A well designed search strategy is essential to the success of your systematic review. Your strategy should be specific, unbiased, reproducible and will typically include subject headings along with a range of keywords/phrases for each of your concepts.
Your searches should be designed to capture as many studies as possible that meet your criteria.
Chapter 4 of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions provides detailed guidance for searching and study selection; see Supplement 3.8 Adapting search strategies across databases / sources for translating your search across databases.
Systematic Reviews: Constructing a Search Strategy and Searching for Evidence from the Joanna Briggs Institute provides step-by-step guidance using PubMed as an example database.
General Steps:
Conduct a preliminary set of scoping searches in various databases to test out your search terms (keywords and subject headings) and locate additional terms for your concepts.
Try building a "gold set" of relevant references to help you identify search terms. Sources for this gold set may include:
Hedges/ Filters
Hedges are search strings created by experts to help you retrieve specific types of studies or topics; a hedge will filter your results by adding specific search terms, or specific combinations of search terms, to your search.
Hedges can be good starting points but you may need to modify the search string to fit your research. Resources for hedges:
Example: Health Disparities & Minority Health Search Strategies
|
((ethnic disparities[TIAB] OR ethnic group[TIAB] OR |
refugees[MH] OR |
urban populations[TIAB] OR vulnerable population[TIAB] OR vulnerable populations[MH] OR vulnerable populations[TIAB] OR working poor[MH] OR working poor[TIAB] OR bisexuals[TIAB] OR bisexual[TIAB] OR bigender[TIAB] OR disorders of sex development[MH] OR disorders of sex development[TIAB] OR female homosexuality[TIAB] OR gay[TIAB] OR gays[TIAB] OR gender change[TIAB] OR gender confirmation[TIAB] OR gender disorder[TIAB] OR gender disorders[TIAB] OR gender dysphoria[TIAB] OR gender diverse[TIAB] OR gender-diverse[TIAB] OR gender diversity[TIAB] OR gender identity[MH] OR gender identity[TIAB] OR gender minorities[TIAB] OR gender non conforming[TIAB] OR gender non-conforming[TIAB] OR gender orientation[TIAB] OR genderqueer[TIAB] OR gender reassignment[TIAB] OR gender surgery[TIAB] OR GLBT[TIAB] OR GLBTQ[TIAB] OR health services for transgender persons[MH] OR homophile[TIAB] OR homophilia[TIAB] OR homosexual[TIAB] OR homosexuality[MH] OR homosexuality, female[MH] OR homosexuality, male[MH] OR homosexuals[TIAB] OR intersex[TIAB] OR lesbian[TIAB] OR lesbianism[TIAB] OR lesbians[TIAB] ORLGBBTQ[TIAB] OR LGBT[TIAB] OR LGBTI[TIAB] OR LGBTQ[TIAB] OR LGBTQI[TIAB] OR LGBTQIA[TIAB] OR men having sex with men[TIAB] OR men who have sex with men[TIAB] OR men who have sex with other men[TIAB] OR nonheterosexual[TIAB] OR non-heterosexual[TIAB] OR non heterosexuals[TIAB] OR nonheterosexuals[TIAB] OR pansexual[TIAB] OR polysexual[TIAB] OR queer[All Fields] OR same sex [TIAB] OR sexual and gender disorders[MH] OR sexual and gender minorities[MH] OR sex change[TIAB] OR sex reassignment[TIAB] OR sex reassignment procedures[MH] OR sex reassignment surgery[MH] OR sex reassignment surgery[TIAB] OR sexual diversity[TIAB] OR sexual minorities[TIAB] OR sexual minority[TIAB] OR sexual orientation[TIAB] OR transgender*[TIAB] OR transgender persons[MH] OR transsexual*[TIAB] OR transman[TIAB] OR trans men[TIAB] OR transmen[TIAB] OR transsexualism[MH] OR transsexualism[TIAB] OR transwoman[TIAB] OR trans women[TIAB] OR transwomen[TIAB] OR two spirit[TIAB] OR two-spirit[TIAB] OR women who have sex with women[TIAB])) |
You can use your PICOTS concepts as preliminary search terms. The important terms in this question:
In adults, is screening for depression and feedback of results to providers more effective than no screening and feedback in improving outcomes of major depression in primary care settings?
...might include:
Adults
Screening
Feedback
Outcomes
Major depression
Primary Care
(From Lackey, M. (2013). Systematic reviews: Searching the literature [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://guides.lib.unc.edu/ld.php?content_id=258919)
Your search will include both keywords and subject headings. Controlled vocabulary systems, such as the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) or Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), use pre-set terms that are used to tag resources on similar subjects. See boxes below for more information on finding and using subject terms.
Not all databases will have subject heading searching and for those that do, the subject heading categories may differ between databases. This is because databases classify articles using different criteria.
Using the keywords from our example, here are some MeSH terms for:
Adults: Adult (A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.)
Screening: Mass Screening (Organized periodic procedures performed on large groups of people for the purpose of detecting disease.)
Major depression: Depressive Disorder, Major (Marked depression appearing in the involution period and characterized by hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and agitation.)
Here is a LCSH subject term for:
Depression: Depression, mental (Dejection ; Depression, Unipolar ; Depressive disorder ; Depressive psychoses ; Melancholia ; Mental depression ; Unipolar depression)
Here is an example of the subject terms listed for a systematic review found in PsycINFO, "Primary care screening for and treatment of depression in pregnant and postpartum women: Evidence report and systematic review for the US Preventive Services Task Force" (2016).
MeSH are standardized terms that describe the main concepts of PubMed/MedLine articles. Searching with MeSH can increase the precision of your search by providing a consistent way to retrieve articles that may use different terminology or spelling variations.
Note: new articles will not have MeSH terms; the indexing process may take up to a few weeks for newly ingested articles.
Use the MeSH database to locate and build a search using MeSH.
Access the Mesh Database from the PubMed homepage under the Explore menu.
To search the MeSH database:
Build a search from the results list or from the MeSH term record to specify subheadings.
Logic Grid with Keywords and Index Terms or Subject Headings from Systematic Reviews: Constructing a Search Strategy and Searching for Evidence.
Bhuiyan, M. U., Stiboy, E., Hassan, M. Z., Chan, M., Islam, M. S., Haider, N., Jaffe, A., & Homaira, N. (2021). Epidemiology of COVID-19 infection in young children under five years: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Vaccine, 39(4), 667–677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.11.078
|
Database: SCOPUS |
|
|
1 |
( TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "2019 nCoV" OR 2019ncov OR "2019-nCoV" OR "2019 novel coronavirus" OR "Novel coronavirus 2019" OR "COVID 19" OR "COVID-19" OR "COVID19" OR "Wuhan coronavirus" OR "Wuhan pneumonia" OR "SARS CoV-2" OR "SARS-Cov-2" ) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY ( children OR child* OR infant OR pediatric OR paediatric OR adolescent ) ) |
|
|
|
|
Database: Web of Science |
|
|
1 |
TS=("2019 nCoV") OR TS=(2019ncov) OR TS=("2019-nCoV") OR TS=("2019 novel coronavirus") OR TS=("Novel coronavirus 2019") OR TS=("COVID 19") OR TS=("COVID-19") OR TS=(COVID19) OR TS=("Wuhan coronavirus") OR TS=("Wuhan pneumonia") OR TS=("SARS CoV-2") OR TS=("SARS-Cov-2") Indexes=SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED, IC Timespan=All years |
|
2 |
TS=(infant) OR TS=(child) OR TS=(children) OR TS=(adolescent) OR TS=(paediatric) OR TS=(pediatric) Indexes=SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED, IC Timespan=All years |
|
3 |
#2 AND #1 Indexes=SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI, CPCI-S, CPCI-SSH, BKCI-S, BKCI-SSH, ESCI, CCR-EXPANDED, IC Timespan=All years |
|
|
|
|
Database: Pubmed |
|
|
|
(((((((((((("2019 nCoV"[Title/Abstract] OR "2019ncov"[Title/Abstract]) OR "2019-nCoV"[Title/Abstract]) OR "2019 novel coronavirus"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Novel coronavirus 2019"[Title/Abstract]) OR "COVID 19"[Title/Abstract]) OR "COVID-19"[Title/Abstract]) OR "COVID19"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Wuhan coronavirus"[Title/Abstract]) OR "SARS CoV-2"[Title/Abstract]) OR "SARS-Cov-2"[Title/Abstract]) AND (((((((((((infant[Title/Abstract] OR "infant"[MeSH Terms]) OR child[Title/Abstract]) OR "child"[MeSH Terms]) OR children[Title/Abstract]) OR "child"[MeSH Terms]) OR adolescent[Title/Abstract]) OR "adolescent"[MeSH Terms]) OR paediatric[Title/Abstract]) OR "pediatrics"[MeSH Terms]) OR pediatric[Title/Abstract]) OR "pediatrics"[MeSH Terms])) AND "humans"[MeSH Terms]) AND (((((((((((("2019 nCoV"[Title/Abstract] OR "2019ncov"[Title/Abstract]) OR "2019-nCoV"[Title/Abstract]) OR "2019 novel coronavirus"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Novel coronavirus 2019"[Title/Abstract]) OR "COVID 19"[Title/Abstract]) OR "COVID-19"[Title/Abstract]) OR "COVID19"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Wuhan coronavirus"[Title/Abstract]) OR "SARS CoV-2"[Title/Abstract]) OR "SARS-Cov-2"[Title/Abstract]) AND (((((((((((infant[Title/Abstract] OR "infant"[MeSH Terms]) OR child[Title/Abstract]) OR "child"[MeSH Terms]) OR children[Title/Abstract]) OR "child"[MeSH Terms]) OR adolescent[Title/Abstract]) OR "adolescent"[MeSH Terms]) OR paediatric[Title/Abstract]) OR "pediatrics"[MeSH Terms]) OR pediatric[Title/Abstract]) OR "pediatrics"[MeSH Terms])) AND "humans"[MeSH Terms]) |
AND, OR, NOT
Join together search terms in a logical manner.
AND - narrows searches, used to join dissimilar terms
OR - broadens searches, used to join similar terms
NOT- removes results containing specified keywords
Examples:
#1
"major depression" AND "primary care"
#2
screen* OR feedback
#3
(screen* OR feedback)
AND
“major depression”
AND
“primary care”
#4
"major depression" NOT suicide
" "
To search for specific phrases, enclose them in quotation marks. The database will search for those words together in that order.
Examples:
“primary care”
“major depression”
TRUNCATION
Truncate a word in order to search for different forms of the same word. Many databases use the asterisk * as the truncation symbol.
Examples:
Add the truncation symbol to the word screen* to search for screen, screens, screening, etc.
You do have to be careful with truncation. If you add the truncation symbol to the word minor*, the database will search for minor, minors, minority, minorities, etc.
Not all databases support proximity searching. You can use these strategies in ProQuest databases such as Sociological Abstracts.
pre/# is used to search for terms in proximity to each other in a specific order; # is replaced with the number of words permitted between the search terms.
Sample Search: parent* pre/2 educational (within 2 words & in order)
w/# is used to search for terms in proximity to each other in any order; # is replaced with the number of words permitted between the search terms.
Sample Search: parent* w/3 educational (within 3 words & in any order)
Copyright @ The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
