PubMed

This page is intended to provide step-by-step guidance to creating a search in PubMed. Check out our Guide to the Basics. This goes over Boolean operators and how to use them. 

Some things to remember before you start:

• There are three basic Boolean operators: AND, OR, and NOT
  • AND combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms.
  • OR combines search terms so that each search result contains at least one of the terms.
  • NOT excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms that follow it.
• Break your question down into key concepts, then put those concepts inside parentheses.
• Quotation marks allow for words to be searched on together
  • Instead of searching for mental health, use "mental health"
• Asterisks allow for truncation and will catch all endings of a word
  • Instead of searching for (child OR children OR childhood), use (child*)

PubMed Search

There are multiple ways to search within PubMed. The example below will explore searching using "Advanced Search Builder". You can get here by Clicking on "Advanced" under your main search bar.

Analyze your research question and identify what your main key concepts are. Remember to add as many similar terms or synonyms with an OR to each concept to help broaden your search results. This example will search on individual key concepts then combine searches to get the the final search.

Example: Does caffeine have an effect on children?

Step-by-Step:

1. Start with your first concept. Identify all keyword(s) or phrase(s). Remember to build your search using Boolean Operators. Check out our Guide to the Basics for more information on how to use them. 

2. You will search on all your concepts individually. You can create your directly in the search bar, or go back into the Advanced Search Builder page. Your Search history will be stores in the Advanced Search Builder page.

If you don't identify any field codes, Ovid will default to searching [All Fields]. This will search for articles where your words appear in several specific fields, including the title, abstract, subject heading, author keywords, and more. This will be a much broader search. You can also try limiting the search to title and abstract only by using [Title/Abstract] or [tiab]

Please see Searching Tips for more information on the different field code options. 

3. Next you will combine your key concepts. You will click on  "..." and hit Add to Query. This will add the first search to your Query Box. Next you will do the same with the second search. Here you will the more options. This is where you will want identify what operator you want to combine with AND or OR.

Remember:

• Use AND to find results that contain all of the specified search terms. 
• Use OR to find results that contain at least one of the specified search terms, including synonyms or variations of a concept. 

4. Once you have combined your searches, you can hit "Search". You can also combine searches by simply typing the combined search in the search box #1 AND #2

And that's it! Search 3 in the image below combined two different concepts to create a more advanced search.

Field Codes

PubMed cannot search the full text. Instead, it searches on several other fields to help with searching. These field codes can help further refine a search. 

Field codes worth noting:

• [Title/Abstract] or [tiab] - Title or Abstract
• [au] - Author
• [1au] - First author

It is often recommended to limit your search to Title or Abstract. This can be done two different ways. 

Using PubMed Advanced Search Builder

1. In the Advanced Search Builder page, you will want to change "All Fields" to "Title/Abstract"

2. Type (or paste) your search terms into the search box, then click "ADD"

3. This should have added [Title/Abstract] after every keyword. When you click "Search" you results will only have the keywords in the title or abstract. 

Using [tiab]

You can also just type [tiab] after every keyword in any PubMed search box.