On this page, you can find a table of how different search techniques are used in the most commonly used databases. At the bottom of the table, there are links to the databases' documentation on this. We recommend reading these if you want to conduct advanced literature searches in a given database, as the table below is only meant to provide an overview.
| Scopus | Web of Science | ProQuest | Ebsco | Soeg.kb.dk | PubMed | |
| AND / OR | AND / OR | AND / OR | AND / OR | AND / OR |
AND / OR OG / ELLER |
AND / OR |
| NOT | AND NOT | NOT | NOT | NOT | NOT IKKE |
NOT |
| Phrase search |
" " = Loose phrase |
" " = Exact phrase | " " = Exact phrase | " " = Exact phrase | " " = Loose phrase | " " = Exact phrase |
|
Truncation (in the middle and after words) |
* = any number of characters incl. 0 | * = any number of characters incl. 0 |
* = any number of characters 0-5 |
* = any number of characters incl. 0 | * = any number of characters incl. 0 | * = any number of characters incl. 0 |
| Truncation (before words) | * = same as above | * = only in some fields (Topic & Title) |
Not possible | Not possible | Not possible | Not possible |
| Wildcards | ? = 1 character | ? = 1 character $ = 1 or 0 characters |
? = 1 character | ? = 1 character # = 1 or 0 characters |
? = 1 character | Not possible |
| Proximity Operators |
W/n = order of the PRE/n = first word must preeced |
NEAR/n = order of the words doesn't matter |
NEAR/n = order of the words doesn't matter PRE/n = first word must |
Nn = order of the Wn = first word must |
Not possible |
Possible in combination with field search: "search term"[field:~n] |
| Expanders |
Plural forms Spelling variations Some conjugation of adjectives |
Plural forms Spelling variations Conjugation of adjectives Conjugation of verbs |
Plural forms Spelling variations Conjugation of adjectives |
Plural forms Spelling variations |
Plural forms Spelling variations |
Depends on the word |
| Links | Documentation | Documentation | Documentation | Documentation | Documentation | Documentation |