Take your search concepts and MeSH terms, and combine them in a format that PubMed can use to search the database.
Using the Boolean "OR", combine the synonyms and MeSH terms for each concept. Encase that concept within a set of parentheses.
Using the Boolean "AND", combine your concepts together using the PubMed Advanced Search Builder.
Use the Common Search Concepts as a guide for formatting within PubMed.
The formatted MeSH terms you generated from the MeSH Database in Step 2 contain as part of their formatting the [Mesh] field tag. PubMed's field tags specify where terms will be searched in PubMed records. For instance, any term with a [Mesh] field tag will only be searched for in the part of the PubMed record that lists MeSH terms.
Use one of the following field tags for keywords:
[tiab] - searches the Title and Abstract, and Author Supplied Keywords
[tw] - searches the Title, Abstract, Author Supplied Keywords, Secondary Source, Comment/Correction Notes, and Other Terms
Note: Leaving off a field tag will default to search [all fields] of the citation. This includes journal name, author names and author affiliations and addresses. These fields may increase the retrieval of "false hits."
Apply truncation to keywords in order to add word variants to your search. Do this by adding an asterisk (* or Shift + 8 on your keyboard) to the common root of the variants. For example: vaccin* will add the variants vaccine, vaccines, vaccination, vaccinations, etc. to your search.
Add quotation marks to keep specific terms together as a phrase.
Note: You can use truncation with quotation marks. For example: "vaccine sched*"[tiab] will find "vaccine schedule," "vaccine schedules," and "vaccine scheduled."
Be careful with truncation: carb* will retrieve carbohydrates as well as carbon.
Proximity searching can be used to search for multiple keyword terms appearing in any order within a specified distance of one another in the title/abstract ([tiab]) or text words ([tw]) field.
When performing proximity searching, use the format: "search terms"[field:~N], where search terms can be two or more words, field is either [ti] or [tiab], and N is the maximum number of words appearing between your search terms.
For example, "rationing healthcare"[tiab:~2] may give results that include: rationing healthcare, healthcare rationing, rationing of healthcare, rationing in healthcare, rationing universal healthcare, rationing strategies in healthcare, rationing limited healthcare, etc.
Note: PubMed does not allow proximity searching and truncation to be used together.
Use the Boolean OR operator to connect formatted MeSH terms and keywords for each of your search concepts.
Use the following examples as a guide, or see the Common Search Concepts page.
"Sepsis"[Mesh] OR sepsis[tiab] OR "septic shock"[tiab] OR "pyemia"[tiab] OR "Septicemia"[tiab]
"Mass Screening"[Mesh] OR "screen*"[tiab]
"Nurses"[Mesh] OR "Nursing"[Mesh] OR "nurse"[tiab] OR "nurses"[tiab] OR "nursing"[tiab]
Use the Advanced Search Builder in PubMed to combine your search concepts. It's good practice to run each search concept individually in the Advanced Search as a way to check for errors, including result sets that are much larger or smaller than expected. It's also good practice to use the search builder to insert the Boolean AND to connect search concepts.
The following screenshot shows the three concepts of our example search (Sepsis, Screening, and Nurses) connected with the Boolean AND.
The individual concepts were run separately and then added to the search builder from the search history. The search history lies below the search builder and contains a list of searches completed during each a searching session. It includes the search line number, the search terms, and the number of results.
Watch this section of the PubMed: Building a Search video for step-by-step instructions on assembling a search in PubMed.
You should aim for 100 to 500 results per database.
If you have significantly less than 100, consider removing a concept or adding more synonyms to each concept.
If you have significantly more than 500, consider adding a concept.
Keep records of the following in your Search Strategy Template document :