Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA): Searching

Basic Search searches ALL of its indexed fields for records with ALL terms entered.

You can use Boolean operators, quotation marks, and truncation and wildcard characters in Basic Search.

You can limit your results to records in peer-reviewed journalsby clicking on the Peer reviewed box.

When running a search, the search default from the pull-down menu is Anywhere. This searches the full bibliographic record. Other search fields can be chosen such as abstract, author, document title and publication title.

The full listing, description, and example of how to format a search using field codes indexed in ASFA, are explained in this ProQuest LibGuide.

The Publication title and Author field includes a look up link to the browsable index for this field.

Search Options

The first limit available is the Peer reviewed limit. Checking the Peer reviewed limit will restrict your search to only search and retrieve records that are indexed in peer reviewed journals.

The Publication date limit defaults to search all dates. Other options allow you to choose the period in which you like to search.

Source type limit refers to the publication type. They are unchecked by default and when you run your search, will include all source types. Limiting your search by marking any of the source types will only run your search to include those source types you selected.

The Document type limit is used to refer to the format of the full-text. Limiting your search by marking any of the document types will then only run your search to include those document types you selected.

The Language limit is used to restrict your search to documents published in one or more languages.

Boolean Operators link concepts and are used to broaden or narrow your search. Briefly, here's how they work:

AND - finds results with your all search terms.  AND narrows your search so that you retrieve fewer articles.

OR - finds results with any of your search terms.  OR broadens your search so that you retrieve more articles.

NOT - finds results without the specified search terms.  NOT narrows your search but it can be tricky to use.

By default, ASFA assumes an AND relationship between your search terms.

Take a look at the Boolean Operators guide for more detailed information about how to use this valuable search technique.

Sometimes you will want to search for a specific phrase rather than searching for individual, single words and combining them with the Boolean Operator AND.

When you do a phrase search, the record will have to contain all of the words, in the order you specify, and right next to each other.

To specify a phrase search, simply enclose the phrase in quotation marks. For example:

"sustainable fisheries"

Doing a phrase search results in fewer, generally more relevant, results. These are examples from ASFA:

sustainable fisheries retrieves 29,806 records

"sustainable fisheries" retrieves 1,274 records

Phrases and single words can be searched in combination, and will be linked with AND, as in this example.

"sustainable fisheries" tuna "longline fishing"

ASFA recognizes two different proximity operators:

NEAR/n will search for records with 2 search terms within a specified number (n) of words apart, in any order.  For example, mangrove NEAR/3 conservation.

PRE/n will search for records where the first term precedes the second term within a specified number (n) of words.  For example, mangrove PRE/4 conservation.