Take your search concepts and create a list of synonyms, antonyms, and abbreviations for each concept. For instance, if you are searching on compliance, think about also adding in adherence, noncompliance, and nonadherence.
Use this time to think about reverse engineering - how an author might have said what you're looking for in their article. If you think an author might use a phrase or word to describe your concept, make sure to include that in your list.
See Common Search Concepts for examples of search concepts.
A comprehensive and systematic search uses a combination of controlled vocabulary and natural language terms to best represent your concepts. MeSH, which stands for Medical Subject Headings, is the controlled vocabulary used to index articles in PubMed. Natural language terms are also known as keywords.
Accessing PubMed using the link https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?otool=jhumlib will allow you to connect with the Johns Hopkins Databases even while off campus. This link is bookmark-able if you want to add it to your bookmarks bar.
Note: The MeSH Database is also linked from the PubMed homepage and at the bottom of any search results page.
The MeSH terms from your key papers may not be the only relevant ones for your PubMed search. You should therefore search MeSH using terms related to each of your search concepts to see what else you find. For example, searching both "nurses" and "nursing".
Add relevant MeSH terms to the PubMed Search Builder and paste them into your search document as noted above.
For example, "Nurses"[Mesh] might be a MeSH term assigned to one of your key papers. By searching the MeSH Database with the term "nursing," you can also find the relevant MeSH term "Nursing"[Mesh].
Note: If you retrieve no results when searching, check your spelling, or try searching for a synonym or a related term.
Review the "Entry Terms" section of each relevant MeSH record. Entry terms are synonyms, alternate forms, and other closely related terms that are generally used interchangeably with the preferred term. Entry terms are a good source of keywords for your search strategy.
Note: Entry terms sometimes have a "Last Name, First Name" format (e.g. "Care, Neonatal Intensive"). This format should be inverted when using the term as a keyword (e.g. use "Neonatal Intensive Care" instead).
If you have articles you are basing your search off, you can use the Yale MeSH Analyzer to help identify relevant MeSH terms and keyword terms.
Copy and paste up to 20 PMIDs at a time.
Use the following resources to identify additional terms.
These will help you identify common terminology, synonyms, related terms, spelling variations (British vs. American), plurals, etc.
Consult controlled vocabularies in other subject databases. For example, Embase has a controlled vocabulary called Emtree. Emtree records contain synonym lists similar to the "Entry Terms" in a MeSH record. The Emtree synonym list often contains European spellings/variations.
PubMed comprises more than 34 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
