The Search allows you to explore scientific publications across various databases.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How to search for a subject
  • Query configuration
    • Data sources
    • Query
  • Search results
    • Loading of results
    • Results screening
    • Results details
• How to manage searches
  • Save your search
  • Share your search
  • Edit your search

How to search for a subject

If you need to conduct an external search, you need to go to the Library tab.

From here, you can click "Add search".

Query configuration

Now, you need to refine your search by defining:

• your data sources
• your query

Data sources

You can select as many datasources as needed. Here are the current available sources:

• PubMed: database of the National Library of Medicine, focusing on biomedical and life sciences literature
• ArXiv: open-access repository for research papers in fields like physics, mathematics, computer science and more
• OpenAIRE: open dataset aggregating publications, metadata and other scholarly outputs from major research sources like Zenodo, DOAJ, PubMed, RePEc and institutional repositories across Europe.

Query

Once you have selected your sources, you can build your query using the advanced search.

To do so, you can select fields, specify their content, and add them with the boolean of your choice.

Available fields are:

• Title and abstract: string will be searched with an exact match in the title or abstract
• MESH (only available for PubMed): term will be searched in the publication mesh terms
• Title: string will be searched with an exact match in the title
• Author: string will be searched with an exact match in the authors list - please put one author only by author field
• Publication dates: please note that publication dates returned by the databases are sometimes not precise; if the day or month is not defined, first day or first month are added as default value
• Country (available for PubMed and OpenAIRE): string will be searched with an exact match in the publication country
• Journal (available for PubMed and ArXiv): string will be searched with an exact match in the publication journal name
• ID (available for PubMed and ArXiv): string will be searched with an exact match in the publication ID. 

First field is simply added to query, additional fields require to select a boolean between: 

• AND: linked conditions must all be respected
• OR: one of the linked conditions must be respected
• NOT: condition must not be respected

Please note that if an 'OR' boolean is used with two conditions of the same field, brackets will automatically be added to the query sent to the databases.

For example: "MESH = Hypothyroidism AND Title = LT4 OR Title = levothyroxine" will result in "MESH = Hypothyroidism AND (Title = LT4 OR Title = levothyroxine)".

If you made a mistake or need to change your query, you can:

• remove a field by clicking on the cross next to it
• edit a field by clicking on it
• edit a condition by clicking on it
• delete a query.

Once you are satisfied with your query, you can launch the search.

Search results

Loading of results

Depending on the precision of your search, the number of results found can vary and be quite high.

While the results are loading, you will see:

1.  Search status: running, successful, failed, aborted. While a search is running, you can stop it by clicking  the blue icon to abort the search. You will still have access to the current results, but the missing ones will not be retrieved.
2.  Filters options: you can see the 'live' number of results in the available filters. You cannot use the filters while the search is still running.
3. Results preview : some results are displayed so you can have a first idea of the retrieved results. You cannot interact with them while the search is running.
4. Your query: you can edit and relaunch your query at any time.

Results screening

Once your search has been completed, you can start screening the results.

You can:

• filter your results on the left, by:
  • publication dates
  • source(s)
  • availability of the content: abstract, full-text
• sort your results by publication dates.

Results details

Available information depends on the datasource. 

You can have access to:

• Title
• Authors
• Publication date
• File availability and link to file: click leads to original link to file
• Publication type (PubMed only)
• DOI (PubMed, OpenAIRE): click leads to doi.org/filedoi
• Abstract (if available)
• Original database
• Keywords (PubMed, OpenAIRE) if available.

How to manage searches

Save your search

If you are satisfied with a search, you can save it to keep its configuration in your Library.

This way, you can easily re-access the search results or rerun your search later.

To do so, click "Save search" on the upper-left of your screen.

Then, name your search and confirm to save it.

Share your search

You can apply a policy to your search to share it with other users.

To do so, click the menu next to "Save search", and select "Apply policy".

Then, choose an existing policy or create a new one.

Users with:

- READ permission: will be able to screen and consult results details (their changes in filters won't be saved), and duplicate the search

- WRITE permission: will be able to do as above, and also edit the search configuration (query and filters)

Edit your search

When you edit a search and click "Save search", you can choose either:

• update the current saved search
• save it as a new search.

You can also duplicate a search to use the configuration without compromising your saved search.