• BASIC SEARCHING
  • Enter search term/s in the search box
  • Viewing results
  • Wildcards/truncation
  • Limiting by fields
  • Limiting by database
  • Limiting by date
    • Record date
    • Publication year
    • Publication date
  • New search
• ADVANCED OPTIONS
  • Searching using index terms (MeSH headings)
• SEARCH COMMANDS AND SYNTAX
  • Combining search terms
  • Restricting by specific field
• MANAGING SEARCHES
  • Search history
  • Deleting lines
  • Saving searches
  • Re-running a saved search
  • Exporting and importing searches
• MANAGING SEARCH RESULTS
  • Exporting records
  • Filters for reference software
  • Citing records from the CRD databases

BASIC SEARCHING

Enter search term/s in the search box:

If two or more search terms are entered in a single box they will automatically be searched as a phrase. For example, multiple sclerosis will retrieve records where the phrase appears. There is no need to use quotation marks.

Viewing results:

To view results click on the green “Search” button, or press return.
(See also: exporting results)

Wildcards/truncation:

Use the wildcard character * at the end of a term to search for multiple endings to a term. E.g., nurs* will retrieve nurse, nurses, nursing etc.

Limiting by fields:

Use pull down menus on the left of the search box to limit to specific fields (any field, title, author, journal, funder)

Limiting by database:

Use the tick boxes to limit to one or more of the CRD databases, and to specific types of record. If no selections are made then the contents of all three databases will be searched.

Limiting by date:

Record date

We have created a new date field LPD which is labelled as Record Date in the search interface. This enables date restricted searches for bibliographic records and/or those with full critical commentaries.

Publication year

This allows searches to be limited by the year in which the original article was published.

Publication date

The old date field PD remains available to use. This limits by the date a record was added to the CRD databases and is the date used in our automated email alerts.

 

New search:

To start a new search, click on the green “Clear” button.

ADVANCED OPTIONS

Searching using index terms (MeSH headings):

Click on the MeSH search button.
The MeSH search window will open and you will be guided through the process.

Viewing MeSH trees:

To view the relevant MeSH tree, click on the icon next to the term of interest.

SEARCH COMMANDS AND SYNTAX

Combining search terms:

Boolean operators (AND/OR/NOT):

Term	Description
AND	If you combine terms using AND, you will only find documents containing both terms
OR	If you join the boxes using OR, you will find documents that contain either term
NOT	If you join words with NOT, you will find documents containing one of those words but not the other. Searching for ulcer NOT stomach will locate all documents containing the word ulcer, except for those which also contain the word stomach.

Proximity operators (NEAR):

Term	Description
NEAR	You can also look for documents where two words are near to each other, by associating them with the linking word NEAR. Use NEAR with a number to indicate proximity (i.e. NEAR3). If no number is used, the search will identify records where both terms are within 6 words of each other. Users should note that in our system, word order is respected so hepatocellular NEAR liver may return a   different number of records liver NEAR. hepatocellular
ADJ	ADJ works in exactly the same way as NEAR

 

Searches that combine terms can be done in a number of different places
a) On the main search page, pull down menus allow the three boxes to be combined using Boolean search syntax (“AND”, “OR”, “NOT”).

This search would look for records that had both the phrases multiple sclerosis AND interferon beta in the title.
If all three boxes are used, then the order of precedence for Boolean searching is OR, then AND, then NOT.

b) On the history page, individual search lines can be combined by ticking the search lines of interest and then selecting the required Boolean operator (AND, OR, NOT)

This selection would combine the results from the two chosen lines using AND.

c) Typing line numbers into the search box

The # sign must be used with the line number (e.g. #1 or #2).

d) Typing words into the search box

Words can be typed directly into the search box.

If brackets are not used, then the system will carry out any ORs, then any ANDs, then any NOTs.

Restricting by specific field: 

You can restrict searches so that the word you have chosen only appears in a certain section of a document. Add one of the following suffixes to the search term to apply the appropriate restriction.

Code	Description
:au	restrict to an author's name (e.g. smith:au)
:ti	restrict to a word or phrase in the title (e.g. lipid profile:ti)
:lp	restrict to a language (e.g. French:lp)
:so	restrict to a word or phrase in the source (journal) field (e.g. Neurology:so)
:xfu	restrict to a word or phrase in the funding field (e.g. NIHR:xfu)

MANAGING SEARCHES

Search history:

Individual searches appear on the search history screen

Deleting lines:

Individual lines can be deleted from the search history page using the green “delete” link. Other lines in the strategy will be automatically renumbered. It is not possible to delete a line that is referred to in a later line.

Saving searches:

First set up a user account via the “register” link in the top right hand corner. Registration is simple and free. To save or re-run searches you will have to be signed in.

From the search history screen, click on the “Save button” and enter a search name in the prompt box

Re-running a saved search:

To re-run a saved search, ensure you are signed in.
Click on the “my details” link to the left of the screen, then select “my saved searches” from the bar along the top of the screen. To run a search click on the green “GO” button.

Exporting and importing searches:

Search strategies can be exported to a text file from the “my saved searches” screen

Pre-prepared searches can also be imported here.

Each line of text must start with a consecutive number, followed by a space, followed by the text of the search line in the correct CRD search syntax. Each line must finish with a carriage return. For example:

1 (psychosocial NEAR2 (intervention* or support or care or therapy or therapies or program*))
2 ((social or peer) NEAR2 (support or network* or system*))
3 MeSH DESCRIPTOR Social Support EXPLODE ALL TREES
4 MeSH DESCRIPTOR Self-Help Groups
5 (motivational interview*)
6 MeSH DESCRIPTOR Cognitive Therapy
7 MeSH DESCRIPTOR Psychotherapy
8 (cognitive NEAR2 (therapy or therapies or psychotherapy or psychotherapies))
9 cbt
10 (#1 OR #2 OR #3 OR #4 OR #5 OR #6 OR #7 OR #8 OR #9)

The imported strategy will appear on the saved searches screen.

MANAGING SEARCH RESULTS

Exporting records:

Records can be exported from the results page.
There are two formats Brief and Full.
Brief records are essentially bibliographic (author, title, journal details) while full records include the structured abstract as well as bibliographic details.

Select the items you require and then press the “export” button.
Records will appear in a new window.
Right click and save the results.
Results will automatically be saved as a text file.

If you wish to download all items retrieved by your search, simply un-tick the “export selected items only” box.

Filters for reference software:

Endnote filters for all records, DARE records, NHS EED records and HTA Database are available for importing records into Endnote libraries.

If you are downloading records from more than one of the CRD databases (e.g. DARE and NHSEED), use CRDdatabases.enf

CRDdatabases.enf
DARE.enf
NHSEED.enf
HTA.enf

A Reference Manager filter for records downloaded from the databases in Tagged format is available and will load records from all three databases.
DARE-NHSEED-HTA.cap

We welcome offers of copies of import filters for use with other reference software (crd-info@york.ac.uk).

Citing records from the CRD databases:

The suggested format for citation of material from the CRD databases is as follows:

Title of abstract [Accession number] Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects [or other CRD database name], available
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/CMS2Web/ [year of access, date of access]. Abstract of: Title, authors, journal title, year of publication,volume and issue number, pages.

Examples:

A record from DARE:
Efficacy and safety of subcutaneous omalizumab vs placebo as add-on
therapy to corticosteroids for children and adults with asthma: a systematic review. [Accession number 12011001130] Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, available http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/CRDWEB/ShowRecord.asp?AccessionNumber=12011001130&UserID=0 [2013, 6 Mar.]. Abstract of: Efficacy and safety of subcutaneous omalizumab vs placebo as add-on therapy to corticosteroids for children and adults with asthma: a systematic review. Rodrigo GJ, Neffen H, Castro-Rodriguez JA. Chest 2011 139(1):28-35

A record from NHS EED
Cost-effectiveness of an intervention to prevent depression in at-risk teens. [Accession number 22006008430] NHS Economic Evaluation Database, available http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/CRDWEB/ShowRecord.asp?AccessionNumber=22006008430&UserID=0
[2011, 1 Aug.]. Abstract of: Cost-effectiveness of an intervention to prevent depression in at-risk teens. Lynch F L, Hornbrook M, Clarke G
N, Perrin N, Polen M R, O'Connor E, Dickerson J. Archives of General Psychiatry 2005 61(11):1241-1248.

A record from HTA
Omalizumab for chronic spontaneous urticaria – second line. [Accession number 32012000841] Health Technology Assessment Database, available http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/CRDWEB/ShowRecord.asp?AccessionNumber=32012000841&UserID=0 [2011, 1 Aug.].