Evidence Synthesis Search Strategies 

This is a collection of search strategies developed by subject librarians from Penn Libraries to support evidence synthesis projects such as systematic, scoping, or rapid reviews. These strategies can be used to update projects and assist with search term selection for future projects.

Before using a search strategy, please consider the following:

• Context: Search strategies are developed to address a specific question posed by the requesting team. Librarians decide which terms to use or exclude based on this guiding question. Anyone seeking to re-use these strategies must also consider this and be prepared to modify them.
• Limits: Some strategies may include language, date, study type, or other limiters.
• Changes in controlled vocabulary: Controlled vocabulary (e.g. MeSH, EMTREE) may change over time. Database producers update controlled vocabulary and add new terms as necessary, so checking these terms before replicating them in another search is good practice.