Quick

Quick Search is the default homepage for Embase and it is designed to be a very simple search interface that produces maximum search results with minimal user effort.  It is ideal for quick literature checks and is a good starting point for searchers who are not already experienced Embase users.

Quick Search offers:

  • A text box for typing words or phrases.  Enclose multi-word phrases in quotation marks (see below).  An autocomplete function points to possible Emtree thesaurus term(s) for the first word entered.
  • Extensive search: Selecting this option will map your search to the corresponding controlled term in Emtree (if your term is either recognized as an Emtree preferred term or synonym of an Emtree preferred term), explode this term to include all narrower or child terms and run a simultaneous free text search for your term. This is the broadest search possible in Embase and more information on Mapping and Explosion, please see below.
  • Search Publications from:  to specify individual publication years or ranges. All Years is ticked by default.

Simply click the Search button to execute the search.

 

Extensive search

This option ensures the largest possible retrieval of hits because it performs three functions simultaneously:

  • Mapping: A word or phrase is automatically matched (or mapped) to its corresponding Emtree thesaurus term, and the search is done in all index fields for the controlled term used by indexers.
  • Explosion: If an term has any more specific, or narrower, index terms within the Emtree thesaurus, they are also automatically retrieved.
  • Keyword search: This is a free text search and a free text search in Embase means all word or phrases are searched as written in every field, including index fields and all narrower terms in the index field.

The results of each of these functions are automatically combined in a Boolean OR search.

Example: 

Extensive search CHECKED: (It is checked by default)

  • ‘Myocardial infarction’ maps to the Emtree term heart infarction, so papers indexed with this term are retrieved.
  • Within Emtree, 'heart infarction' has several narrower or child terms: 'acute heart infarction', 'Dressler syndrome', 'heart muscle necrosis', 'heart right ventrical infarction', 'silent myocardial infarction', etc.  These are all included in an explosion search for 'heart infarction'.
  • The phrase ‘myocardial infarction’ is also searched for in other parts of the database record, including the title, abstract, index fields and narrower terms. This is a free text search in Embase.
  • All of these search components are combined with a Boolean OR to create a single, unified set of citations.

Extensive search UNCHECKED:

  • Emtree mapping and explosion is off, and so a free text search for 'myocardial infarction' is carried out.
  • A free text search in Embase for 'myocardial infarction' will search for your terms in all fields, including index fields and narrower terms. In this example, we have NOT used an Emtree preferred term, but a synonym. Therefore our term will NOT be found in the index fields (remember all other fields will also be searched and so our term will probably be found in other fields such as title, abstract, author keywords etc) and therefore neither will the narrower terms be included in our search.
  • However, if  we instead use 'heart infarction', which is an Embase preferred term, our term will be found in the index field and therefore also the narrower or child terms will be included, so we carry out an explosion search. This means the results for 'heart infarction' with Extensive search CHECKED and with Extensive search UNCHECKED are the same.

Additional tools and options for searching can be found in Advanced, Drug, Disease, Article, Journals
and Authors. 

 

Notes:

Enclose multi-word phrases in quotation marks: They can be either single or double quotes, as long as they match each other.  This will ensure your phrase is searched as words adjacent to each other, in the order given.  For instance, ‘drug resistance’ retrieves:

chronic myeloid leukemia (drug resistance, drug therapy)

If quotes are omitted, the words are processed with a Boolean AND operator, which can result in a large quantity of irrelevant results (“false hits”), since the terms can occur at some distance apart from each other within a database record.  Drug resistance (without quotes) can result in:

“Inflammation of the brainstem microvasculature may increase vascular resistance ...” (in the abstract) and “essential hypertension (drug therapy, etiology) (in the indexing).

Boolean operators, wildcards, proximity operators and field labels can be used in Quick Search for additional flexibility and precision: diabetes:ti,ab and (sugar or glucose) and monitor* But we advise you to consider using the Advanced form for this level of searching and please note that only the FIRST term entered in the Quick search box is checked with the Autocomplete function.