Boolean Operators

Google Scholar has a character limit for your search string and these tips will reduce the amount of characters needed to communicate the same information to the search engine.

AND

Google Scholar interprets spaces as the AND Boolean operator (tip originated from Wichor Bramer). Example: Searching cancer AND treatment is equivalent to searching cancer treatment.

OR

Google Scholar interprets the | symbol as the OR Boolean operator (tip originated from Wichor Bramer). Example: Searching cancer OR "malignant neoplasm" is equivalent to searching cancer|"malignant neoplasm" (note that there are no spaces around the | symbol).

NOT

Google Scholar interprets the dash as the NOT Boolean operator. Example: Searching for cancer NOT lung is equivalent to searching cancer -lung.

Resources & Tips