Go to Embase and click on the link for Emtree at the top of the page. Emtree is the controlled vocabulary for Embase and can be searched like MeSH. Paste the MeSH terms from your PubMed search into Emtree (minus the quotation marks and field tags) to find the Emtree equivalents.
Use the "Add to Query Builder" feature and paste the resulting formatted Emtree term into the appropriate search concept in a Word document for your Embase search. You can also use the "Show results" button to capture the formatted Emtree term. This function will run a search in Embase for a particular Emtree term, and the results page will show that term properly formatted. An example of a formatted Emtree term is 'nurses'/exp.
Check the "Synonyms" at the bottom of the Emtree record for any unique keywords.
Use the keywords from your PubMed search (plus any additional keywords found in Emtree) as keywords for your Embase search. Format the keywords in your Embase search using the following convention - search term:ti,ab. An example of a formatted keyword term for Embase is 'hand washing':ti,ab,kw
Use single quotes instead of double quotes for phrases. If your original search had any apostrophes, make sure to delete them. For example, "Bell's Palsy"[tiab] would be 'Bell s Palsy':ti,ab,kw
Use an asterisk (*) for truncation.
Note: Embase allows truncation within quoted phrases (e.g. 'neonatal intensive care unit*':ti,ab).
Use the same arrangement of Boolean operators that you used in PubMed to combine your terms and concepts in Embase.
Use the Embase advanced search to run the individual concepts of your search and then combine them with AND using the search history. This is a very similar process as the one you used for PubMed.
Note: For more information about Embase searching, see the "More about Embase" box below.
Are a majority of your results off-topic? If so, look at some of these false hits to see why you are retrieving them. Similarly, do you see any records that are on-target? If so, take a look at some to see if you can identify additional terms to add to your search.
Use this exercise to consider modifications to your search terms and/or your search concepts. Continue to revise and refine your search strategy until you are satisfied.
Embase has recently introduced a query translator. This tool can be helpful for a simple search but has some issues appropriately translating some aspects of your PubMed search.
DO NOT use the query translator tool if you have used proximity searching in PubMed.
If you used any additional synonyms in your Embase search, make sure to add those to your PubMed search. Remember, each of your searches should look similar - having the same keywords and just different syntax and controlled vocabulary.
For instance, if your PubMed search was:
"Sepsis"[Mesh] OR sepsis[tiab] OR "septic shock"[tiab] OR "pyemia"[tiab] OR "Septicemia"[tiab]
but your Embase search was
'sepsis'/exp OR 'sepsis':ti,ab,kw OR 'septic shock':ti,ab,kw OR 'pyemia':ti,ab,kw OR 'septicemia':ti,ab,kw OR 'septic disease':ti,ab,kw
make sure to put "septic disease"[tiab] into your PubMed search strategy.
Embase, the Excerpta Medica database, provides access to biomedical and pharmacological information from international literature. More than 27 million records with abstracts from Embase (1974-present) and Medline (1966-present) are de-duplicated and searchable with Emtree, Embase's controlled vocabulary. Over 2,800 journals are unique to Embase.
Keep records of the following in your Search Strategy Template document :