If you want to search for a phrase in PubMed, it is best to first try to search without quotation marks.  Then scroll down the results page on the right-hand side and look at Search details where you will see how PubMed’s Automatic Term Mapping (ATM) translated the search.  Here you will be able to find out if what you entered was indeed searched for as a phrase, meaning the words are found immediately next to each other.

If you do not use quotation marks and there is a MeSH vocabulary term for the concept, not only will the phrase be searched for in all fields of the record, but the MeSH term and its related MeSH terms will also be searched for.  If the search includes the MeSH terms, the results may be more comprehensive and/or accurate.

After entering the terms you are looking for, if the Search details indicate that it was not searched as a phrase, re-enter the terms in double quotation marks.  Look at the Search details.  If the terms in your concept are immediately next to each other, it was searched as a phrase.  Be aware that when a concept is searched with quotation marks, automatic mapping to MeSH is turned off.

For some concepts, the phrase is not found and whether you search with or without quotation marks, Search details will display the terms separately connected by AND.  The following message will appear:

Quoted phrase not found

 To see specific examples illustrating phrase searching in PubMed, go to Skill Kit: Searching for Phrases in PubMed .