A roadmap for searching literature in PubMed: Filters

Filters are building blocks that have been developed and tested by specialists, and that you might find useful during your search. See an example in the box 'Useful filters'. You can copy and paste this filter for use in your own search strategy.

Use pre-prepared filters as follows:

• Create a heading called ‘# filter’ in your logbook.
• Copy/paste the desired filter.
• Combine the filter with the previously defined query in the Advanced Search.

On the left side of the PubMed search screen you will find the PubMed filters. You can use these filters to limit your search results to study type, language, a range of years etc. These are very convenient tools for conducting quick searches. However: You cannot see the building blocks and terms used in a filter. Furthermore, you risk excluding the most recent publications from you search results. These publications often lack MeSH terms or other article characteristics, such as study type, and will generally be excluded if you apply such a filter.

Therefore: never use these PubMed filters for a systematic review. Rather, use a filter developed by an information specialist.

Please note that the PubMed filter will remain active. Do not forget to deactivate these filters prior to conducting new searches!

If you are looking for studies on adults, use:

NOT (("Adolescent"[Mesh] OR "Child"[Mesh] OR "Infant"[Mesh] OR adolescen*[tiab] OR child*[tiab] OR schoolchild*[tiab] OR infant*[tiab] OR girl*[tiab] OR boy[tiab] OR boys[tiab] OR boyhood[tiab] OR teen[tiab] OR teens[tiab] OR teenager*[tiab] OR youth*[tiab] OR pediatr*[tiab] OR paediatr*[tiab] OR puber*[tiab]) NOT ("Adult"[Mesh] OR adult*[tiab] OR man[tiab] OR men[tiab] OR woman[tiab] OR women[tiab]))

For human studies use:

NOT (animals[Mesh] NOT humans[Mesh])

Copy and paste the building blocks and add them to your search strategy.