Web of Science

To carry out a complex or comprehensive search, it is usually best to search for each concept individually and then combine them together using the Query Builder screen.

On the left-hand side of the screen, you can select the search history icon to show a list of all searches you have run in the past, with a link to re-run that search. If you are logged in with a personal account, this will show you up to a full year of search history.

You can combine searches you have run in this session. To do this, click on the Advanced Search link at the top of the screen, then Query Builder. A list of all the searches available for combining will be at the bottom of the page, each one numbered.

You can combine searches using AND / OR by ticking them in this list, and selecting "Combine Sets". You can also use the search numbers to construct the search directly, eg (#1 AND #2) NOT #3. This can be particularly useful if you are using a complex combination and you need to use brackets to make the order clear. It is also the only way to use the NOT operator. Alternatively, you could combine results #1 and #2 to make a new search result #4, and then combine that with search #3.

If you have combined searches, and then you use the history to edit one of the original search queries, this will affect all later combined searches based on it.

As well as carrying out complex searches with many elements, this function can allow you to identify all the papers that are found by one search but not by another - eg #10 NOT #9. You can use this to test the effect of slightly changing a complex search query, such as by adding a single new search term, by seeing what papers are only returned by the new search.