Search Query Generator in EasySLR

Search Query Generator in EasySLR

The Search Query Generation tool in EasySLR helps you create a ready-to-use search strategy for PubMed in just a few steps. This saves valuable time by eliminating the need to build queries from scratch and ensures your search is comprehensive and aligned with your research objective.

When to Use This Tool
  • At the start of a systematic review to create a structured search strategy.
  • When you need to ensure all relevant PICOS terms are captured in your search.
  • To quickly adapt search strategies for different research topics.
How to Generate a Search Query
  1. Navigate to the Tools Section
  2. Select Search Query Generator


  3. Click ‘Generate Search Queries’
  4. Add Your Research Objective


  1. Validate the Research Objective: Use the Validate option to ensure all relevant PICOS (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcomes, Study Design) terms are included.


  1. Select Target Range of Articles

  2. Add Key Articles for Maximum Recall: Include known relevant articles to help optimize recall and ensure your search strategy captures all important literature.
Refining Your Search Terms
The tool automatically generates PICOS-based search terms.
  • You can edit these terms to make them more specific or broader.
  • You can add custom terms to capture unique aspects of your research topic.


Currently only Pubmed integration is available. You may access the count and recall by clicking on the Get Count button.
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Importing Articles Directly from PubMed

When you click on the "Add Articles" button, you’ll be redirected to another window where you can:
  • Directly import articles into your project without navigating to PubMed.
  • Select a Publication Year range to narrow your import.
  • Reverify articles within the tool and either import all results or a selected subset.

Note: If your search returns more than 10,000 articles, we recommend downloading the NBIB file from PubMed and uploading it to EasySLR as Pubmed does not allow importing more than 10,000 sarticle at a time. For step-by-step instructions refer to the help article here: How to export NBIB File from PubMed?
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Regenerate Query
You can click "Regenerate Query" to create a new search string.

Copy Query
Once your search string is finalised, click "Create Copy" to duplicate it exactly for record-keeping.

Best Practices & Tips
  • Always review generated queries for accuracy before running them in PubMed.
  • Avoid overly broad queries to prevent excessive irrelevant results.
  • Use Key Articles to ensure critical literature is always included in recall.

Troubleshooting
  • No results generated? Check your AI credit balance and refine your research objective.
  • Low recall? Add more key articles or broaden PICOS terms.
  • Too many irrelevant results? Narrow your terms or add exclusion keywords.

Benefits of the Search Query Generation Tool
  • Saves time of manual query drafting.
  • Ensures consistent use of PICOS framework for robust search strategies.
  • Improves recall by leveraging key articles as references.
  • Easy to refine and adapt to changing project needs.

Q1. Are AI credits charged when I generate a search query?
 Yes. 200  AI credits are consumed each time you generate a new search query, whether it’s your first query or a regenerated one.
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Q2. Will regenerating a query consume AI credits?
 Yes. Clicking "Regenerate Query" will use 200 AI credits because the system creates a new search string based on your updated inputs.
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Q3. Does copying a query consume AI credits?
 No. "Copy Query" simply duplicates the existing search string and does not use AI credits.
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Q4. Are AI credits used when searching or importing articles directly from PubMed?
 No. AI credits are not charged for executing the search or importing articles from PubMed. Credits are only used for query generation or regeneration.



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