Cochrane Library

It's a good idea to save your search to run it again at a later date and so you have a record of your search strategy. You can also set up an alert, to receive an email / notification when new articles matching your search criteria are added to the database.

To save your search strategy, or create alerts, in the Cochrane Library, you will need to create a free Wiley Online Library account. (See instructions for setting up an account in the menu box on this page.)

Once you have run a search and signed into the Cochrane Library, select the Save this search button towards the top right of the screen.

• Type a name for your search and, optionally, you can also add comments.
• Select Save.

To retrieve your saved search, select the View saved searches button towards the top right of the screen. You will see a list of your saved searches and a list of options to the right of each search.

• Load will rerun the search and overwrite any search lines that are currently on the search screen.
• Append will add the saved search beneath any search lines that are currently on the search screen.
• Share will allow you to copy a URL that will link to the saved search, or to send a link to the saved search via email.
• Export will save the search strategy as a text file.
• You can also Delete the saved search.

(Note: these options are all available within the Search Manager tab. Options in the Search and Medical terms (MESH) tabs are more limited.)

You can also print your search strategy by selecting the Print button above the list of search lines.

If you have saved a search strategy that you created in the Search Manager tab, you can get the Cochrane Library to email you with any new results that match your search strategy. To do that:

• Sign in to the Cochrane Library.
• Select the View saved searches button towards the top right of the search results screen.
• Tick the e-mail alert check box next to a search name to receive a notification of any new results that are added to the Cochrane Library and match the search criteria.

You can also set up topic alerts from the Cochrane Library homepage. Here, you can select a topic, for example, public health, or mental health, or child health, to receive weekly notifications of any new records on this topic that are added to the Cochrane Library.

• Sign in to the Cochrane Library.
• Select any topics of interest.
• Select Save changes and you will begin to receive alerts.

To create an account:

• Select the Sign in link in the top right corner of the screen.
• Select Register. (Note: do not select Institutional login.)
• Complete the online form and then select Register again to create your account.
• You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to verify your email address.

You will only be able to save searches that you have created and run using the Cochrane Library's Advanced search options. You can save searches that you have created in the Search, Search manager and Medical terms (MESH) tabs.