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Search syntax reference

This site offers an advanced search function as well the quick search function direct from the search box. Below is a table that describes basic syntax form and examples of how these can be used.

1. Direct search 

Search syntaxResult
J.Inorg. Biochem. 101:74-79(2007) Quick search in common notation style, with journal + volume + pageInfo + pub year
microtubule glycosylated Finds citations containing microtubule AND glycosylated (default behaviour)
microtubule OR glycosylated Finds citations containing microtubule OR glycosylated. Note that "OR" is case sensitive.
(fish OR bird) AND disease Finds citations containing either fish OR bird AND on top of that disease.
microtub* disease Finds citations containing disease AND terms that start with microtub. Wildcard usage is limited and not allowed when resulting in too many clauses.
microtubule cardiac -toxicity Finds citations containing microtubule AND cardiac but NOT toxicity
With quotes: "green grass" "green grass" (with quotes) results in a search for green grass as a sequence of two words. Bear in mind that when you use stop words (such as 'a','and','in','if', etc.) within a quoted phrase search this may give less accurate results due to the nature of the indexing mechanism.
Without quotes or single quotes: green grass or 'green grass' Using no quotes or single quotes is always less strict, and will give back all citations where the words green and grass occur, not necessarily sequentially.

2. Field search 

Note: Advanced search uses field searches under the hood.

2.1 Core bibliographic

Syntax wordDescriptionExample
EXT_ID: Search for a publication by external ID: i.e. the ID assigned to a publication at repository level. Together with the publication's source, they form a unique id of the publication. Click here for more details. EXT_ID:10826746
PMCID: Search for a publication by its PubMed Central ID, where applicable (i.e. available as full text) PMCID:PMC1287968
TITLE:Search for a term or terms in publication titlesTITLE:aspirin, TITLE:"protein knowledgebase"
ABSTRACT:Search for a term or terms in publication abstractsABSTRACT:malaria, ABSTRACT:"chicken pox"
TITLE_ABS: Search for a term or terms in publication titles and abstracts TITLE_ABS:blood, TITLE_ABS:"african swine fever"
PUB_YEAR: Search by year of publication in YYYY format; note syntax for range searching. PUB_YEAR:2000, PUB_YEAR:[2000 TO 2001]
E_PDATE: Electronic publication date, when an article was first published online. E_PDATE:2013-12-15, E_PDATE:20070930, E_PDATE:[2000-12-18 TO 2014-12-30], E_PDATE:[20040101 TO 20140101]
FIRST_PDATE: The date of first publication, whichever is first, electronic or print publication. Where a date is not fully available e.g. year only, an algorithm is applied to determine the value. FIRST_PDATE:1995-02-01, FIRST_PDATE:20000101, FIRST_PDATE:[2000-10-14 TO 2010-11-15], FIRST_PDATE:[20040101 TO 20140101]
P_PDATE: Print publication date of journal issue, when an article appeared in print format. P_PDATE:1982-10-01, P_PDATE:20140101, P_PDATE:[2000-12-18 TO 2014-12-30], P_PDATE:[20031114 TO 20141115]
FIRST_IDATE: The date the publication was first indexed in Europe PMC. FIRST_IDATE:2019-02-01, FIRST_IDATE:20190101, FIRST_IDATE:[2018-10-14 TO 2018-11-15], FIRST_IDATE:[20190101 TO 20190101]
EMBARGO_DATE: The date from which Europe PMC is permitted to provide access to the full text article. This date is held for articles received from March 2015. EMBARGO_DATE:[2015-03-01 TO 2015-03-31], EMBARGO_DATE:2015-03-01
EMBARGOED_MAN: Limit search results according to accessibility of the full text article regarding the EMBARGO_DATE. Assuming you request EMBARGOED_MAN:Y at the date 20160101 than this will be translated into EMBARGO_DATE:[20160101 TO *] and EMBARGOED_MAN:N to EMBARGO_DATE:[* TO 20160101]. EMBARGOED_MAN:Y, EMBARGOED_MAN:N
AUTH: Search for a surname and (optionally) initial(s) in publication author lists AUTH:einstein, AUTH:"einstein G"
INVESTIGATOR: Search for a publication by specifying an investigator INVESTIGATOR:"Orlandini F"
AUTHORID_TYPE:List publications that are associated with an ORCIDAUTHORID_TYPE:ORCID
AUTHORID: List publications that are associated with a specified ORCID AUTHORID:"0000-0002-1767-9318"
AFF: Search for a term or terms in the author affiliation field AFF:ebi, AFF:"university of cambridge"
JOURNAL: Journal title – searchable either in full or abbreviated form JOURNAL:"biology letters", JOURNAL:"biol lett"
ISSN: Search for a journal by its ISSN; see the NCBI’s list of journals and ISSNs in PubMed ISSN:0028-0836
VOLUME: Search for journal volumes, most useful in combination with fields: JOURNAL/PUB_YEAR/VOLUME/ISSUE JOURNAL:"biology letters" VOLUME:10
ISSUE: Search for journal issues, most useful in combination with fields: JOURNAL/PUB_YEAR/VOLUME/ISSUE JOURNAL:"biology letters" VOLUME:10 ISSUE:2
LICENSE: Search for content according to the assigned Creative Commons license (where provided). The values assigned by publishers have been grouped as follows:
CC BY: "cc", "cc by", "cc-by"
CC BY-SA: "cc", "cc by sa", "cc-by sa", "cc by-sa", "cc-by-sa"
CC BY-ND: "cc", "cc by nd", "cc-by nd", "cc by-nd", "cc-by-nd"
CC BY-NC: "cc", "cc by nc", "cc-by nc", "cc by-nc", "cc-by-nc"
CC BY-NC-ND: "cc", "cc by nc nd", "cc-by nc nd", "cc by-nc nd", "cc by nc-nd", "cc-by-nc nd", "cc by-nc-nd", "cc-by nc-nd", "cc-by-nc-nd"
CC BY-NC-SA: "cc", "cc by nc sa", "cc-by nc sa", "cc by-nc sa", "cc by nc-sa", "cc-by-nc sa", "cc by-nc-sa", "cc-by nc-sa", "cc-by-nc-sa"
LICENSE:"cc by sa" OR LICENSE:"cc-by sa" OR LICENSE:"cc by-sa" OR LICENSE:"cc-by-sa"

returns the same count as:

LICENSE:"CC BY-SA"

All articles that have a Creative Commons license assigned can be found as follows: LICENSE:cc
EPMC_AUTH_MAN: Identify manuscripts that have been submitted via the Europe PMC plus (formerly UKPMC+) Manuscript Submission System EPMC_AUTH_MAN:y
NIH_AUTH_MAN: Identify manuscripts that have been submitted the NIH Manuscript Submission System NIH_AUTH_MAN:y
AUTH_MAN: Search for an article that has been submitted via a Manuscript Submission System AUTH_MAN:y
AUTH_MAN_ID: Find an article by specifying an manuscript submission ID AUTH_MAN_ID:EMS59581

2.2 Article metadata

Syntax wordDescriptionExample
DISEASE:Search for mined diseasesDISEASE:dysthymias
GENE_PROTEIN:Search for records that have GENE_PROTEINS minedGENE_PROTEIN:gng11
GOTERM:Search for records that have GOTERM minedGOTERM:apoptosis
LANG: Limit your search to publications written in language X; see the Advanced Search page for a full list of languages LANG:fre, LANG:eng
GRANT_AGENCY: Limit your search by the funding agency which supported the research; see the Advanced Search page for a full list of grant agencies GRANT_AGENCY:"wellcome trust", GRANT_AGENCY:"medical research council"
GRANT_ID: Limit your search by ID of the grant which funded the research GRANT_ID:100229, GRANT_ID:71672
KW: Limit your search by keyword, including MeSH and other publisher-supplied terms KW:galactosylceramides, KW:"recombinant proteins"
CHEM:Limit your search by MeSH substanceCHEM:propantheline, CHEM:"protein kinases"
HAS_ABSTRACT: Limit search results according to presence or absence of abstract HAS_ABSTRACT:y, HAS_ABSTRACT:n
ORGANISM:Search for mined organismsORGANISM:terebratulide
PUB_TYPE: Limit your search by publication type; see the Advanced Search page for a full list of publication types PUB_TYPE:review, PUB_TYPE:"retraction of publication"

2.3 Full text availability

Syntax wordDescriptionExample
BODY: Search for terms within the body of a fulltext article BODY:PCR
DOI: Search for publication by Digital Object Identifier (DOI) DOI:10.1007/bf00197367
HAS_DOI: Limit search results to those publications which do or do not have a DOI HAS_DOI:y, HAS_DOI:n
IN_PMC: Limit search results according to availability (or not) of fulltext article in PubMed Central IN_PMC:y
HAS_FT: Limit search results according to availability (or not) of fulltext article or book in Europe PMC HAS_FT:y
HAS_FREE_FULLTEXT: Limit search results according to availability (or not) of a link to a known, free-to-read version of the full text article HAS_FREE_FULLTEXT:y
IN_EPMC: Limit search results according to availability (or not) of fulltext article in Europe PMC IN_EPMC:y
HAS_PDF: Limit search results according to availability (or not) of a PDF version of the fulltext article HAS_PDF:y

2.4 Collection metadata

Syntax wordDescriptionExample
SRC: Search for articles from a particular repository; the available data sources are listed are listed in the 'code' column of the table under the question: What am I searching on Europe PMC?SRC:ctx, SRC:hir, SRC:ppr
HAS_XREFS: Limit search results to articles with cross-references to other databases; the available databases are listed in the Web Services Reference Guide HAS_XREFS:y
HAS_PREPRINT: Limit search results to peer reviewed articles which were preceded by a preprint version of the article HAS_PREPRINT:y
HAS_PUBLISHED_VERSION: Limit search results to preprints which were later peer reviewed, edited, typeset and published as articles HAS_PUBLISHED_VERSION:y
HAS_VERSION_EVALUATIONS: Limit search results to articles where one or more versions of the article has a review or evaluation HAS_VERSION_EVALUATIONS:y
HAS_TM: Limit search results to text-mined fulltext articles only (or not) HAS_TM:y
HAS_REFLIST: Limit search results to only those publications with a reference list (or not) HAS_REFLIST:y
CREATION_DATE: Search for publications by date of entry into the Europe PMC database, in YYYY-MM-DD format; note syntax for searching date range CREATION_DATE:2010-11-11, CREATION_DATE:[2010-11-11 TO 2010-12-11]
UPDATE_DATE: Search for publications by date of update in the Europe PMC database; note syntax for searching date range UPDATE_DATE:2011-11-11, UPDATE_DATE:[2011-11-11 TO 2011-12-11]
OPEN_ACCESS:Limit search results to articles that are Open AccessOPEN_ACCESS:y
HAS_LABSLINKS: Lists articles that have links provided by 3rd parties (using the Europe PMC external links service) HAS_LABSLINKS:y
HAS_SUPPL: List articles that have supplemental data associated with them e.g. spreadsheets, video files, etc. HAS_SUPPL:y
LABS_PUBS:List articles that have external links by provider IDLABS_PUBS:1001

2.5 Books

Syntax wordDescriptionExample
ISBN:Search for book by ISBN where indexedISBN:9780815340720
ED:Search for book by editorED:jensen HAS_BOOK:y
PUBLISHER:Search for book by publisherPUBLISHER:"OUP Oxford" HAS_BOOK:y
HAS_BOOK:List the full text books on the Europe PMC BookshelfHAS_BOOK:y
BOOK_ID: Find a full text book on the Europe PMC Bookshelf by specifying its 'NBK' number BOOK_ID:NBK27326

2.6 Database cross references

Syntax wordDescriptionExample
ARXPR_PUBS:Show publications with links to given ArrayExpress IDARXPR_PUBS:E-GEOD-22481
UNIPROT_PUBS:Show publications with links to given UniProt IDUNIPROT_PUBS:q1rfz4
EMBL_PUBS:Show publications with links to given EMBL IDEMBL_PUBS:KJ634683
PDB_PUBS:Show publications with links to given PDBe IDPDB_PUBS:2w3z
INTACT_PUBS:Show publications with links to given IntAct IDINTACT_PUBS:*
INTERPRO_PUBS:Show publications with links to given InterPro IDINTERPRO_PUBS:ipr013998
CHEBITERM:Search for mined chemical namesCHEBITERM:dihydrocapsaicin
CHEBI_PUBS:Show publications with links to given ChEBI IDCHEBI_PUBS:chebi:62806
HAS_ARXPR: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by the ArrayExpress catalog and link to the relevant ArrayExpress record HAS_ARXPR:y
HAS_UNIPROT: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by the UniProt catalog and link to the relevant UniProt record HAS_UNIPROT:y
HAS_EMBL: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by the EMBL database and link to the relevant EMBL record HAS_EMBL:y
HAS_PDB: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by the PDBe database and link to the relevant PDBE record HAS_PDB:y
HAS_INTACT: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by the IntAct database and link to the relevant IntAct record HAS_INTACT:y
HAS_INTERPRO: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by the InterPro database and link to the relevant InterPro record HAS_INTERPRO:y
HAS_CHEBI: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by the ChEBI dictionary and link to the relevant ChEBI record HAS_CHEBI:y
HAS_CHEMBL: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by ChEMBL and link to the relevant ChEMBL record HAS_CHEMBL:y
HAS_OMIM: Limit search results to publications which are (or are not) cited by OMIM and link to the relevant OMIM record HAS_OMIM:y
CITES: Search for publications that cite a given article; article to be specified in the format, ID_src CITES:8521067_med, CITES:IND43783977_agr
CITED:Search for publications that have been cited N timesCITED:100
REFFED_BY: Search for publications that cite the specified article; format, ID_source (the available data sources are listed in the Web Services Reference Guide) REFFED_BY:9497246_med

2.7 Database Citations

Syntax wordDescriptionExample>
ACCESSION_ID: Find articles containing the specified accession number ACCESSION_ID:A12360
ACCESSION_TYPE: Find articles that cite ArrayExpress records ACCESSION_TYPE:arrayexpress
Find articles that cite BioProject records in the European Nucleotide Archive ACCESSION_TYPE:bioproject
Find articles that cite BioSamples records ACCESSION_TYPE:biosample
Find articles that cite data Document Object IdentifiersACCESSION_TYPE:doi
Find articles that cite European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) records ACCESSION_TYPE:ega
Find articles that cite EM resources in the Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB) ACCESSION_TYPE:emdb
Find articles that cite Ensembl records ACCESSION_TYPE:ensembl
Find articles that cite EudraCT records from the EU Clinical Trials RegisterACCESSION_TYPE:eudract
Find articles that cite European Nucleotide Archive records ACCESSION_TYPE:gen
Find articles that cite Gene Ontology records ACCESSION_TYPE:go
Find articles that cite InterPro records ACCESSION_TYPE:interpro
Find articles that cite NCT clinical studies records from the US NIH ClinicalTrials.gov registry ACCESSION_TYPE:nct
Find articles that cite OMIM records ACCESSION_TYPE:omim
Find articles that cite Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDB) records ACCESSION_TYPE:pdb
Find articles that cite protein families (Pfam) records ACCESSION_TYPE:pfam
Find articles that cite ProteomeXchange records ACCESSION_TYPE:pxd
Find articles that cite Reference Sequence Database (RefSeq) records ACCESSION_TYPE:refseq
Find articles that cite records in the dbSNP Short Genetic Variations database (RefSNP) ACCESSION_TYPE:refsnp
Find articles that cite the resource of protein sequence and functional information (UniProt) ACCESSION_TYPE:uniprot
Find articles that cite Treefam (database of animal gene trees) records ACCESSION_TYPE:treefam

2.8 Section-level search

Syntax wordDescriptionExample
ABBR: Find articles with word "mRNA" in the Abbreviations section ABBR:mRNA
ACK_FUND: Find articles with word "ERC" in the Acknowledgements & Funding section ACK_FUND:ERC
APPENDIX: Find articles with word "ethics" in the Appendix section APPENDIX:ethics
AUTH_CON: Find articles with phrase "Smith" in the Author Contribution section AUTH_CON:"Smith"
CASE: Find articles with word "leukemia" in the Case Study section CASE:leukemia
COMP_INT: Find articles with phrase "no conflict" in the Competing Interest section COMP_INT:"no conflict"
CONCL: Find articles with word "osteoporosis" in the Conclusion section CONCL:osteoporosis
DISCUSS: Find articles with word "cardiovascular" in the Discussion section DISCUSS:cardiovascular
FIG: Find articles with phrase "in vitro" in the Figures section FIG:"in vitro"
INTRO: Find articles with phrase "protein interactions" in the Introduction & Background section INTRO:"protein interactions"
KEYWORD: Find articles with word "isoform" in the Keywords section KEYWORD:isoform
METHODS: Find articles with phrase "yeast two-hybrid" in the Materials & Methods section METHODS:"yeast two-hybrid"
OTHER: Find articles with phrase "transgenic mice" in the Others section OTHER:"transgenic mice"
REF: Find articles with word "COX2" in the References section REF:COX2
RESULTS: Find articles with phrase "in vivo" in the Results section RESULTS:"in vivo"
SUPPL: Find articles with word "supplementary" in the Supplementary Information section, indicating where supplementary data might be available SUPPL:supplementary
TABLE: Find articles with word "comparison" in the Tables section TABLE:comparison

3. Search combinations 

CombinationDescription
TITLE:pancreatitis IN_EPMC:y Finds citations in Europe PMC with word pancreatitis in title
AUTH:frossard TITLE:acute pancreatitis Finds citations from author Frossard with acute pancreatitis in the title
TITLE:panc* AUTH:frossard Finds citations from author Frossard where a word in the title starts with 'panc' i.e pancreatic, pancreas, PANCEA (A question mark represents a wildcard for one position, the star any number of positions)
JOURNAL:lancet AUTH:frossard Finds citations in journal The Lancet from author Frossard
ISSN:0140-6736 AUTH:frossard "acute pancreatitis" Finds citations from journal The Lancet (ISSN 0140-6736) with author Frossard and phrase "acute pancreatitis"
AUTH:frossard AUTH:steer HAS_ABSTRACT:yFinds abstracts by authors Steer and Frossard
GRANT_ID:058922 IN_EPMC:y Finds citations in Europe PMC with grant 058922 attached
GRANT_ID:"058992" AUTH:noor Finds citations containing author Noor with grant 058992 attached
GRANT_ID:05* AUTH:amin Finds citations containing author Amin and a grant starting 05 (A question mark represents a wildcard for one position, the star any number of positions)
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