Proximity Operators (or adjacency operators) are used to narrow searches by finding words that are next to, near, or within a specified distance from each other. They are often used when Boolean operator searches are not narrowing down a search enough.
Each database uses different proximity operators. Typically, the operators are composed of a letter (N or W) or word (NEAR), followed by a number that specifies the number of words between each search term. If you want to make sure certain words are near or next to each other, you can adjust the number you search with. The lower the number, the narrower the search. You can also decide in which order the search terms appear according to each database’s unique operators.
If you want to search for certain words within the same phrase, sentence, or paragraph, below are the recommended values you would search with (numbers can be modified):
- same phrase N = 3 to 5
- same sentence N = 25
- same paragraph N = 50 to 75
Proximity Operators for Each Database:
exercise therapy is the search term and 3 is the number of words that fall between exercise and therapy.
| PubMed |
OVID* |
Cochrane |
Embase* |
Web of Science |
CINAHL |
APA PsycINFO |
Scopus |
Nexis Uni |
|
"exercise therapy"[Title/Abstract:~3]
In any order only
Field can be [Title], [Title/Abstract], [Abstract], or abbreviated as [ti], [tiab], [ab]
|
(exercise adj3 therapy)
In any order
|
(exercise NEAR/3 therapy) in any order
NEXT/3 for fixed word order
|
(exercise NEAR/3 therapy) in any order
NEXT/3 for fixed word order
|
(exercise NEAR/3 therapy) in any order
|
(exercise N3 therapy) in any order
W3 for fixed word order
|
(exercise NEAR/3 therapy) in any order
PRE/3 for fixed word order
|
(exercise) W/3 (therapy) in any order
(exercise) PRE/3 (therapy) for fixed word order
|
exercise w/3 therapy in any order
exercise near/3 therapy in any order
exercise pre/3 therapy for fixed word order
|
*OVID and Embase are the only databases listed here that do not follow n = 0, which would result in searching two words right next to each other. Instead, Ovid and Embase use n = 1 to search for words next to each other. In OVID, for example, exercise adj3 therapy will find two words between exercise and therapy. The other databases would find three words between exercise and therapy.