After you have run your search on one database (for health questions you often start with MEDLINE), you need to adapt and run it on your other databases. Your new search should be the same as your original 'master' search, only changing as much as necessary to get it to work in the new database.
You cannot simply re-run a MEDLINE search across Embase and Emcare. You need to search Embase for the appropriate Emtree theaurus headings. These are not necessarily the same as the MEDLINE subject headings.
This page will show you how to adapt your master search to a variety of other databases often used in systematic searching.
Please note: database interfaces change frequently, and some of the resources on this page no longer match the current interfaces. The Library is currently reviewing all resources on this page. |
The following PDF guides show how to adapt your search to a range of databases. Correct at the time of production but subject to interface changes! |
Aug. 2025: EBSCOhost has a new interface and may look different in some existing Guides. Updating is underway! |
Different databases use different search syntax, operators, and default search fields. When you are remapping your master search to your chosen databases, it is important to consider whether you will need to adapt any aspects of your search strategy such as phrase searches, truncation, wildcards, and adjacency.
The PDF below shows how to adapt these elements across a number of key databases:
Search tools (databases, search engines, etc.) may only work properly when straight quotation marks " " are used.
Some programs (such as Word and PowerPoint) are configured to automatically use 'smart' quotes as you type. These will appear with clear differences marking the opening and closing quotation marks. 'Straight' quotation marks appear without this differentiation.
Avoid issues by switching to straight quotes in the program/s you use when designing search strategies.
You may need to retrospectively replace smart quotes if these are already present in your workings, or in strategies copied from other sources. This is easy to do using 'find and replace'.
When adapting the search, batch changes may need to be made to make your searches run on different databases and interfaces.
'Find and replace' in programs such as Notepad and Word can make this easier.
For example, you can: change adjacency operators; add straight quotes; change or remove field codes.
In this Notepad example, the text to be altered was entered, then Find and Replace opened via Ctrl + H. The adjacency operator for Ovid databases can now be easily swapped out for the equivalent to configure this for Scopus.
The steps below represent our recommended method of adapting a search to another database on the Ovid platform, to save time and reduce errors.
The session recording below shows the process in action, demonstrating how to adapt your search from MEDLINE to Embase and finally to Scopus.
Select the headings below to learn how to remap your MEDLINE search to other Ovid databases. The process is the same whether you are remapping to Embase, Emcare, or PsycINFO.
Select the headings below to learn how to remap your search in Ovid.
Note: Emcare and Embase share the same subject headings, so if you have run your search on Embase, you can rerun it on Emcare without any changes.
'If a tool was used to automatically translate search strings for one database to another, specify the tool used.' PRISMA 2020 Explanation and Elaboration, p. 7
Note: while PRISMA acknowledges use of automation tools for adapting your search, these can be complex to learn and the results of varying quality. If you frequently undertake systematic searching, you may wish to explore these.
Other standards
Many databases use a thesaurus. It's important to note which is used by the databases you search.
Database | Thesaurus |
Cochrane Library databases | Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) (select records only) |
MEDLINE | Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) |
Emcare, Embase | Emtree |
PsycInfo | Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms |
SPORTDiscus | Sports Thesaurus |
CINAHL | CINAHL Subject Headings |
ERIC | ERIC Thesaurus |
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Web of Science databases, Scopus | Inconsistently applied subject headings from various thesauri may be present. Search using keywords |
Comprehensive searches often require screening thousands of records. Exporting these from databases to a reference manager is not always straightforward.
Here you will find guidance on how to 'batch' export records from various interfaces to EndNote (you may need to adjust for other reference managers).
General tips:
Recommended maximum per export - 1,500
In this example, there are 3,360 results. You would export this in three batches.
To batch download records to a reference manager, the easiest way is to send a link to the records to your email (maximum 25,000).
The best approach for large numbers of results (maximum 20,000 at a time) is Export Results, visible at the top of the results page when signed in to My Research. Key details needed for deduplication and screening tools - such as authors, year, title, abstract, volume, issue and Digital Object Identifier (DOI) - will be included.
If you need or want additional details from records (such as keywords and language) – you will need to use the time consuming approach of adding records to the temporary folder Selected items page by page, and then exporting out in batches of 1,000 or fewer.
The first option is described here.
Records need to be exported in batches of 100. Databases on Informit can have significant numbers of duplicates, even when searching only one database.
You can export up to 20,000 records at a time from Scopus.
You can export up to 1,000 records at a time from Web of Science.