Research Guides: Evidence Synthesis: 6. Translating Search Strategies

Translate a Search Strategy

Evidence synthesis methods require authors to search multiple databases, and not all databases accept the same search "syntax." Each individual database requires use of specialized search syntax, and therefore evidence synthesis search strategies must be 'translated' between databases.

For example, a search for vitamin D[tiab] in PubMed will show you all citations with the phrase "vitamin D" in the title, abstract, or keywords, but a search for vitamin D[tiab] in Web of Science will not work at all.

Below is a template that you can use to document your search strategy translations and results, as well as search syntax translation tools and examples. Contact a librarian for assistance with search syntax translation.

Search Strategy Documentation Template (MS Word file/Cornell University)

Search Syntax Translation Examples

Note:

Click on "Advanced" below the search bar for line by line searching
The Medical Subject Headings [MeSH] tag searches for articles tagged with that MeSH term. See a tutorial on MeSH terms to learn more.
[MeSH:noexp] = the MeSH term is not "exploded" aka it does not include or search narrower terms
[tiab] tag searches for terms in the title, collection title, abstract, other abstract, or keywords
Truncation is denoted by * and searches for all endings of a particular word
- For phrases, only truncate the last word of the phrase
- Use truncation with caution, as it can weaken your search strategy due to PubMed's internal search structure
There is no wildcard searching (none or more unknown characters) in PubMed

A comprehensive search for weight gain in PubMed could be:

#1 - weight gain[MeSH:noexp] OR overweight[MeSH]

#2 - obes*[tiab] OR weight gain[tiab] OR overweight[tiab] OR over weight[tiab]

#3 - #1 OR #2

Note:

Use “CINAHL Headings” represented by MH
The + means the term is “exploded” aka includes and searches all narrower terms
TX searches for terms in the full text and citation record
Quotation marks should be used to search exact phrases
Truncation (all endings of a particular word) and wildcards (none or more unknown characters) are denoted by *
- Accepted inside quotation marks

A comprehensive search for weight gain and anemia in CINAHL could be:

#1 - MH(“weight gain+”)

#2 - TX(obes* OR "weight gain" OR overweight OR "over weight")

#3 - #1 OR #2

#4 - TX(an*emi* OR "iron deficien*")

#5 - #3 AND #4

Note:

Navigate to the "Advanced Search" tab for line by line searching
There is no controlled vocabulary headings for searching the Web of Science Core Collection. Search for keywords in the title/abstract/keywords of articles only.
TS= searches for terms in the title, abstract, author keywords
Quotation marks should be used to search exact phrases
Truncation is denoted by * and searches for all endings of a particular word
$ in the middle of a word will find multiple spellings of that word

A comprehensive search for weight gain and anemia in Web of Science could be:

#1 - TS=(obes* OR "weight gain" OR overweight OR "over weight")

#2 - TS=(an$emi* OR "iron deficien*")

#3 - #1 AND #2

Search Syntax Translation Tools

Polyglot search tool
The Polyglot is a tool for translating search strings across multiple databases.
MEDLINE Transpose
Use this tool to translate your MEDLINE (PubMed) search to MEDLINE (Ovid) format or vice versa.
Database Syntax Guide
Guide to translating syntax for multiple databases. From Cochrane.

Grey Literature and Regional Database Syntax

Search strategies for grey literature and regional databases often have to be distilled significantly from the main search strategy. This is due to the fact that many grey literature and regional databases cannot handle complex search strategies and special syntax. In addition, searching grey literature and regional databases with all the terms from the main search strategy sometimes returns far too many results to screen. The recommended method of simplifying a search strategy is to combine a few of the most important terms from each key concept of your research question. See an example below.

Research Question: What is the effectiveness of Vitamin B12 supplements in reducing morbidity in pregnant women with HIV infection?

Key Concept 1 distilled terms: B12, B 12, cobalamin
Key Concept 2 distilled terms: pregnancy/pregnant, gestate/gestation/gestational
Key Concept 3 distilled terms: HIV, human immunodeficiency virus

Distilled Search Strategy: (B12 OR "B 12" OR cobalamin) AND (pregnan* OR gestat*) AND (HIV OR "human immunodeficiency virus")