Whether you are in the Search Overview or a specific dataset, the Select Search Fields button will provide you with a list of common fields to query. This button can be found under the search bar to the left. Available options vary per dataset, but there are also overlapping options in datasets to help you find linked data related records, e.g., you can search for a grant number in literature.
To learn more about the fields that can be queried in the tool, visit the dataset specific glossaries:
- Search Options/Glossary (Literature)
- Search Options/Glossary (Grant Records)
- Search Options/Glossary (Clinical Trials)
Once you have selected the Search Field(s) you wish to query, you can input search terms into the search bar. Search terms can include keywords you want to look for in titles or abstracts, as well as categorical terms such as a specific Admin IC (administrative institute/center), or even a list of IDs. Learn more about how to search for identifiers in a specific dataset in the Searching IDs tutorials.
You may want to use a combination of search strategies (Search Assist, Search Fields with keywords, Custom Fields, Refine Filters panel) if you are attempting to perform a complex query. For example, to further refine your results, you can also select categorical options, such as Admin IC or year within the Refine Filters panel in combination with your manual search using Search Fields. Learn more about other search strategies in the Search Strategies tutorials.
A few important notes to consider when using Search Fields:
- One or more Search Fields must always be checked when inputting text into the search bar to query or the search will return zero results. In addition, if you have AND (the default boolean operator) selected along with multiple Search Fields, this search criteria may or may not be specific enough to return correct results.
- If using multiple fields, you may want to consider using Custom Fields to specify which terms to search in which fields. Additionally, if a search field is not found in the Search Fields menu, you may still be able to search it using Custom Fields (see the specific custom fields article for the dataset of interest) or the Refine Filters panel. Visit the Manual query with custom fields tutorial.
- Example: allPIs.piid:11470499
- Always ensure that you are using the correct formatting for search terms (and per dataset) so the correct results are found. Visit the Custom Fields articles (Literature, Grants, Clinical Trials) to learn more.
- Example: Inputting "AI" for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the search bar when the Admin IC Search Field button is selected will produce 0 results. Using the correct format, "NIAID," for this field results in over 231,000 NIAID records.