Biological Abstracts Advanced Search Field Tags

Use these two-character field tags to return more relevant results when building advanced search queries.

Field Tag Description
AD Address
Searches for institution or place names in the Address field
AI Author Identifier
Searches for Web of Science ResearcherID numbers and ORCID identifiers in the Author Identifiers table within a record. Enter a unique Web of Science ResearcherID number or ORCID identifier with the AI field tag
AU Author

Searches for author names in the following fields.

  • Author(s)
  • Book Author(s)
  • Book Group Author(s)
  • Group Author(s)

Author names appear as last name followed by a first name and/or initials. The first 100 authors of a multi-authored publication may appear in a record. Search last names containing a space, with and without the space to ensure that all relevant appear in the search results. For example:

  • AU=(De Marco* OR DeMarco*)
  • AU=(Van Hecke T* OR Vanhecke T*)
CB Chemical and Biochemical

Searches the following tables within a record.

  • Chemical Data
  • Gene Name Data
  • Sequence Data
CC Concept Codes
Searches the Concept Code(s) field within a record.
CH Chemical

Searches the following fields within the Chemical Data table.

  • Chemical Name: Contains the name of a chemical or biochemical that is described in the source document. The terms used in Chemical Name are taken directly from the source document and reflect the usage of the author(s).
  • Chemical Variant: Contains a variant of the term given in the Chemical Name.
  • Drug Modifier: Contains terms used to define high-level categories of therapeutic actions of the Chemical Name as discussed in the source document.
  • Chemical Role: Describes the role(s) of the chemical named in Chemical Name as discussed within the source document.
  • Chemical Process: Describes the process(es) of the chemical named in Chemical Name as discussed in the source document.
  • Enzyme Commission: Gives the Enzyme Commission number for the chemical named in Chemical Name. Enzyme Commission terms always begin with EC and are composed of numbers and periods (.).
  • Chemical Detail: Contains additional terms used to describe details of the discussion of the chemical in Chemical Name from the source document.
  • CAS Registry Number: Contains a five-to-nine digit CAS Registry Number that is assigned to the chemical named in the Chemical Name.
CR CAS Registry Number

For all records, the product searches the CAS Registry No. field within the Chemical Data table.

The registry number is a five-to-nine digit CAS Registry Number® and a chemical name for a chemical discussed in the source document. Some chemicals may have multiple registry numbers. This field appears in records from 1969 to the present.

For records from 1992 and earlier, the CAS Registry Number is a five-to-nine digit number that is assigned to the chemical named in the Chemical Name field.

DE Miscellaneous Descriptors

Searches the Miscellaneous Descriptors field within a record. The field contains terms and phrases taken from the source document.

DS Disease Data

Searches the following fields within the Disease Data table. The field was added to records starting 1998. Records may include all of these fields or only some of them (for example, Term, Disease Affiliation, and Detail).

This table may contain the following information.

Term: The name of a plant, animal, human disease, disorder, or pathological condition as discussed in the source document.

Variant: A variant name used to describe the disease term.

MeSH Term: The National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Heading term(s) for the disease term. The MeSH term is followed by the MeSH designation in parentheses.

Disease Affiliation: Terms to define common disease affiliations in order to provide a consistent search key.

Details: Other explanatory details concerning the disease term as discussed in the source document by the author.

ED Editor
Searches for editor names in the Editor(s) field within a record.
GE Geographic Data

Searches the following fields within the Geographic Data table. The field was added to records starting in 1993.

This table may contain the following information.

  • Term: A geographic term that describes a location or place as used in the source document by the author.
  • Variant: A variant name for the geographic term.
  • Geopolitical Terms: The names of geopolitical areas.
  • Zoogeographical Region: The Zoogeographic Region where the Geographic Term is located.
GN Gene Name Data

Searches the following fields within the Gene Name Data table. The field was added to records starting in 2001.

  • Term: The name of a plant, animal, human disease, disorder, or pathological condition as discussed in the source document by the author. Gene Name Term also contains the organism classifier within square brackets following the gene name term. The name or classifier can be searched individually.
  • Variant: A variant name for the Gene Name term.
  • Details: Additional terms used to describe details of the discussion of the gene as discussed in the source document by the author.
GP Group Author

Searches for corporation and institution names in the Group Author(s) field within a record. For example:

Group Author(s): World Values Study Group; Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Research Institute of the Evangelic-Lutheran Church of Finland; TNS Gallup Finland; Finnish Social Science Data Archive

GT Geologic Time Data

Searches the following fields within the Geologic Time Data table. The field was added to records starting in 1993.

  • Term: A geological time period or era mentioned in the source document by the author.
  • Classifier: A variant of the term that appears in the Term cell. This field does not appear in the data until 2003.
  • Detail: Other explanatory details concerning the geologic time term as discussed in the source document by the author.
IC Identifying Codes
Searches for codes in the Accession Number and ISSN fields within a record.
IS ISSN

Searches the ISSN field or the ISSB within a record.

The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) searches for periodical publications such as journals and electronic publications. If a journal has both a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN, then both display in the Full Record. The format is four numbers, a hyphen (-), three numbers, and then a check character that may be a number or X.

The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) searches for books. It is a unique machine-readable identifier that marks a book unmistakably. The format is a 10-digit number that contains 3 hyphens (-). The last digit is a check character, which may be a number or an X. The position of the hyphens can vary for each ISBN identifier.

MC Major Concepts
Searches the Major Concept(s) field within a record
MQ Methods & Equipment Data

Searches the following fields within the Methods and Equipment Data table. The field was added to records starting in 1998.

Methods and Equipment Term: Contains a term describing a method, apparatus, or scientific technique discussed in the source document. The terms used for Methods and Equipment Term are taken directly from the source document.

Methods and Equipment Variant: Contains a variant term for Methods and Equipment Term. Equipment contains a term which categorizes a type of equipment in the Methods and Equipment Term. This field does not appear in the data until 2003.

Methods and Equipment Supplier: Contains the name of the manufacturer or supplier of the method or equipment in Methods and Equipment Term. This field does not appear in the data until 2003.

Methods and Equipment Role: Describes the role of the Methods and Equipment Term as discussed in the source document. The terms used in Methods and Equipment Role are taken from the BIOSIS Controlled Vocabulary, Methods & Equipment Roles. This field does not appear in the data until 2003.

Methods and Equipment Detail: Contains additional terms and phrases describing the Methods and Equipment Term as discussed in the source document.

PMID PubMed ID
Searches the PubMed ID field within a record
PSD Parts & Structures Data

Searches the following fields within the Parts & Structures Data table. This field was added to records starting in 1998.

Term: Components of organisms above the macromolecular level as discussed in the source document by the author.

Variant: A variant name for the Parts & Structure term.

Organ Systems: A high-level organ system of which the Parts & Structure term is a part.

Detail: Other explanatory details concerning the Parts & Structure term as discussed in the source document by the author.

PY Year Published

Searches the Source Published field within a record. You must combine this field tag with another field tag using the AND or NOT Boolean operator.

Example: TS=cell growth AND PY=2007

When entering a range of years, restrict your search to five years or less; otherwise, processing slows down and the product returns too many unproductive results.

Example: TS=cell growth AND PY=(2008-2010)

SO Publication Name
Searches for publication names in the Source field within a record. The product retrieves all source titles within a product database (for example, journal titles and/or book titles if the product includes books).
SQ Sequence Data

Searches the following fields within the Sequence Data table.

  • Accession No.
  • Data Bank
  • CAS Registry No.
  • Details
SU Research Areas
Searches the Research Areas field
TA Taxonomic Data

Searches the following fields within the Taxonomic Data table.

  • Super Taxa
  • Taxa Notes
  • Organism Classifier
  • Organism Name
  • Variant
  • Details

Super Taxa/Biosystematic names are automatically searched when you search a topic.

TI Title
Searches the Title and Foreign Title fields within a record.
TS Topic

Searches for topic terms in the following fields and tables within a record.

  • Title
  • Foreign Title
  • Abstract
  • Major Concepts
  • Concept Code(s)
  • Taxonomic Data
  • Disease Data
  • Chemical Data
  • Gene Name Data
  • Sequence Data
  • Geographic Data
  • Geologic Time Data
  • Methods and Equipment Data
  • Parts & Structure Data
  • Miscellaneous Descriptors
UT Accession Number
Searches the Accession Number field within a record. The accession number is a unique identifying number associated with each record in the product. It consists of a product identification code, a product year, and an item number.