulf?nyl retrieves records that contain words like 'sulfonyl' and 'sulfinyl' and catheter? retrieves records that contain words like 'catheters', but not 'catheter' or 'catheterization' |
$ |
For 0/1 character - e.g. group$ retrieves records that contain 'group OR group?' |
Some useful suggestions for searching with wildcards:
- For the most relevant results, type at least three characters before truncating with *.
- The wildcard * may be used in combination with field limits. For example, sul*ur:ti:ab will limit your wildcard search to title and abstract only. However, the use of ? is not supported with field limits. This is a limitation of our search engine and we are looking to find a solution. In the meantime, please be aware that sulf?nyl:ab:ti, for example, is not supported.
- You can also use truncation characters (wildcards) within phrases, e.g. “heart infarct*” or "metabol* disorder*".
- The wildcard * cannot be used with fewer than two characters. For example, "m* disorder" or "metabol* d*" will not return results.
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