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Find the latest scientific research, breakthrough discoveries, and cutting-edge studies from leading institutions worldwide. Search by keywords, topics, institutions, journals, research methods, and more using our advanced search operators.

Advanced Search Syntax

Use these operators in the search bar to filter your results precisely.

Our search understands special commands. Type them directly into the search bar to activate advanced filters.

Date Operators

Format: date:YYYY or date:YYYY-MM or date:YYYY-MM-DD or date:YYYY-YYYY

Examples:

  • CRISPR date:2015-2020
  • COVID vaccine date:2020-03 | date:2020-12 (range between two dates)
  • climate change date:2024
  • exoplanets date:2024-01-01 | date:2024-06-30

Date Range Syntax:

  • date:2020-03 | date:2020-12 (year-month range)
  • date:2020 | date:2023 (year range)
  • date:2020-03-15 | date:2020-12-31 (full date range)

Alternative syntax:

  • published:2023
  • year:2020-2022

Institution Operators

Format: source:"Institution Name" or institution:"Institution Name"

Restricts results to articles published by that institution. Any words you add after the institution are treated as a separate search of the article text.

Examples:

  • source:MIT artificial intelligence — MIT articles about artificial intelligence
  • institution:"Johns Hopkins" COVID — Johns Hopkins articles about COVID
  • source:NASA Mars
  • source:"Max Planck Institute" quantum
  • institution:Stanford medicine

Important: Put quotes around any institution name longer than one word — source:"Max Planck Institute", not source:Max Planck Institute. Without quotes only the first word (Max) is used as the institution and the rest becomes a text search.

Tip: Full names match the institution exactly (e.g. "Johns Hopkins" finds all Johns Hopkins schools and centers). Short abbreviations such as MIT or NASA, which aren't stored as the full institution name, are matched wherever they appear in the article.

Journal Operators

Format: journal:"Journal Name"

Examples:

  • journal:Nature gene editing
  • journal:"The Lancet" clinical trial
  • journal:Science climate
  • journal:Cell immunology

Important: Quote multi-word journal names — journal:"Nature Physics", not journal:Nature Physics (which would filter for the journal Nature and search the text for Physics).

Research Method Operators

Format: method:"study type" — this matches one of a fixed set of study types, so the name must match. Add other words after it to search the article text.

Examples:

  • method:"meta-analysis" diet
  • method:"observational study" air pollution
  • method:"experimental study" photosynthesis
  • method:"systematic review" statins
  • method:"randomized controlled/clinical trial" cancer

Recognized study types: Experimental study, Observational study, Data/statistical analysis, Computational simulation/modeling, Survey, Randomized controlled/clinical trial, Meta-analysis, Systematic review, Literature review, Imaging analysis.

Research Subject Operators

Format: subject:type — who or what was studied, from a fixed set. Add other words after it to search the article text.

Examples:

  • subject:people depression treatment
  • subject:animals behavior
  • subject:cells aging
  • subject:"human tissue samples" alzheimer

Recognized subjects: People, Animals, Cells, Human tissue samples, Animal tissue samples, Lab-produced tissue samples, Human embryos.

Keyword/Topic Operators

Format: keyword:"tag" or topic:"tag"

Matches articles tagged with that exact keyword. Use it on its own — unlike the other operators, extra words in the same query are not applied. To combine a topic with free text, search the words directly instead (e.g. immunology T-cells).

Examples:

  • keyword:immunology
  • topic:"machine learning"
  • keyword:"climate change"
  • topic:exoplanets

Format: doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx

Examples:

  • doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06825-8
  • doi:10.1126/science.abc1234

Multimedia Filter

Format: has:images or has:video or has:multimedia

Examples:

  • Mars rover has:images
  • cell division has:video
  • black hole has:multimedia
  • source:NASA has:images date:2024

Format: "exact phrase in quotes"

Examples:

  • "long COVID" treatment
  • "mRNA vaccine" development
  • "gravitational waves" detection
  • "CRISPR-Cas9" therapy

Combining Multiple Operators

This is where it gets powerful. Stack operators to create precise queries:

Examples:

  • source:MIT topic:"artificial intelligence" date:2023-2024 has:images
  • journal:Nature method:"randomized controlled/clinical trial" date:2020 | date:2022 COVID
  • institution:"Johns Hopkins" subject:people vaccine date:2020
  • source:NASA Mars has:multimedia date:2021 | date:2025
  • journal:"The Lancet" method:"meta-analysis" subject:people cardiovascular
  • CRISPR source:Berkeley journal:Science date:2015-2020
  • climate source:"NOAA" date:2024 has:images
  • (quantum OR photonic) institution:"MIT" date:2023

Boolean Operators

Format: AND, OR, NOT (in capitals), with ( ) for grouping. These combine search words: AND requires a word, NOT excludes it, OR (inside parentheses) accepts either.

Examples:

  • vaccine AND efficacy NOT animal
  • climate change AND (adaptation OR mitigation)
  • cancer treatment NOT chemotherapy
  • (immunotherapy OR CAR-T) AND melanoma
  • "gene therapy" AND (cancer OR leukemia) NOT mice

Note: Boolean logic applies to the search words. Field filters (source:, journal:, date:, etc.) are always combined with AND — you can't yet OR two different field filters together.

Format: * for wildcard matching

Examples:

  • neuro* (finds neuroscience, neurology, neuroplasticity, etc.)
  • genom* (finds genome, genomic, genomics)
  • immun* AND therapy (wildcards combine with boolean operators)

Note: The * goes at the end of a word to match everything starting with it (cardio*). It must follow at least a few letters.

Quick Reference Table

What You Want Type This Example
Specific institutionsource:"Name"source:"MIT"
Date rangedate:YYYY | date:YYYYdate:2020 | date:2023
Specific journaljournal:"Name"journal:Nature
Study typemethod:"Type"method:"meta-analysis"
What was studiedsubject:Typesubject:people
Has mediahas:imageshas:video
Exact phrase"phrase""dark matter"
Combine searchesoperator operatorsource:NASA date:2024
Either word(A OR B)(adaptation OR mitigation)

Pro Tips

Start simple, then add:

  • cancer
  • cancer date:2024
  • cancer date:2024 method:"observational study"
  • cancer date:2024 method:"observational study" source:Stanford

Use parentheses to group search words:

  • (quantum OR photonic) AND computing source:MIT date:2023-2024

Combine text search with operators:

  • mRNA vaccine development source:"Moderna" date:2020

Search within search results:
After getting results, refine by adding more operators to your original query.