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:2015-2020COVID vaccine date:2020-03 | date:2020-12 (range between two dates)climate change date:2024exoplanets 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:2023year: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 intelligenceinstitution:"Johns Hopkins" COVID — Johns Hopkins articles about COVIDsource:NASA Marssource:"Max Planck Institute" quantuminstitution: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 editingjournal:"The Lancet" clinical trialjournal:Science climatejournal: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" dietmethod:"observational study" air pollutionmethod:"experimental study" photosynthesismethod:"systematic review" statinsmethod:"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 treatmentsubject:animals behaviorsubject:cells agingsubject:"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:immunologytopic:"machine learning"keyword:"climate change"topic:exoplanets
DOI Search
Format: doi:10.xxxx/xxxxx
Examples:
doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06825-8doi:10.1126/science.abc1234
Format: has:images or has:video or has:multimedia
Examples:
Mars rover has:imagescell division has:videoblack hole has:multimediasource:NASA has:images date:2024
Exact Phrase Search
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:imagesjournal:Nature method:"randomized controlled/clinical trial" date:2020 | date:2022 COVIDinstitution:"Johns Hopkins" subject:people vaccine date:2020source:NASA Mars has:multimedia date:2021 | date:2025journal:"The Lancet" method:"meta-analysis" subject:people cardiovascularCRISPR source:Berkeley journal:Science date:2015-2020climate 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 animalclimate 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.
Wildcard Search
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 institution | source:"Name" | source:"MIT" |
| Date range | date:YYYY | date:YYYY | date:2020 | date:2023 |
| Specific journal | journal:"Name" | journal:Nature |
| Study type | method:"Type" | method:"meta-analysis" |
| What was studied | subject:Type | subject:people |
| Has media | has:images | has:video |
| Exact phrase | "phrase" | "dark matter" |
| Combine searches | operator operator | source:NASA date:2024 |
| Either word | (A OR B) | (adaptation OR mitigation) |
Pro Tips
Start simple, then add:
cancercancer date:2024cancer 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.