Searching Scopus, Ovid, EBSCO, and Informit

Terms on the same line are equivalent between searches. ‘—’ (i.e. mdash) means not available. Notes for the different databases use the symbols † (Scopus), ‡ (Ovid), § (EBSCO), and ◊ (Informit).

Operators (boolean, proximity)

Operator Scopus Ovid EBSCO Informit
Boolean
OR OR OR OR OR
AND AND AND AND AND
NOT AND NOT NOT NOT NOT
Proximity
Near W/n † ADJn Nn § "word1 word2"~n ◊
Before PRE/n † — Wn § —
Other — \FREQ=n ‡ — word1^n word2 ◊
  • † PRE/ and W/, Scopus recommendations
    • Limit for n is 0 to 255
    • Adjacent, use 0 (i.e. word1 PRE/0 word2 the same as "word1 word2")
    • Same phrase, use 3, 4, or 5
    • Same sentence, use 15
    • Same paragraph, use 50
  • ‡ \FREQ=n, frequency, threshold, or minimum occurrence for a term
    • No limit for n stated
    • Can only be used after a single field code, e.g. term1.ab./FREQ=5
  • § No limit stated for n
    • Nn, called Near operator
    • Wn, called Within operator
  • ◊ No limited stated for n
    • ~n, word1 is within n words of word2
    • ^n, word1 is n times more important than word2

Phrases and words (wildcards, brackets, quotation marks)

In each database, group or nest terms by using parenthesis, that is ( )

Type Scopus Ovid EBSCO Informit
Plural not req — not req —
0 or 1 char — ? # —
1 char — # ? ?
0 or more char — — * *
Truncation * * * *
Limit trunc. — *n‡ — —
Punctuation ignored — ignored —
Exact phrase {term1 term2} default "term1 term2" "term1 term2"
Loose phrase "term1 term2" — term1 term2 —
  • ‡ n characters exactly at end of word

Basic fields

Field Scopus Ovid EBSCO Informit ◊
Default TITLE-ABS-KEY † .mp ‡ TX § Anywhere
All ALL .af TX Anywhere
Subject SUBJAREA .hw SU Subject
Title TITLE .ti TI Title
Author AUTH .au AU Author
Abstract ABS .ab AB —
Keyword KEY .kw — —
  • † TITLE-ABS-KEY, default in basic search, advanced search default is ALL
    • Combination of title, abstract, and keyword
    • KEY = AUTHKEY, INDEXTERMS, TRADENAME, CHEMNAME
  • ‡ .mp, multipurpose field, database dependent
    • Emcare, ti,ab,hw,tn,ot,dm,mf,dv,kw
    • MEDLINE, ti,ab,ot,nm,hw,fx,kf,ox,px,rx,ui,sy
    • Journals@Ovid, ti,ab,tx,ct
    • JBI EBP, ry,rp,tx,hw,sa,ti
  • § TX seems to be default but can not be verified
  • ◊ Limit search from dropdown menu to one of Anywhere, Title, Author, or Subject

Common stop words

  • Scopus, dropped unless include with quotation marks, e.g. "about"
  • Ovid and EBSCO, dropped
  • Informit, unknown
  • † not and or are not stop words if used in a boolean search
Index  Stop words
A a, about, again, all, almost, also, although, always, among, an, and †, another, any, are, as, at
B be, because, been, before, being, between, both, but, by
C can, could
D did, do, does, done, due, during
E each, either, enough, especially, etc
F for, found, from, further
H had, has, have, having, here, how, however
I i, if, in, into, is, it, its, itself
J just
K kg, km
M made, mainly, make, may, mg, might, ml, mm, most, mostly, must
N nearly, neither, no, nor, not †
O obtained, of, often, on, or †, our, overall
P perhaps
Q quite
R rather, really, regarding
S seem, seen, several, should, show, showed, shown, shows, significantly, since, so, some, such
T than, that, the, their, theirs, them, then, there, therefore, these, they, this, those, through, thus, to
U upon, use, used, using
V various, very
W was, we, were, what, whatever, when, whether, which, while, with, within, without, would

Examples

  • Scopus, veteran AND (woman OR female) AND (health PRE/1 (literacy OR promotion OR education))
  • Ovid, veteran AND (wom#n OR female) AND (health ADJ1 (literacy OR promotion OR education))
  • EBSCO, veteran AND (wom?n OR female) AND (health N1 (literacy OR promotion OR education))
  • Informit, veteran AND (wom?n OR female) AND ("health literacy"~1 OR "health promotion"~1 OR "health education"~1)

Advanced fields

Scopus field codes

  • Usage field_code(search terms)
  • A limited number of field codes are available in Document/Basic search, so use Advanced Document Search.
  • Not all documents contain all fields. Searching specific fields may prevent some articles from appearing in your search results.
  • † included in ALL (combines ABS, AFFIL, ARTNUM, AUTH, AUTHCOLLAB, CHEM, CODEN, CONF, DOI, EDITOR, ISBN, ISSN, ISSUE, KEY, LANGUAGE, MANUFACTURER, PUBLISHER, PUBYEAR, REF, SEQBANK, SEQNUMBER, SRCTITLE, VOLUME, TITLE)
Field code Description
ALL All fields (see note above)
ABS † Abstract
AF-ID † Affiliation ID (boolean operators cannot be used)
AFFIL † Affiliation (combines AFFILCITY, AFFILCOUNTRY, AFFILORG)
AFFILCITY Affiliation city
AFFILCOUNTRY Affiliation country
AFFILORG Affiliation organization
ARTNUM † Article number (used by a few publishers instead of or in addition to page numbers)
AU-ID † Author identifier number (boolean operators cannot be used)
AUTHOR-NAME Author name (use a comma to separate family name and given name)
AUTH † Author (combines AUTHLASTNAME, AUTHFIRST)
AUTHFIRST Author given name initial
AUTHLASTNAME Author family name
AUTHCOLLAB † Author collaboration group name
AUTHKEY Author assigned keywords
CASREGNUMBER CAS registry number
CHEM Chemical (combines CHEMNAME, CASREGNUMBER)
CHEMNAME † Chemical name
CODEN † Unique code for serial and nonserial publications
CONF † Conference information (combines CONFNAME, CONFSPONSORS, CONFLOC)
CONFLOC Conference location
CONFNAME Conference name
CONFSPONSORS Conference sponsors
DOCTYPE(XX) Document type (see below for XX values)
DOI † Digital object identifier
EDFIRST Editor first or given name
EDITOR † Editor (combines EDLASTNAME, EDFIRST)
EDLASTNAME Editor last or family name
EISSN Electronic ISSN
EXACTSRCTITLE Exact source title (will not find variations of search terms)
FIRSTAUTH First author
INDEXTERMS Index terms (controlled vocabulary)
ISBN † ISBN
ISSN † Print or electronic ISSN
ISSNP Print ISSN
ISSUE Issue
KEY † Keywords (combines AUTHKEY, INDEXTERMS, TRADENAME, CHEMNAME)
LANGUAGE † Language
MANUFACTURER Manufacturer
PAGEFIRST First page
PAGELAST Last page
PAGES Pages (combines PAGEFIRST, PAGELAST)
PMID PubMed identifier
PUBDATETXT Date of publication as text
PUBYEAR Year of publication as number (can use < Before, > After, = Equal to)
REF † References (combines REFAUTH, REFTITLE, REFSRCTITLE, REFPUBYEAR, REFPAGE, URL)
REFAUTH Reference authors
REFTITLE Reference title
REFSRCTITLE Reference source title
REFPUBYEAR Reference year as number
REFARTNUM Article number
REFPAGE Reference page numbers
REFPAGEFIRST First page
SEQBANK Sequence bank (sequence bank that lists a nucleotide or amino acid sequence)
SEQNUMBER Sequence bank accession number assigned to a nucleotide or amino acid sequence
SRCTITLE † Source title
SRCTYPE(X) Source type (see below for X values)
SUBJAREA(XXXX) Subject area (see below for XXXX values)
TITLE † Article Title
TITLE-ABS-KEY Combines title, abstract, and keywords
TITLE-ABS-KEY-AUTH Combines title, abstract, keywords, and author names
TRADENAME
VOLUME Volume
WEBSITE URL

Scopus DOCTYPE values

Value Description
ar Article
ab Abstract report
ip Article in press
bk Book
bz Business article
cp Conference paper
cr Conference review
ed Editorial
er Erratum
le Letter
no Note
pr Press release
re Report
sh Short survey

Scopus SRCTYPE values

Value Description
j Journal
b Book
k Book series
p Conference proceeding
r Report
d Trade publication

Scopus SUBJAREA values

Value Description
AGRI Agricultural and Biological Sciences
ARTS Arts and Humanities
BIOC Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology
BUSI Business, Management, and Accounting
CENG Chemical Engineering
CHEM Chemistry
COMP Computer Science
DECI Decision Sciences
DENT Dentistry
EART Earth and Planetary Sciences
ECON Economics, Econometrics, and Finance
ENER Energy
ENGI Engineering
ENVI Environmental Science
HEAL Health Professions
IMMU Immunology and Microbiology
MATE Materials Science
MATH Mathematics
MEDI Medicine
NEUR Neuroscience
NURS Nursing
PHAR Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Pharmaceutics
PHYS Physics and Astronomy
PSYC Psychology
SOCI Social Sciences
VETE Veterinary
MULT Multidisciplinary

Ovid search fields

  • Usage search terms.search_field
  • Availability is database dependent
Search field Description (sort order)
af All fields
ab Abstract
al Abstract label
an Accession number
id Article identifier
ar Article number
au Author
ae Author email
ai Author initials
ax Author family name
ao Author name ID
fa Authors full name
bd Beginning date
ba Book authors
bf Book Authors full name
bn Book edition
be Book editors
pr Book Part
bs Book Series
bt Book Title
bv Book Volume
rn CAS Registry Numbers
cd CODEN
cq Cited reference date
rp Cited reference Issue
ry Cited reference publisher identifier
cs Cited reference source
rz Cited reference UI
ce Cited reference volume
cn Clinical trial Number
co Collaboration
cl Collection title
cm Comments
cf Conference information
cg Conference publication
ci Conflict of interest
cb Contribution date
cz Contributors
cr Copyright
ad Correspondence address
cp Country of publication
dt Create date
do DOI
dc Date Created
dd Date Delivered
dp Date of Publication
dm Device Manufacturer
dv Device Trade Name
mf Drug Manufacturer
tn Drug Trade Name
ex Editor Last Name
ed Editors
fe Editors Full Name
ep Electronic Date of Publication
en Electronic ISSN
et Ending Date
em Entry Week
ir Entry Week
up Entry Week
ez Enzyme Commission Numbers
ec Equal Contributor
xs Exploded Sub-Heading
ee Extra Index
fs Floating Sub-Heading
fx Floating Sub-Heading Word
gs Gene Symbol
gw Gene Symbol Word
nt General Note
ga Grant Abstract
gr Grant Acronym
gc Grant Country
gi Grant Information
no Grant Number
go Grant Organization
gn Grant Organization Number
hw Heading Word
ib ISBN
io ISO Journal Abbreviation
is ISSN
il ISSN Linking
ig Indexing Method
in Institution
ia Investigator Affiliation
ix Investigator NameID
ip Issue Part
ja Journal Abbreviation
ji Journal Issue
jn Journal Name
sb Journal Subset
tj Journal Translated Name
jw Journal Word
jx Journal Word
kw Keyword
kf Keyword Heading Word
lg Language
da MeSH Date
mt Media Type
ms Molecular Sequence Number
nc NLM Category
jc NLM Journal Code
nj NLM Journal Name
nw NLM Journal Word
nm Name of Substance Word
nr Number of References
oj Object ID
os Organism Supplementary Concept
ox Organism Supplementary Concept Word
ot Original Title
oa Other Abstract
oi Other ID
pm PMC Identifier
pg Page
px Page Duration
bk Parent Book Title
pa Part Number
pn Personal Name as Subject
pl Place of Publication
pj Preferred Journal Name
ps Protocol Supplementary Concept
pq PubMed Central Release
ph Publication History Status
pp Publication Status
pt Publication Type
pb Publisher
pc Publisher Copyright
di Publisher Item Identifier
rs Rare Disease Supplementary Concept
rx Rare Disease Supplementary Concept Word
ro Record Owner
rl Reference Title Index
rr Report Number
rd Revised Date
se Season
si Secondary Source ID
sn Section
su Source Type
sm Space Flight Mission
sa Stage
st Status
sh Subject Headings
sl Summary Language
sy Synonyms
tw Text Word
ti Title
tc Title Comment
ur URL
ui Unique Identifier
vd Version Date
vi Version ID
vo Volume
vb Volume Book Title
yr Year of Publication
xc arXiv Identifier

EBESCO field codes

  • Usage field_code search terms
  • Availability can be database dependent
Field Description
TX All Text
TI Title
AU Author
AB Abstract
MW Word in Subject Heading
MH Exact Subject Heading
MJ Word in Major Subject Heading
MM Exact Major Subject Heading
SU Subject
DH Exact Minor Subject Heading
SO Publication Name
JN Publication (exact)
AF Author Affiliation
AG Age Group
AN Accession Number
CA Corporate Author
CH Cochrane AN
CR Commentary
CT Gender
DN Dissertation Number
DT Publication Date
EM Entry Date
GI Grant Information
IB ISBN
IN Instrumentation
IP Issue
IR Supplement Title
IS ISSN
JT Journal Title Abbreviation
LA Language
LE Legal
NM Name
NP Named Person
NT Notes
OS Original Study
PB Publisher
PG Number of Pages
PM Medline PMID
PP Pagination
PT Publication Type
PY Year of Publication
RP Report Number
SB Journal Subset
SC Special Interest
SE Series Title
SP Start Page
TC Table of Contents
VI Volume

Further information

REnPortable (v1.0.0)

REnPortable is a portable 64-bit R environment for Windows. It was put together using the PortableApps.com launcher but is not endorsed by and does not comply with PortableApps.com requirements.

Please note that to use REnPortable you need to supply your own 64-bit copy of R (base), Rtools, RStudio Desktop (Open Source Edition). REnPortable was tested with R v3.5.1, Rtools v3.4, and RStudio Desktop Open Source v1.1.453 on a Windows 10 (x64) machine. No support is offered for any of these programs — please use the relevant support pages.

The reason for putting together REnPortable was to have a complete, portable R environment to learn R and RStan. Therefore, all the preliminary work is complete to install the RStan for Windows packages into REnPortable.

You can find REnPortable on GitHub for more information and to download.

Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool (v1.4)

Summary of main points

  • The Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool (CCAT) consists of
  • Always use the CCAT Form and the CCAT User Guide together.
  • Research designs should be appraised on their own merits, not to a ‘gold standard’.
  • All categories must be scored: it does not matter which research design was used
    • The lowest score for a category is 0, the highest score is 5
    • Category scores are whole numbers only (that is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5)
    • The score for each category must be reported
    • The total score (out of 40 or as a percent) is reported in addition to each category score.
  • Item descriptors may be marked present (✔), absent (✘), or not applicable (◼).
    • Tick marks are not a check list to be totalled.
    • Tick marks are simply a guide to scoring a category.
  • If in doubt use your best judgement, there is no right or wrong answer.

References