EMBASE RCT filter
The Cochrane Embase RCT filters for Embase.com and Ovid (2023 revisions) are provided on this page
Julie Glanville, 30 April 2023
The Cochrane Embase RCT filter for Embase.com was published in 2019:
Glanville J, Foxlee R, Wisniewski S, Noel-Storr A, Edwards M, Dooley G. Translating the Cochrane EMBASE RCT filter from the Ovid interface to Embase.com: a case study. Health Info Libr J. 2019 Sep;36(3):264-277. doi: 10.1111/hir.12269.
The filter was devised for a specific purpose (compiling the Cochrane CENTRAL database) and the search logic described in the Health Info Libr J article is, therefore, not optimised for other searchers. On this page I provide versions of the Embase.com filter and the Ovid filter with logic that searchers should find more helpful.
These filters also differ from the published filters in the following ways:
May 2022 two small errors were corrected (Changed 'controlled clinical study/de' in line 2 and 22 to '‘controlled clinical trial’/de')
April 2023 the Emtree heading 'randomized controlled trial' has been exploded (line 1 and line 22) to reflect the recent addition of more specific terms by Elsevier.
'Randomized controlled trial' can also be captured by epxloding 'Controlled clinical trial' so if you wish you can remove line one, explode 'Controlled clinical trial' and renumber the rest of the strategy.
Embase RCT filter for Embase.com
30 April 2023 revision
1 ‘randomized controlled trial’/exp
2 ‘controlled clinical trial’/de
3 random*:ti,ab,tt
4 ‘randomization’/de
5 ‘intermethod comparison’/de
6 placebo:ti,ab,tt
7 (compare:ti,tt OR compared:ti,tt OR comparison:ti,tt)
8 ((evaluated:ab OR evaluate:ab OR evaluating:ab OR assessed:ab OR assess:ab) AND (compare:ab OR compared:ab OR comparing:ab OR comparison:ab))
9 (open NEXT/1 label):ti,ab,tt
10 ((double OR single OR doubly OR singly) NEXT/1 (blind OR blinded OR blindly)):ti,ab,tt
11 ‘double blind procedure’/de
12 (parallel NEXT/1 group*):ti,ab,tt
13 (crossover:ti,ab,tt OR ‘cross over’:ti,ab,tt)
14 ((assign* OR match OR matched OR allocation) NEAR/6 (alternate OR group OR groups OR intervention OR interventions OR patient OR patients OR subject OR subjects OR participant OR participants)):ti,ab,tt
15 (assigned:ti,ab,tt OR allocated:ti,ab,tt)
16 (controlled NEAR/8 (study OR design OR trial)):ti,ab,tt
17 (volunteer:ti,ab,tt OR volunteers:ti,ab,tt)
18 ‘human experiment’/de
19 trial:ti,tt
20 #1 OR #2 OR #3 OR #4 OR #5 OR #6 OR #7 OR #8 OR #9 OR #10 OR #11 OR #12 OR #13 OR #14 OR #15 OR #16 OR #17 OR #18 OR #19
21 (((random* NEXT/1 sampl* NEAR/8 (‘cross section*’ OR questionnaire* OR survey OR surveys OR database or databases)):ti,ab,tt) NOT (‘comparative study’/de OR ‘controlled study’/de OR ‘randomised controlled’:ti,ab,tt OR ‘randomized controlled’:ti,ab,tt OR ‘randomly assigned’:ti,ab,tt))
22 (‘cross‐sectional study’/de NOT (‘randomized controlled trial’/exp OR ‘controlled clinical trial’/de OR ‘controlled study’/de OR ‘randomised controlled’:ti,ab,tt OR ‘randomized controlled’:ti,ab,tt OR ‘control group’:ti,ab,tt OR ‘control groups’:ti,ab,tt))
23 (‘case control*’:ti,ab,tt AND random*:ti,ab,tt NOT (‘randomised controlled’:ti,ab,tt OR ‘randomized controlled’:ti,ab,tt))
24 (‘systematic review’:ti,tt NOT (trial:ti,tt OR study:ti,tt))
25 (nonrandom*:ti,ab,tt NOT random*:ti,ab,tt)
26 ‘random field*’:ti,ab,tt
27 (‘random cluster’ NEAR/4 sampl*):ti,ab,tt
28 (review:ab AND review:it) NOT trial:ti,tt
29 (‘we searched’:ab AND (review:ti,tt OR review:it))
30 ‘update review’:ab
31 (databases NEAR/5 searched):ab
32 ((rat:ti,tt OR rats:ti,tt OR mouse:ti,tt OR mice:ti,tt OR swine:ti,tt OR porcine:ti,tt OR murine:ti,tt OR sheep:ti,tt OR lambs:ti,tt OR pigs:ti,tt OR piglets:ti,tt OR rabbit:ti,tt OR rabbits:ti,tt OR cat:ti,tt OR cats:ti,tt OR dog:ti,tt OR dogs:ti,tt OR cattle:ti,tt OR bovine:ti,tt OR monkey:ti,tt OR monkeys:ti,tt OR trout:ti,tt OR marmoset*:ti,tt) AND ‘animal experiment’/de)
33 (‘animal experiment’/de NOT (‘human experiment’/de OR ‘human’/de))
34 #21 OR #22 OR #23 OR #24 OR #25 OR #26 OR #27 OR #28 OR #29 OR #30 OR #31 OR #32 OR #33
35 #20 NOT #34
Embase RCT filter for Ovid
30 April 2023 revision
You can cut and paste the strategy or you can launch the search into Ovid Embase.
1 exp randomized controlled trial/
2 controlled clinical trial/
3 random$.ti,ab.
4 randomization/
5 intermethod comparison/
6 placebo.ti,ab.
7 (compare OR compared OR comparison).ti,ab.
8 ((evaluated OR evaluate OR evaluating OR assessed OR assess) AND (compare OR compared OR comparing OR comparison)).ab.
9 (open adj label).ti,ab.
10 ((double OR single OR doubly OR singly) adj (blind OR blinded OR blindly)).ti,ab.
11 double blind procedure/
12 parallel group$1.ti,ab.
13 (crossover OR cross over).ti,ab.
14 ((assign$ OR match OR matched OR allocation) adj5 (alternate OR group$1 OR intervention$1 OR patient$1 OR subject$1 OR participant$1)).ti,ab.
15 (assigned OR allocated).ti,ab.
16 (controlled adj7 (study OR design OR trial)).ti,ab.
17 (volunteer OR volunteers).ti,ab.
18 human experiment/
19 trial.ti.
20 or/1-19
21 (random$ adj sampl$ adj7 ("cross section$" OR questionnaire$1 OR survey$ OR database$1)).ti,ab. NOT (comparative study/ OR controlled study/ OR randomi?ed controlled.ti,ab. OR randomly assigned.ti,ab.)
22 cross‐sectional study/ NOT (exp randomized controlled trial/ OR controlled clinical trial/ OR controlled study/ OR randomi?ed controlled.ti,ab. OR control group$1.ti,ab.)
23 (((case adj control$) AND random$) NOT randomi?ed controlled).ti,ab.
24 systematic review.ti,ab. NOT (trial.ti. OR study.ti)
25 (nonrandom$ NOT random$).ti,ab.
26 "random field$".ti,ab.
27 (random cluster adj3 sampl$).ti,ab.
28 (review.ab. AND review.pt.) NOT trial.ti.
29 ("we searched".ab. AND (review.ti. OR review.pt.))
30 "update review".ab.
31 (databases adj4 searched).ab.
32 (rat OR rats OR mouse OR mice OR swine OR porcine OR murine OR sheep OR lambs OR pigs OR piglets OR rabbit OR rabbits OR cat OR cats OR dog OR dogs OR cattle OR bovine OR monkey OR monkeys OR trout OR marmoset$1).ti. AND animal experiment/
33 animal experiment/ NOT (human experiment/ OR human/)
34 or/21-33
35 20 NOT 34