JABSOM Library: Integrative Medicine Resources: Refine Searches

Quick PubMed Tips to Refine Searches

Try This ...	In PubMed ...
Use Filters	Limit your search by using the Filters on the Results page sidebar. Choose the restrictions for your search, e.g., a specific language, article type (e.g., randomized controlled trials, review), publication date, or a subset of PubMed, e.g., nursing journals, cancer, or bioethics. To limit to evidence-based citations, see the Find Evidence-Based Articles tab. Note: Filters remain in place until you change or remove them. Limits other than language or date will exclude NEW records that are "in process" or "supplied by Publisher."
Search by phrase (" ")	Add quotations around words to tell PubMed to find an exact phrase.
Search for words in the title [ti]	Search for words in article titles [Do not use this for comprehensive searches.] Ex: chlorhexidine[ti] AND bathing[ti]
Search by Author [au]	Search for a particular author Ex: Flum DR[au]
Find Similar Articles	Similar articles (citations closely related to the original citation) are available in the Abstract format. These citations are displayed by relevancy and may be reviewed and added to the clipboard, saved, or printed.
Use Clinical Queries specialized searches to find evidence-based citations	Enter your search terms, and evidence-filtered citations will appear under Clinical Study Categories. Systematic Reviews or Medical Genetics. The Clinical Queries link is found on the PubMed home page under Find. See the Find Evidence-Based Articles tab for more information.
Construct a search using MeSH terms MeSH terms, Medical Subject Headings, are assigned to all indexed articles in PubMed; they are key to finding relevant articles	Once you've identified an article that looks relevant, take a look at the article's MeSH terms. In the abstract view, scroll to the MeSH terms section. Click on the term to send it to the PubMed search box. You may combine terms, but you may receive better results by starting with two or three terms. You may add keywords to your search to narrow your results.
Use Advanced Search Builder	Click on the Advanced button below the PubMed search box. See the MeSH/Advanced Search tab.
Narrow or Broaden your search	See below for Hints on Improving Search Results.

Hints for Improving Search Results

No Results or Too Few Results

Look for misspellings in your strategy.
Decrease the number of concepts searched.
Try a broader search term.
Use a term from the thesaurus (i.e., MeSH or subject heading list) for searching. Select a citation of interest and click the title to see the Abstract Display (or select citations, add to the Clipboard, go to the Clipboard, and click Display Settings and change to abstract view). Below the abstract, scroll to the MeSH terms section. Click on Terms of Interest and add search terms. For more information, see the MeSH tab.
Use the Similar Articles feature.
Check for missing or incorrect field qualifiers.
Remove terms that are unlikely to be used by an author.
Replace terms that are too general or too specific.
Increase the number of synonyms or alternatives for a term.
Use a truncation symbol at the end of a term to pick up variant endings. The asterisk (*) is the truncation symbol used in PubMed. Example: asthm* will retrieve asthma or asthmatic.
Try running the search on earlier years of the database.
Try a different database.

Too Many Results

Choose the most specific subject headings or most significant keywords.
Use subheadings to narrow the focus of the subject heading if appropriate.
Increase the number of search concepts that are AND-ed together.
Use fewer synonyms for terms.
Make a term from the thesaurus (i.e. subject heading list or controlled vocabulary) the main focus of the article ("major" in PubMed).
Limit to Review articles by using Filters.
Limit your search to article type, language, age group, publication date, etc., by using Filters.
Ask for significant words to be in the TITLE of the article.