How do I search in Embase?

How do I use the Quick Search?

Just type into the text box. The autocomplete function will suggest indexed words or phrases directly coming from Embase life sciences thesaurus, Emtree.

Before viewing the results, you can click on “Display full query” where you’ll be able to see the query before performing the search. To view results, click “Show results”. The number of results is automatically calculated as you build your search.

To search for a phrase, use single or double quotes around the phrase, e.g., 'heart attack'

You can also add a new text box using the “Add field” button.

What is Broad search?

Broad search is the default search strategy on Embase. It combines indexed terms explosion search (/exp) with free text search in all fields.

It matches the entered term to the preferred Emtree term (e.g., aspirin will be mapped to “acetylsalicylic acid”) and searches the related narrower or children terms (e.g., “breast cancer” will be including “basal like breast cancer”, “breast carcinogenesis”, “breast sarcoma”, “breast carcinoma” …). Furthermore, it searches the entered term as free text in all fields.

As an example, hypertension will be searched as “hypertension/exp OR hypertension”.

How can I change the search strategy?

Click on the pencil icon next to the text box and select the search strategy you want to use. The top 7 are the most used and are the following:

Broad search (combination of term explosion with free text search in all fields)
All fields (only free text search on all fields. Note: It excludes term explosion, no synonyms and children terms will be searched)
Title (free text search in the title field)
Title or Abstract (free text search in the title or abstract fields)
Title, Abstract, Author keywords (free text search in the title, abstract or author keywords fields)
Author keywords (free text search in the author keywords field)
Emtree term – exploded (mapping option where term is matched to the preferred Emtree term and adds the related narrower or children terms)

For a full list of field codes and information of what they mean you can search on Embase click here.

To run an Advanced search, go to any page within Embase, click 'Search' in the top menu and select 'Advanced'.

Tools

Use the following tools to improve your Advanced search

Tool	Explanation
Quotation Marks	Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"
Boolean and Proximity Operators	Advanced searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more.
Autocomplete	When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.
Filters	Limit your search by: Mapping: Embase maps (automatically matches) a word or phrase to its corresponding Emtree thesaurus term and then searches for this term in all the index fields. Use the mapping options in Embase to limit or broaden your search. View the complete list of mapping options here. Learn more Date: A particular time period based on publication date or the date the document was added to Embase. Sources: Retrieve only results from Embase, MEDLINE or Embase Classic. Fields: Specify your search term by adding a field label (e.g. Article title :ti, Publication date :pd, Drug trade name :tn) Quick limits: Limit your search with one of the most frequently used limits (e.g. Human, Animal, With abstract, With clinical trial number) EBM (Evidence Based Medicine): Records that are most commonly used in evidence-based medicine (e.g. Cochrane Review, Systematic Review, Meta Analysis) Types: Limit your search to one or more publication types (e.g. Articles, Conference papers, Editorials) Languages: Select the language you want to limit your search to (e.g. English, German, Esperanto) Gender: Limit your search to articles featuring male or female subjects Age Groups: Limit your search to certain age groups (e.g. Newborn, Adolescent, Adult). This limit is only applicable to studies with human subjects. Animal: Limit your search to one or more animal study types (e.g. Animal Cell, Animal experiment, Animal Model)

Tool

Explanation

Quotation Marks

Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"

Boolean and Proximity Operators

Advanced searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more.

Autocomplete

When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.

Filters

Limit your search by:

Mapping: Embase maps (automatically matches) a word or phrase to its corresponding Emtree thesaurus term and then searches for this term in all the index fields. Use the mapping options in Embase to limit or broaden your search. View the complete list of mapping options here. Learn more
Map to preferred term in Emtree:

Search also as free text in all fields: All of the words and phrases are searched as written in every field, including index fields and more specific (narrower) terms in the index field.

Explode using narrower Emtree terms: If a term has more specific (narrower) index terms within the Emtree thesaurus, Embase automatically retrieves them

Search as broadly as possible: The 'search as broadlyas possible' option is checked by default. You can uncheck it at any time. When it is checked, you receive the largest possible set of relevant results because Embase performs three functions simultaneously, combining them in a Boolean OR search.
Date: A particular time period based on publication date or the date the document was added to Embase.
Sources: Retrieve only results from Embase, MEDLINE or Embase Classic.
Fields: Specify your search term by adding a field label (e.g. Article title :ti, Publication date :pd, Drug trade name :tn)
Quick limits: Limit your search with one of the most frequently used limits (e.g. Human, Animal, With abstract, With clinical trial number)
EBM (Evidence Based Medicine): Records that are most commonly used in evidence-based medicine (e.g. Cochrane Review, Systematic Review, Meta Analysis)
Types: Limit your search to one or more publication types (e.g. Articles, Conference papers, Editorials)
Languages: Select the language you want to limit your search to (e.g. English, German, Esperanto)
Gender: Limit your search to articles featuring male or female subjects
Age Groups: Limit your search to certain age groups (e.g. Newborn, Adolescent, Adult). This limit is only applicable to studies with human subjects.
Animal: Limit your search to one or more animal study types (e.g. Animal Cell, Animal experiment, Animal Model)

To run a Medical Device search, go to any page within Embase, click 'Search' in the top menu and select 'Medical Device'.

Tools

Use the following tools to improve your Device search

Tool	Explanation
Quotation Marks	Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"
Boolean and Proximity Operators	Device searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more.
Autocomplete	When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.
Device Name	Add device name by either typing the name or browsing through Emtree. Device synonyms can also be used from the Embase suggested pre-populated list or by self-defined synonyms.
Subheadings	Select one of the concept qualifiers for devices (i.e. Adverse device effect, Device comparison, Device economics, Clinical trial) to refine their meaning.
Adverse effect	Add Embase suggested medical device specific adverse effects and their synonyms or edit these to self-defined adverse effects and synonyms.
Limits	Study limits: Limit your search to clinical or pre-clinical studies with different combinations Human and Animal limits Publication years: Limit your results to year of publication of the records Records added to Embase: use the calendar to limit to the actual dates when the record was added to Embase
Display full query	The complete query can be viewed and edited at any stage of query creation.

Tool

Explanation

Quotation Marks

Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"

Boolean and Proximity Operators

Device searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more.

Autocomplete

When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.

Device Name

Add device name by either typing the name or browsing through Emtree. Device synonyms can also be used from the Embase suggested pre-populated list or by self-defined synonyms.

Subheadings

Select one of the concept qualifiers for devices (i.e. Adverse device effect, Device comparison, Device economics, Clinical trial) to refine their meaning.

Adverse effect

Add Embase suggested medical device specific adverse effects and their synonyms or edit these to self-defined adverse effects and synonyms.

Limits

Study limits: Limit your search to clinical or pre-clinical studies with different combinations Human and Animal limits
Publication years: Limit your results to year of publication of the records
Records added to Embase: use the calendar to limit to the actual dates when the record was added to Embase

Display full query

The complete query can be viewed and edited at any stage of query creation.

How

Follow these steps to perform a search with the PICO search form:

From any page, click ‘Search’ in the top menu and select ‘PICO’.
To set your default search range beforehand, use the options under ‘Default strategy’. Select from the following options (from narrow to broad):
- /mj (Major Focus): Focuses your search to record where your search term is indexed as major focus.
- /de (Index term): Searches your terms or maps to the preferred Emtree term (if your term is a synonym in Emtree).
- /exp (Explosion): Searches your term (or maps to the preferred Emtree term) and related narrower or children terms.
- /br (As broad as possible): Maps, explodes and searches your term as free text in all fields.
- /exp/mj (Explosion and Major focus): Searches your term (or maps to the preferred Emtree term) and related narrower or children’s terms but where the terms are indexed as "major focus"
Type your search term under ‘Search terms in Emtree’ on the right-hand side of the page and choose one of the preferred terms appearing.
- Your selected search term will be copied to the search form and will be highlighted in orange in the Emtree structure on the right side and in your search form.
- You can also enter your own search terms directly in the search field. They will be highlighted blue if they are not preferred terms in Emtree and orange if they are.
Click ‘Add # synonyms’ to see and add or remove synonyms for your search term.
To change the search range for only one term or the synonyms, click the arrow right of the term or synonym. The number of results is shown for each selection.
You can clear fields or remove fields or reset the form entirely at any time.
- Clear field: Click ‘x’ at the right side of the field you would like to clear.
- Remove field: Click the ‘garbage bin’ icon on the right side of the field.
- Reset form: Click ‘Reset Form’at the bottom right of the search form. This will clear all fields and will bring back any removed fields.
Once you are satisfied with your search, click ‘Show # Results’ at the bottom of the search form.

You can access the Drug search from any page in Embase by clicking 'Search' in the top menu and selecting 'Drug'.

Tools

Use the following tools to improve your Drug search

Tool	Explanation
Quotation Marks	Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"
Boolean and Proximity Operators	Drug searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more (LINK TO BE CREATED)
Autocomplete	When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.
Filters	Limit your search by: Mapping: Embase maps (automatically matches) a word or phrase to its corresponding Emtree thesaurus term and then searches for this term in all the index fields. Use the mapping options in Embase to limit or broaden your search. Learn more Drug Fields: Specify your search term by choosing to search on either Drug manufacturers or Drug trade names and set the range of the search (i.e. Phrase Search, Exact Search, or Mapped to Emtree) Drug Subheadings: Select concept qualifiers for drugs to refine their meaning. Terms such as 'adverse drug reaction' and 'drug therapy', when indexed with a drug or device term, give a very precise idea of what an article covers. To search for more than one subheading, use the Boolean AND operator below you selection. Learn more. Routes: Limit your search to certain types of drug administration (e.g. Intranasal, Topical, Oral) Quick limits: Limit your search with one of the most frequently used limits (e.g. Human, Animal, With abstract, With clinical trial number) EBM (Evidence Based Medicine): Records that are most commonly used in evidence-based medicine (e.g. Cochrane Review, Systematic Review, Meta Analysis) Types: Limit your search to one or more publication types (e.g. Articles, Conference papers, Editorials) Languages: Select the language you want to limit your search to (e.g. English, German, Esperanto)

Tool

Explanation

Quotation Marks

Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"

Boolean and Proximity Operators

Drug searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more (LINK TO BE CREATED)

Autocomplete

When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.

Filters

Limit your search by:

Mapping: Embase maps (automatically matches) a word or phrase to its corresponding Emtree thesaurus term and then searches for this term in all the index fields. Use the mapping options in Embase to limit or broaden your search. Learn more
Map to preferred term in Emtree:

Search also as free text in all fields: All of the words and phrases are searched as written in every field, including index fields and more specific (narrower) terms in the index field.

Explode using narrower Emtree terms: If a term has more specific (narrower) index terms within the Emtree thesaurus, Embase automatically retrieves them

Search as broadly as possible: The 'search as broadlyas possible' option is checked by default. You can uncheck it at any time. When it is checked, you receive the largest possible set of relevant results because Embase performs three functions simultaneously, combining them in a Boolean OR search.
Drug Fields: Specify your search term by choosing to search on either Drug manufacturers or Drug trade names and set the range of the search (i.e. Phrase Search, Exact Search, or Mapped to Emtree)
Drug Subheadings: Select concept qualifiers for drugs to refine their meaning. Terms such as 'adverse drug reaction' and 'drug therapy', when indexed with a drug or device term, give a very precise idea of what an article covers. To search for more than one subheading, use the Boolean AND operator below you selection. Learn more.
Routes: Limit your search to certain types of drug administration (e.g. Intranasal, Topical, Oral)
Quick limits: Limit your search with one of the most frequently used limits (e.g. Human, Animal, With abstract, With clinical trial number)
EBM (Evidence Based Medicine): Records that are most commonly used in evidence-based medicine (e.g. Cochrane Review, Systematic Review, Meta Analysis)
Types: Limit your search to one or more publication types (e.g. Articles, Conference papers, Editorials)
Languages: Select the language you want to limit your search to (e.g. English, German, Esperanto)

To run a Disease search, go to any page within Embase, click 'Search' in the top menu and select 'Disease'.

Tools

Use the following tools to improve your Disease search

Tool	Explanation
Quotation Marks	Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"
Boolean and Proximity Operators	Disease Searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more (LINK TO BE CREATED)
Autocomplete	When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.
Filters	Limit your search by: Mapping: Embase maps (automatically matches) a word or phrase to its corresponding Emtree thesaurus term and then searches for this term in all the index fields. Use the mapping options in Embase to limit or broaden your search. Learn more Date: A particular time period based on publication date or the date the document was added to Embase. Sources: Retrieve only results from Embase, MEDLINE or Embase Classic. Fields: Specify your search term by adding a field label (e.g. Article title :ti, Publication date :pd, Drug trade name :tn) Disease Subheadings: Select concept qualifiers for diseases to refine their meaning. Terms such as ‘disease management’ and 'rehabilitation', when indexed with a disease, drug or device term, give a very precise idea of what an article covers. To search for more than one subheading, use the Boolean AND operator below you selection. Learn more. Quick limits: Limit your search with one of the most frequently used limits (e.g. Human, Animal, With abstract, With clinical trial number) EBM (Evidence Based Medicine): Records that are most commonly used in evidence-based medicine (e.g. Cochrane Review, Systematic Review, Meta Analysis) Types: Limit your search to one or more publication types (e.g. Articles, Conference papers, Editorials) Languages: Select the language you want to limit your search to (e.g. English, German, Esperanto)

Tool

Explanation

Quotation Marks

Search for a phrase using single or double quotation marks, i.e. "key words"

Boolean and Proximity Operators

Disease Searches accept a variety of Boolean and Proximity operators. Learn more (LINK TO BE CREATED)

Autocomplete

When typing a term or phrase the autocomplete function suggests the term to use from Emtree, the biomedical thesaurus that is used to index the content in Embase.

Filters

Limit your search by:

Mapping: Embase maps (automatically matches) a word or phrase to its corresponding Emtree thesaurus term and then searches for this term in all the index fields. Use the mapping options in Embase to limit or broaden your search. Learn more
Map to preferred term in Emtree:

Search also as free text in all fields: All of the words and phrases are searched as written in every field, including index fields and more specific (narrower) terms in the index field.

Explode using narrower Emtree terms: If a term has more specific (narrower) index terms within the Emtree thesaurus, Embase automatically retrieves them

Search as broadly as possible: The 'search as broadlyas possible' option is checked by default. You can uncheck it at any time. When it is checked, you receive the largest possible set of relevant results because Embase performs three functions simultaneously, combining them in a Boolean OR search.
Date: A particular time period based on publication date or the date the document was added to Embase.
Sources: Retrieve only results from Embase, MEDLINE or Embase Classic.
Fields: Specify your search term by adding a field label (e.g. Article title :ti, Publication date :pd, Drug trade name :tn)
Disease Subheadings: Select concept qualifiers for diseases to refine their meaning. Terms such as ‘disease management’ and 'rehabilitation', when indexed with a disease, drug or device term, give a very precise idea of what an article covers. To search for more than one subheading, use the Boolean AND operator below you selection. Learn more.
Quick limits: Limit your search with one of the most frequently used limits (e.g. Human, Animal, With abstract, With clinical trial number)
EBM (Evidence Based Medicine): Records that are most commonly used in evidence-based medicine (e.g. Cochrane Review, Systematic Review, Meta Analysis)
Types: Limit your search to one or more publication types (e.g. Articles, Conference papers, Editorials)
Languages: Select the language you want to limit your search to (e.g. English, German, Esperanto)

To run a Citation Information search, go to any page within Embase, click ' Citation Information' in the top menu.

Tools

Use the following tools to improve your Citation Information search

Document field	Explanation
Title	Enter words, phrases, or complete article titles. You do not need to use quotation marks around words in this field. The results are the same for both. Words in this field are always treated as related with the Boolean operator AND in the first search. You can change this to OR in the results screen.
Authors' names	Enter an author’s full name, first name, or family name. For the most accurate results, please use the format: family name followed by initials. The initials should be separated by a period or space, thus: smith j.c. or smith j c Using smith j will also retrieve variants such as smith j c and smith j d, so you do not need to know the full name. If a name contains an apostrophe, please use an accent grave (`) with a space after it instead of an apostrophe, thus: O` Neill rather than O’Neill or O’ Neill
Specify name variants	Use this form to find different variants of an author name and add them to the search directly. You can search using different fields: “Author last name” and “Author first name”. WARNING Truncation is not enabled by default, if you want to use it add * at the end of your name. Affiliation ORCID
Journal title / Abbreviated Journal Title	Enter an exact title or words and phrases from the title. If you keep the 'Exact' checkbox selected, the search will be exact and will only return results that are a perfect match. If you de-select the 'Exact', it will look for all titles with those words. See an example View the list of the journals in Embase and their abbreviations here.
DOI, ISSN and CODEN	Search for journal ISSN and CODEN identifiers. ISSN and CODEN searches are carried out as phrase searches in the appropriate fields. For DOIs you may enter information of the 10-digit code containing the prefix and the suffix separated by a slash For ISSNs, you may enter the information with or without hyphens: 0028-4793 or 00284793 For CODEN searches, use the five-character code (without the checkdigit), e.g. NEJMA. Please note: CODEN codes are no longer assigned to new journals. This is only available for titles added before 2005.
Volume, Issue and First page	Specify the volume and issue of a journal, and indicate the page on which an article begins. Enter whatever information you know, with or without quotes, and Embase will retrieve the best match or matches.
Publication Years from	Define whether you want your Article Search to cover the whole history of Embase content or to define a particular period for your search. If you do not select this checkbox, the whole Embase searches all the records going back to 1966 and before.

Document field

Explanation

Title

Enter words, phrases, or complete article titles.

You do not need to use quotation marks around words in this field. The results are the same for both.
Words in this field are always treated as related with the Boolean operator AND in the first search. You can change this to OR in the results screen.

Authors' names

Enter an author’s full name, first name, or family name.

For the most accurate results, please use the format: family name followed by initials. The initials should be separated by a period or space, thus: smith j.c. or smith j c
Using smith j will also retrieve variants such as smith j c and smith j d, so you do not need to know the full name.
If a name contains an apostrophe, please use an accent grave (`) with a space after it instead of an apostrophe, thus: O` Neill rather than O’Neill or O’ Neill

Specify name variants

Use this form to find different variants of an author name and add them to the search directly. You can search using different fields:

“Author last name” and “Author first name”. WARNING Truncation is not enabled by default, if you want to use it add * at the end of your name.
Affiliation

ORCID

Journal title / Abbreviated Journal Title

Enter an exact title or words and phrases from the title.

If you keep the 'Exact' checkbox selected, the search will be exact and will only return results that are a perfect match. If you de-select the 'Exact', it will look for all titles with those words. See an example
Journal of Biochemistry

+ exact checkbox selected - Only results for Journal of Biochemistry

+ exact checkbox deselected - Results for Results for Journal of Biochemistry, International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, etc.
View the list of the journals in Embase and their abbreviations here.

DOI, ISSN and CODEN

Search for journal ISSN and CODEN identifiers. ISSN and CODEN searches are carried out as phrase searches in the appropriate fields.

For DOIs you may enter information of the 10-digit code containing the prefix and the suffix separated by a slash
For ISSNs, you may enter the information with or without hyphens: 0028-4793 or 00284793
For CODEN searches, use the five-character code (without the checkdigit), e.g. NEJMA.
Please note: CODEN codes are no longer assigned to new journals. This is only available for titles added before 2005.

Volume, Issue and First page

Specify the volume and issue of a journal, and indicate the page on which an article begins. Enter whatever information you know, with or without quotes, and Embase will retrieve the best match or matches.

Publication Years from

Define whether you want your Article Search to cover the whole history of Embase content or to define a particular period for your search.

If you do not select this checkbox, the whole Embase searches all the records going back to 1966 and before.

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