Advanced Search Query Builder

You can return more relevant search results using our advanced search query builder. To open it, click Advanced Search from the Document Search page.

Screen image of advanced search link.png

  1. Select a field to search, type a search term, and click Add to Query.
  2. After adding your first term, you can select a Boolean operator from the drop-down menu or type one in the Query Preview text box before adding additional search terms.

screen image of query preview

Exact Search

Clicking More Options opens Exact search. It is turned off by default and uses stemming and lemmatization to expand your search just as it does when you perform a Document search. For example, if you type mouse in the search field, Web of Science will return results that contain the words mouse and mice.

When Exact search is turned on, your search is limited to the exact term you type in the search field. So, if you search mouse, the search only returns records that include the word mouse.

Note: To perform an exact search on a phrase, place the phrase between quotation marks

Expand the list of field tags to see the label for each one. Field tags help you search specific information in the Web of Science database. You can read the description for field tags by clicking one of the following links our Web of Science collections.

Each search query you build is saved as a set under Session Queries on the advanced search page. Sets are identified by numbers, and the most recent sets appear at the top of the list.

Screen capture of Advanced Search Sessions Queries

To combine queries using the AND or OR operators:

  1. Select which queries you wish to combine using the check boxes next to the queries you wish to combine first

Screen capture combine search queries with check boxes

  1. Click Add to Query next to additional queries you want to combine. You will need to select the appropriate Boolean operators from the available list before adding the query.

Screen capture of boolean operators for combining queries

If you wish to add a query using the NOT operator, click Add to Query and use the drop down to select Add with not.

 

You can edit a saved search query by clicking Pencil Icon:

Screen capture edit query with click on pencil icon

 

From the edit window, you can save the updated query or save it as a new set:

Screen capture of saving an edited query

You can share an advanced search colleague by copying the link and then sending it via email. To copy the link, click on the Chain Icon.

Screen capture request alert with click on chain icon

You can request to receive an email alert when new content is added that matches this query. To request this service, click on the Bell Icon.

Screen capture share query with click on bell icon

You can use the checkboxes to select individual queries to be deleted or you can delete your entire history.

Screen capture delete queries