Scientific Literature Search

Overview

Scientific literature search is the foundation of evidence-based research. A well-executed search maximizes recall (finding all relevant papers) while maintaining precision (avoiding irrelevant results). This guide provides a systematic approach that combines database-specific query strategies, AI-assisted synthesis, and direct content extraction, organized into a three-tiered framework that scales from targeted lookups to comprehensive landscape reviews.

Key Concepts

The PICO Framework

For clinical and biomedical questions, structure queries using the PICO framework:

• P (Population): Who are you studying? (e.g., "Diabetes Mellitus"[MeSH])
• I (Intervention): What treatment or exposure? (e.g., "Metformin"[MeSH])
• C (Comparison): What is the alternative? (e.g., placebo, standard care)
• O (Outcome): What result are you measuring? (e.g., "Cardiovascular Diseases"[MeSH])

PICO queries can be combined with publication type filters to target specific evidence levels: