This article will guide you through advanced search queries to help you organize and maintain your library. Any search query you make can also be used to create a Smart List.
For use of the older version of our web application you can go directly there by clicking here.
SmartCite*: Our search terms work on all platforms. This includes SmartCite, the web app, mobile app, and desktop app.
General use
Searching by default will search all the fields for you. For example, if you want to search for "Shark" all you need to do is type shark into the search box and the app will return results back to you in any field. This includes abstracts, notes you have taken, highlighted text, Journal, etc.
Searches are also case insensitive so typing shark or Shark will get you the same results.
If you are searching for a specific field you just need to start your query with that field name. For instance, if you want to search for the journal Shark Diaries input journal:biology
If you want to search for a journal or field with multiple words you will need to use quotes. journal:"Shark Diaries"
If you don't use quotes you may get back more results as the second word is considered a search of all the fields like our first example. journal:Shark Diaries
Combining Search Terms
Combining search terms is easy as well. Just type all of your search terms with a space in between. If you are searching for all papers for Elephants and Sharks you just need a "space" but you can also use the AND query. Elephant Shark is the same as elephant AND shark. AND must be capitalized to work
So all of the above papers must include elephant and shark somewhere in the fields. If you want references about elephants or sharks you would use the OR query. elephant OR shark. OR needs to be capitalized to work.
Ranges
If you are looking for date queries you can search the year field. If you input year:2015 this would search all the papers in the year 2015. To search for a particular month you can input added:2015-05.
The year field also supports ranges. For instance, if you want to list all the papers in the library from the year 1990 to 1993, you need to input: year:[2005 TO 2010]
You can also use a wildcard for one end of your range query. For instance, if yo want to see all the papers up until 1993, you query would look like: year:[* TO 2010]
Of course, you can reverse this to see all articles after a certain time period. year:[2015 TO *]
Ranges can be used for year, ratings, added, and times_opened.
Range queries can also use relative expressions. For instance 2019 and before could be year:<=2019.
Date queries also support the now keyword. You can use this to make a SmartList for recently imported references: added:>now-7d . This will show you all of your papers that you have added in the last 7 days. If you want to see articles added in the last two months your query would be: added:>now-2M.
We currently offer the following date options:
| d | day |
| M | month |
| y | year |
| m | minute |
| s | second |
Parenthetical Grouping
We also support parenthetical grouping. So say you have the author of a couple of papers in mind and you know they publish in certain journals. author:john would give you too many results so try author:john (journal:nature OR journal:Shark)
Boolean Fields
We have a few boolean fields that you can choose from. The field must be true or false, for instance, flagged:true or flagged:false. The fields are: unread, flagged. So if you want to see all your flagged content simply search for flagged:true.(You can flag an item by clicking on the flag icon).
Exists searches
The exists search query works a little differently. You can use it to see all of your papers with files. _exists_:files
You can also use it to see all of your papers with a rating attached to them. _exists_:rating
NOT Searches
Our NOT search query will search for everything but what you put. If you do not, for example, want to see your shark references you can use NOT(shark):
You can also pair it with _exists_ to find references missing attachments NOT(_exists_:files) or papers missing a DOI NOT(_exists_:DOI):
Or make a query to see if any of your references are missing authors. NOT(_exists_:author):
Older version of the web application
SmartCite*: Our search terms work on all platforms. This includes SmartCite, the web app, mobile app, and desktop app.
General use
Searching by default will search all the fields for you. For example, if you want to search for "Shark" all you need to do is type shark into the search box and the app will return results back to you in any field. This includes abstracts, notes you have taken, highlighted text, Journal, etc.
Searches are also case insensitive so typing shark or Shark will get you the same results.
If you are searching for a specific field you just need to start your query with that field name. For instance, if you want to search for the journal Shark Diaries input journal:shark
If you want to search for a journal or field with multiple words you will need to use quotes. journal:"Shark Diaries"
If you don't use quotes you may get back more results as the second word is considered a search of all the fields like our first example. journal:Shark Diaries
Combining Search Terms
Combining search terms is easy as well. Just type all of your search terms with a space in between. If you are searching for all papers for Elephants and Sharks you just need a "space" but you can also use the AND query. Elephant Shark is the same as elephant AND shark. AND must be capitalized to work
So all of the above papers must include elephant and shark somewhere in the fields. If you want references about elephants or sharks you would use the OR query. elephant OR shark. OR needs to be capitalized to work.
Ranges
If you are looking for date queries you can search the year field. If you input year:2015 this would search all the papers in the year 2015. To search for a particular month you can input added:2015-05.
The year field also supports ranges. For instance, if you want to list all the papers in the library from the year 1990 to 1993, you need to input: year:[1990 TO 1993]
You can also use a wildcard for one end of your range query. For instance, if yo want to see all the papers up until 1993, you query would look like: year:[* TO 1993]
Of course, you can reverse this to see all articles after a certain time period. year:[2019 TO *]
Ranges can be used for year, ratings, added, and times_opened.
Range queries can also use relative expressions. For instance 2019 and before could be year:<=2019.
Date queries also support the now keyword. You can use this to make a SmartList for recently imported references: added:>now-7d . This will show you all of your papers that you have added in the last 7 days. If you want to see articles added in the last two months your query would be: added:>now-2M.
We currently offer the following date options:
| d | day |
| M | month |
| y | year |
| m | minute |
| s | second |
Parenthetical Grouping
We also support parenthetical grouping. So say you have the author of a couple of papers in mind and you know they publish in certain journals. author:john would give you too many results so try author:john (journal:nature OR journal:Shark)
Boolean Fields
We have a few boolean fields that you can choose from. The field must be true or false, for instance, flagged:true or flagged:false. The fields are: unread, flagged. So if you want to see all your flagged content simply search for flagged:true.(You can flag an item by clicking on the flag icon).
Exists searches
The exists search query works a little differently. You can use it to see all of your papers with files. _exists_:files
You can also use it to see all of your papers with a rating attached to them. _exists_:rating
NOT Searches
Our NOT search query will search for everything but what you put. If you do not, for example, want to see your shark references you can use NOT(shark):
You can also pair it with _exists_ to find references missing attachments NOT(_exists_:files) or papers missing a DOI NOT(_exists_:DOI):
Or make a query to see if any of your references are missing authors. NOT(_exists_:author):
All supported fields
Below is a complete list of all searchable fields. For multiple words in the same field make sure to surround them with quotes. I.E. highlighted_text:"The quick brown fox".
| Searchable Field | Description |
| doi | DOI of the paper or reference |
| pmid | The PMID of the paper or reference |
| pmcid | The PMCID of the paper or reference |
| title | The title of the paper or reference |
| abstract | Any text in the abstract of the paper or reference |
| journal | The title of the journal |
| author | An author of a paper or reference |
| first_author | The last name of the first author on a paper or reference |
| last_author | The last name of the last author on a paper or reference |
| year | The year of the paper or reference in yyyy format. You can also get more granular by doing yyyy-MM-dd |
| issn | The ISSN of the paper or reference |
| isbn | The ISBN of the paper or reference |
| volume | The volume of the paper or reference |
| issue | The issue of the paper or reference |
| added | The date the paper or reference was added to the library in yyyy format. You can also get more granular by doing yyyy-MM-dd |
| last_opened | The last time the reference attachment was opened in yyyy format. You can also get more granular by doing yyyy-MM-dd |
| times_opened | The number of times the paper was opened. For personal libraries this is how many times you have opened the paper. For shared libraries this is the number of times anyone has opened it combined |
| note | Search any text that has been put into notes of references or annotation notes |
| highlighted_text | Search any text that has been highlighted, underlined or struck through |
| tag | Search for all papers with a certain tag |
| unread | Search for any paper that is unread. Must be unread:true or unread:false |
| favorite | Search for any paper that is a favorite(Flag Icon). Must be favorite:true or favorite:false |
| rating | Search for any ratings in your library between 1 and 5 |
| color | Search for the color of a reference(red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, grey) |
| colour | Search for the colour of a reference(red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, grey) |
| citekey | Search for the citekey of a reference |
| type | Search for the reference type(artwork, audio_recording, bill, blog_post, book, book_section, case, computer_program, conference_paper, dictionary_entry, document, email, encyclopedia_article, film, forum_post, hearing, instant_message, interview, article, letter, magazine, manuscript, map, newspaper_article, patent, podcast, presentation, radio_broadcast, report, statute, thesis, tv_broadcast, video_recording, webpage) |
Future requests / features
We are working on expanding our search functionality. We have some more features planned and this article will be updated with them, but if you think of something or need support feel free to send us an email at Papers Support. You can also send feature requests to our team to implement on our application.