Searching Tips

Searching Scopus is much like searching any other database. You can use boolean operators and filters as you normally would. For a quick refresher on general searching tips, visit our Literature Searching guide. However, there are a few searching tips that are specific to Scopus.

Phrase Searching in Scopus

However, there are a few searching tips that are specific to Scopus. Scopus gives you two methods for searching for a phrase: loose phrase and exact phrase. A loose-phrase search tells Scopus to include slight variations to the phrase, such as plural words. An exact-phrase search only searches for your phrase exactly as worded.

Loose-phrase searching

You can perform a loose phrase search by putting quotation marks around your phrase. For example, a search for "antihypertensive agent" would also yield results for antihypertensive agents.

Exact-phrase searching

An exact-phrase search tells Scopus to search for your phrase exactly as you type it in. To perform an exact-phrase search, place curly brackets around your phrase. By searching for {antiypertensive agent}, you would exclude all variations, including plural words.

*Note - You can truncate within a loose-phrase search, but not an exact-phrase search.

For more information, view the video below. The video link is set to the phrase-searching timestamp.

Field-specific searches

Scopus is similar to many databases in that you can search specific fields, such as the title or the author's name. However, Scopus also allows you to search based on funding source.

To search a specific field, click on the "search within" drop-down menu, then select the field you'd like to search.

For more information, view the video below. The video link begins at the field-searching segment.