FAQs on Searching the Website

Please be aware that the Search facility for the website is different from that on the previous Environmental Impact platform, so search terms you have used previously may now return different results.

What's Searched?

Indexing terms, the abstracts database, news articles, full text articles on the database, CAB Reviews and eBook chapters. However, for more advanced searching of the database better results may be obtained by going to CAB Direct using the 'Abstracts database' tab. This will allow you to use the full functionality of the CAB Direct search facility which is specifically designed for searching database records

Can I use Boolean Operators?

A search for two terms will automatically AND the terms. Boolean operators such as AND, OR and NOT can now be used in the Search box on the main site. However, these must be in Upper Case to work (e.g. use AND instead of and). Brackets can also be used. To search for an exact word or phrase, place it inside quotation marks.

      e.g. a search for:
            climate change will actually search for:
            climate AND change

            a search for:
            deforestation AND (Borneo OR Sumatra) will find all content on deforestation in either Borneo or Sumatra

Can I search in database fields?

Yes. Within the search box you can specificy the field of database records to look in by putting a colon followed by the name of the field. Ones you may want to use include 'au' (author name), 'de' (subject term), 'gl' (geographical location/country) and 'et' (English title).

e.g. de:bioremediation AND hydrocarbons will find all papers mentioning the term hydrocarbons with bioremediation as a Subject term.

Can I alter the way results are sorted?

Yes. Search results are ordered by relevance as the default, but by clicking on 'date' at the top of the results, you can order the results to show the most recent papers or articles first.