PubMed Update: Proximity Searching Now Available for Affiliation Search Field

Proximity searching is now available in PubMed for the Affiliation field in addition to the Title and Title/Abstract fields. Proximity searching in PubMed was introduced in November 2022; for more information and FAQs, see: PubMed Update: Proximity Search Now Available in PubMed.

A standard search in the affiliation [ad] field searches across all author affiliations on a citation. For example, a search for Cleveland[ad] AND Clinic[ad] can find these terms split between multiple authors' affiliations on the same citation.

With this update, you can now use a proximity search to search for multiple terms appearing in the same affiliation. For proximity searches in the affiliation field, an N value of 1,000 or less will search for the double quoted terms together within the same affiliation, rather than spread across any affiliations on the record. See below for more information about how to structure a proximity search.

You can also search affiliations using a phrase search; however, we now suggest using a proximity search for more comprehensive results because affiliation data may be provided in a variety of ways for the same institution.

EXAMPLE

Use proximity searching to find authors from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health:

"Hopkins Bloomberg Public"[Affiliation:~45]

This search will find any citation where the words "Hopkins," "Bloomberg," and "Public" appear in the same affiliation, with no more than 45 words between each term. Search results may include: 

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
• Bloomberg Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health
• ... and more

Please see the PubMed User Guide for more information about affiliations and proximity searching in PubMed:

• PubMed User Guide: Affiliation [ad]
• PubMed User Guide: Proximity searching