PubMed Search Filters

Limits using NOT-NOT

The NOT-NOT logic seems as though it shouldn't work but it is as perfect as a weird logic can be. We avoid putting AND united states[MESH] in the search as not all records include the US MeSH terms. Likewise, we avoid NOT'ing out other countries as there may be comparative studies that include the US. NOT-NOT excludes any study that has the MeSH terms we DON'T want (whether it is country/continent based, age based, or human/animal based) but it keeps records that have the terms from the 2nd NOT phrase. It also keeps records with NO MeSH terms. 

Are these limiters perfect, i.e. do they remove all non-relevant records?

Nope. Sorry, but extreme caution is being used to develop the limiters. MeSH terms guide the process and MeSH isn't, well, perfect. But these will remove a significant number of non-relevant records.

How to use NOT-NOT limiters found in this LibGuide

1. Run your search as usual.
2. Copy the statement below that you want EXACTLY AS IT IS.
   • (parentheses should be included)
3. Paste into the search text box AT THE END OF YOUR SEARCH PHRASE.

Limit to studies conducted in the US (updated 15 January 2025)

Note: This will not eliminate 100% of non-US studies, but it will greatly reduce the number. Due to PubMed indexing, there is no surefire way to eliminate ALL non-US studies without eliminating US studies as well.

Add to your search string at the end of the search:

NOT ((africa[MESH] OR asia[MESH] OR australia[MESH] OR canada[MESH] OR central america[mesh] OR europe[MESH] OR greenland[mesh:noexp] OR mexico[mesh:noexp] OR south america[MESH]) NOT (north america[MESH:NOEXP] OR united states[MESH]))

Limit to researchers in US institutions (Updated 14 May 2024)

WARNING! Do not use for systematic/scoping reviews. This filter is good for reducing many non-US studies that will remain after using the above filter but you may also lose studies in which the author's institutional affiliation does not indicate a state or country designation.

This is a 2-step process if you want studies: 1. conducted in the US and 2. conducted by US researchers .

Step 1

your-search-string NOT ((africa[MESH] OR asia[MESH] OR australia[MESH] OR canada[MESH] OR central america[mesh] OR europe[MESH] OR south america[MESH]) NOT (north america[MESH:NOEXP] OR united states[MESH]))

Step 2

your-search-string AND (AK[AD] OR AL[AD] OR AR[AD] OR (AS[AD] AND (community college[ad] OR pago[ad] OR samoa[ad])) OR AZ[AD] OR CA[AD] OR CO[AD] OR CT[AD] OR DC[AD] OR DE[AD] OR FL[AD] OR GA[AD] OR GU[AD] OR HI[AD] OR IA[AD] OR ID[AD] OR IL[AD] OR IN[AD] OR KS[AD] OR KY[AD] OR LA[AD] OR MA[AD] OR MD[AD] OR ME[AD] OR MI[AD] OR MN[AD] OR MO[AD] OR MP[AD] OR MS[AD] OR MT[AD] OR NC[AD] OR ND[AD] OR NE[AD] OR NH[AD] OR NJ[AD] OR NM[AD] OR NV[AD] OR NY[AD] OR OH[AD] OR OK[AD] OR PA[AD] OR PR[AD] OR RI[AD] OR SC[AD] OR SD[AD] OR TN[AD] OR TT[AD] OR TX[AD] OR UT[AD] OR VA[AD] OR VI[AD] OR VT[AD] OR WA[AD] OR WI[AD] OR WV[AD] OR WY[AD] OR Alaska[AD] OR Arizona[AD] OR Arkansas[AD] OR American Samoa[AD] OR American 96799 Samoa[AD] OR California[AD] OR Colorado[AD] OR Connecticut[AD] OR Delaware[AD] OR "District of Columbia"[AD] OR Florida[AD] OR Georgia[AD] OR Guam[AD] OR Hawaii[AD] OR Idaho[AD] OR Illinois[AD] OR Indiana[AD] OR Iowa[AD] OR Kansas[AD] OR Kentucky[AD] OR Louisiana[AD] OR Maine[AD] OR Maryland[AD] OR Massachusetts[AD] OR Michigan[AD] OR Minnesota[AD] OR Mississippi[AD] OR Missouri[AD] OR Montana[AD] OR Nebraska[AD] OR Nevada[AD] OR "New Hampshire"[AD] OR "New Jersey"[AD] OR "New Mexico"[AD] OR "New York"[AD] OR "North Carolina"[AD] OR "North Dakota"[AD] OR "Northern Mariana Islands"[AD] OR Ohio[AD] OR Oklahoma[AD] OR Oregon[AD] OR Pennsylvania[AD] OR "Puerto Rico"[AD] OR "Rhode Island"[AD] OR "South Carolina"[AD] OR "South Dakota"[AD] OR Tennessee[AD] OR Texas[AD] OR Utah[AD] OR Vermont[AD] OR Virginia[AD] OR "Virgin Islands"[AD] OR Washington[AD] OR "West Virginia"[AD] OR Wisconsin[AD] OR Wyoming[AD] OR "United States"[AD])

Example (Pitt login required)

Limit by age groups (updated 5 September 2024)

In each of the filters below, studies that do have one or more populations in the first set of parentheses will be removed UNLESS the studies also have the MeSH term(s) found in the the 2nd NOT statement.

Keep studies with adults; remove studies with ONLY infant, child, and/or adolescent populations

NOT ((infant[mesh] OR child[mesh] OR adolescent[mesh]) NOT adult[mesh])

Keep studies with adolescents and adults; remove studies with ONLY infant and/or child populations

NOT ((infant[mesh] OR child[mesh]) NOT (adolescent[mesh] OR adult[mesh]))

Keep studies with adolescents only; remove studies with infant, child, or adult populations

NOT ((infant[mesh] OR child[mesh] OR adult[mesh]) NOT adolescent[mesh])

Keep studies with child and/or adolescent populations; remove studies with infant and/or adult populations

NOT ((infant[mesh] OR adult[mesh]) NOT (child[mesh] OR adolescent[mesh]))

Keep studies with child population; remove studies with infant, adolescent, and/or adult populations

NOT ((infant[mesh] OR adult[mesh]) NOT (child[mesh] OR adolescent[mesh]))

Keep studies with infants; remove studies with ONLY child, adolescent, and/or adult populations

NOT ((child[mesh] OR adolescent[mesh] OR adult[mesh]) NOT infant[mesh])

Limit by language of publication

1. Run your PubMed search as usual.
2. At the end of the search, add: AND english[la]
   • [la] This uses the language field label

(adolescen* OR teen OR youth) AND (cigarette* OR ecigarette* OR smoking OR vaping) AND English[la]

(adolescen* OR teen OR youth) AND (cigarette* OR ecigarette* OR smoking OR vaping) AND chinese[la]

(adolescen* OR teen OR youth) AND (cigarette* OR ecigarette* OR smoking OR vaping) AND spanish[la]

Limit by date of publication range

1. Run your PubMed search as usual.
2. At the end of the search, add: AND XXXX:YYYY[dp]
   • XXXX is the earliest publication year
   • YYYY is the latest publication year
     • You can set a publication year far in the distant future to ensure your search alerts don't "age out"
   • [dp] stands for "date of publication"
     • [square brackets] are used to offset pre-defined PubMed field labels

Example

• This search looks for adolescents, smoking or vaping and items published from 2018 to 2024 in English.

(adolescen* OR teen OR youth) AND (cigarette* OR ecigarette* OR smoking OR vaping) AND 2018:2024[dp] AND English[la]

• This uses a search filter for ALL types of cancer (it just doesn't matter) and a filter for culturally competent care. It limits to the US, then specifies that only those items published 2015 to 2030 are included.

((Neoplasms[MeSH] OR Adenosarcoma*[TIAB] OR blastoma*[TIAB] OR cancer[TIAB] OR cancers[TIAB] OR carcinoma*[TIAB] OR Carcinosarcoma*[TIAB] OR glioma*[TIAB] OR leukemia*[TIAB] OR Liposarcoma[TIAB] OR Lymphangiom*[TIAB] OR lymphoma*[TIAB] OR melanoma*[TIAB] OR metastatic[TIAB] OR myeloma*[TIAB] OR neoplasm*[TIAB] OR osteosarcoma*[TIAB] OR sarcoma*[TIAB] OR tumor*[TIAB] OR tumour*[TIAB])) AND ("Health Disparate, Minority and Vulnerable Populations"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Health Inequities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Health Status Disparities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Healthcare Disparities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Socioeconomic Disparities in Health"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Social justice"[MeSH:noexp] OR Disparities[TIAB] OR disparity[TIAB] OR inequalities[TIAB] OR inequality[TIAB] OR inequities[TIAB] OR inequity[TIAB] OR "social disadvantage"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disadvantaged"[TIAB:~2] OR "social justice"[TIAB:~1] OR "social vulnerability"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially disadvantaged"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially vulnerable"[TIAB:~2]) AND ("Cultural Competency"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Culturally Competent Care"[MeSH:noexp] OR "culturally appropriate"[TIAB:~2] OR "cultural competency"[TIAB:~2] OR "culturally competent"[TIAB:~2] OR "culturally competent"[TIAB:~2] OR "culturally incompetent"[TIAB:~2] OR "cultural incompetency"[TIAB:~2] OR "culturally safe"[TIAB:~2] OR "culturally sensitive"[TIAB:~2] OR "cultural sensitivity"[TIAB:~2] OR "culturally insensitive"[TIAB:~2] OR "cultural insensitivity"[TIAB:~2]) NOT ((africa[MESH] OR asia[MESH] OR australia[MESH] OR canada[MESH] OR central america[mesh] OR europe[MESH] OR south america[MESH]) NOT (north america[MESH:NOEXP] OR united states[MESH])) AND 2015:2030[dp]

Limit to human studies (Revised 25 March 2024)

This will not remove ALL non-human studies but it does remove a significant portion of them.

NOT ((Plants[MESH] OR Animals[MESH) NOT Humans[MESH])

Limit to animal studies (Revised 25 March 2024)

This will not remove ALL human and plant studies but it does remove a significant portion of them.

NOT (( Humans[MESH] OR Plants[MESH] OR "drugs and lactation database lactmed"[Book] OR Endotext[Book] OR "genereviews"[Book] OR "livertox clinical and research information on drug induced liver injury"[Book] OR "medical genetics summaries"[Book] OR "PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board"[Corporate Author] OR "pdq cancer information summaries"[Book]) NOT (Animals[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Animal Population Groups"[MESH] OR Chordata[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Chordata, Nonvertebrate"[MESH] OR Vertebrates[MESH:NOEXP] OR Amphibians[MESH] OR Birds[MESH] OR Fishes[MESH] OR Mammals[MESH:NOEXP] OR Eutheria[MESH:NOEXP] OR Afrotheria[MESH] OR Artiodactyla[MESH] OR Carnivora[MESH] OR Cetacea[MESH] OR Chiroptera[MESH] OR Eulipotyphla[MESH] OR Lagomorpha[MESH] OR Pangolins[MESH] OR Perissodactyla[MESH] OR Primates[MESH:NOEXP] OR Haplorhini[MESH:NOEXP] OR Catarrhini[MESH:NOEXP] OR Cercopithecidae[MESH] OR Hominidae[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Gorilla gorilla"[MESH:NOEXP] OR Neanderthals[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Pan paniscus"[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Pan troglodytes"[MESH:NOEXP] OR Pongo[MESH] OR Hylobatidae[MESH] OR Strepsirhini[MESH] OR Rodentia[MESH] OR Scandentia[MESH] OR Xenarthra[MESH] OR Marsupialia[MESH] OR Monotremata[MESH] OR Reptiles[MESH] OR Invertebrates[MESH]))

Example

Breast cancer + animal studies - (human studies or plant studies or books that don't cover animal studies)

(breast cancer[tiab] OR breast neoplasms[mesh]) NOT ((Humans[MESH] OR Plants[MESH] OR "drugs and lactation database lactmed"[Book] OR Endotext[Book] OR "genereviews"[Book] OR "livertox clinical and research information on drug induced liver injury"[Book] OR "medical genetics summaries"[Book] OR "PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board"[Corporate Author] OR "pdq cancer information summaries"[Book]) NOT (Animals[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Animal Population Groups"[MESH] OR Chordata[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Chordata, Nonvertebrate"[MESH] OR Vertebrates[MESH:NOEXP] OR Amphibians[MESH] OR Birds[MESH] OR Fishes[MESH] OR Mammals[MESH:NOEXP] OR Eutheria[MESH:NOEXP] OR Afrotheria[MESH] OR Artiodactyla[MESH] OR Carnivora[MESH] OR Cetacea[MESH] OR Chiroptera[MESH] OR Eulipotyphla[MESH] OR Lagomorpha[MESH] OR Pangolins[MESH] OR Perissodactyla[MESH] OR Primates[MESH:NOEXP] OR Haplorhini[MESH:NOEXP] OR Catarrhini[MESH:NOEXP] OR Cercopithecidae[MESH] OR Hominidae[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Gorilla gorilla"[MESH:NOEXP] OR Neanderthals[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Pan paniscus"[MESH:NOEXP] OR "Pan troglodytes"[MESH:NOEXP] OR Pongo[MESH] OR Hylobatidae[MESH] OR Strepsirhini[MESH] OR Rodentia[MESH] OR Scandentia[MESH] OR Xenarthra[MESH] OR Marsupialia[MESH] OR Monotremata[MESH] OR Reptiles[MESH] OR Invertebrates[MESH]))

Limit to plant studies (Revised 25 March 2024)

This will not remove ALL human and animal but it does remove a significant portion of them.

NOT ((Animals[MESH] OR Humans[MESH] OR Endotext[Book] OR "drugs and lactation database lactmed"[Book] OR "genereviews"[Book] OR "livertox clinical and research information on drug induced liver injury"[Book] OR "medical genetics summaries"[Book] OR "PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board"[Corporate Author] OR "pdq cancer information summaries"[Book]) NOT Plants[MESH])