The Cochrane Library is composed of a number of different databases including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane Reviews) [which includes records previously published in the Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews (Methods Reviews)], the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (Other Reviews), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Clinical Trials, or CENTRAL), the Cochrane Methodology Register (Methods Studies), the Health Technology Assessment Database (Technology Assessments), and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database (Economic Evaluations).
The contents of these databases can be found through a variety of search tools. All of the databases except CENTRAL can also be browsed through the "Browse Articles" selections that are displayed on all pages.
The Browse feature allows you to access articles through an alphabetically sorted listing or table of contents for most of The Cochrane Library's databases. To access the browse lists, select a link under the "Browse" section for one of the The Cochrane Library's databases. The primary selection is Cochrane Reviews, which can be sorted by Topic, New Reviews, Updated Reviews, the A-Z alphabetical sort, and Review Group. Other selections include Other Reviews, Clinical Trials, Methods Studies, Technology Assessments, and Economic Evaluations. Choosing the browse link for the Other Resources displays an alphabetically sorted browse page for all selections except the Clinical Trials.
Note: Because the large number of records in the Clinical Trials database makes the use of a Browse feature impractical, records are instead selected through the Advanced Search. Users may enter a wildcard * character in the search box, select Clinical Trials only from the product restriction section, and run the search to retrieve all records in the Clinical Trials database.
You can access The Cochrane Library homepage directly from any other page by clicking on Home link near the top of the page.
The browse lists include the following special features:
Cochrane Library users have access to a number of different search methods for locating content within The Cochrane Library or for searching all of the titles included in Wiley InterScience. The basic Search option is included in the upper right sections of The Cochrane Library homepage. The search and link options include:
The Cochrane Library includes two enhanced searches.
The Cochrane Library also includes two special search features for building complex queries and saving search strategies.
A navigation bar for selecting the four search options is displayed at the top of the search pages.
The Cochrane Library Advanced Search allows users to create more complex searches and provides a number of options for refining search results. Major features include:
In general, an assumed "AND" operator is used for spaces between terms. Thus, a search for acute bronchitis will match any document that includes both terms.
The following table provides a listing of specific querying options, methods, and guidelines for the Advanced Search.
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Boolean operators | Use AND, OR, and NOT to create a more complex search. | magnesium sulfate AND (eclampsia OR perinatal asphyxia) |
| Proximity search using NEAR | Use NEAR/ with a number to indicate proximity of terms either before or after each other. The default proximity value for the operator when no number is entered is 6. | antidepressant NEAR/10 narcolepsy |
| Proximity search using NEXT | Use NEXT with a number to match terms that appear next to each other. Note that the apostrophe within a term is treated as a space, thus to search for adjacent words in a term such as Down's Syndrome, the best search parameter to use is: down* NEAR/2 syndrome |
cholera NEXT treat* |
| Combined Boolean and proximity searches | Use combinations of Boolean operators and proximity operators to build a complex search. | breast NEAR (cancer OR carcinoma) |
| Wildcard truncation | Use an asterisk (*) to search for multiple characters before, within, or after a search string. A question mark can be used to search for a single character. | abdom* *eclampsia |
| Comma instead of OR operator | Use a comma in place of the OR operator | medical, health |
| Exact phrase search | Insert a term within quotation marks to create an exact match. Note that no search method is case sensitive, thus "PH" matches the same results as "pH", "Ph", or "ph". | "mental health treatment" matches the phrase in exactly that word sequence |
| Stemming | The stemming feature within the search allows words with small spelling variants to be matched. The term tumor will also match tumour. | tumor cell |
| Pluralization and singularization matches | Pluralized forms of words also match singular versions, and vice versa. The term drugs will find both drug and drugs. To match either just the singular or plural form of a terms, use an exact match search and include the word in quotation marks. | "vaccine" |
| Terms with multiple spellings | Use the wildcard character with the NEXT operator to match all variations of a term. Note: Use NEAR between a word ending in "'s" and another following word. | st* NEXT john* NEAR wort |
| Diphthong characters | Terms with spelling variations that include diphthongs should be searched with a wildcard character to ensure that all forms of a term are matched. Some more common terms with diphthongs such as "haemorrhage" are automatically matched to their variant spellings through stemming. | isch*mic stroke |
| Stop words | Words such as "in," "the" and "of" are matched in the search. The Boolean search operators AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, and NEXT are the only terms treated as stop words. | |
| Accented characters | For all fields except Author, accented characters are not matched by their equivalent unaccented form. To match accented characters use the following options: 1) Use the wildcard characters (* or ?) for a broad match, 2) if the term is displayed on a page you are viewing, copy and paste it to the search box, 3) select the term from a list of accented characters. If entering an accented term in the search box, also include the unaccented version with an OR operator to match all cases. | Partial list of accent characters: � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � |
| Hyphenated terms | Hyphens are treated as a space with an associated NEXT operator. The term heart-related will match the same results as heart NEXT related. | evidence-based NEXT medicine |
To view the Search Results page, enter a search in one of the search features and select the Search button in the Advanced Search or the View Results button in the MeSH search.
The total number of record matches within each of The Cochrane Library database is displayed in the "Show Results" section near the top of the page. Click on the individual links to display the results for each database. The selected database link is displayed in black.
The input search parameter is displayed below the database selectors. Beneath the search term are links for each paged section of the search results. Any search that includes more than 25 results within a database will be displayed on multiple pages. Select the page section link or Next button to navigate between search results pages. Select the sorting links at top right to sort results alphabetically by title, the match percentage (relevancy) of the search, or by the year of publication.
The search results for each record include the document title, author, and year of publication data. Records for Cochrane Reviews display a Protocol or Review image to indicate whether the document is a protocol or review, and a Methodology image if it is a methodology review. Some document listings also include a status indicator such as "New" or "Updated." To view a document, click on the "Record" link.
Search terms are not highlighted within the selected record. To locate a term within the HTML version of a document, click on the text frame, Press Control-F to display the Find feature, type the search term in the Find search box, and select the "Find Next" button to locate the term. You can also select the PDF version of a document if available to use the enhanced Acrobat search feature.
Searches can be saved by selecting the "Save Search" button at the top right. Searches can be revised by selecting the "Edit Search" button.
Records can be exported to citation format by using the export options. The "Export All Results" button will select all records in the search for exporting, but you can also use the check boxes next to each record to select individual records or use the "Select All" option to select all records on a page. The citation export feature is discussed in a separate section.