WKC Guides: Navigating the WIPO Knowledge Repository (TIND): Keyword Searching

How to search

Keyword Searching

There are three ways of keyword searching. An overview is given in the table below:

Type	Syntax	Can query keywords occur in different metadata fields?	Can words other than query keywords occur within the same metadata field?
Broad Match	No formatting	Yes	Yes
Partial Phrase	"Double quotes"	No	Yes
Exact Phrase	[Brackets]	No	No

Broad Match

A broad match keyword search will return results for all records that contain all keywords in the record's metadata. It also searches across all metadata fields. It will not consider which fields the keywords are located in.

Example Query	Results Across Metadata Fields	Results Within Metadata Fields
Consider searching for `Albert Einstein`	The word `Albert` and the word `Einstein` do not need to occur in the same metadata field. E.g. `Albert` could be in the title field and `Einstein` in the author field.	A metadata field may contain additional metadata. E.g. results will be shown for both author:`Albert Einstein`and author:`Robert Albert Einstein`

Partial Phrase

A partial phrase keyword search is done by using double quotes around your keywords: "Albert Einstein". Using partial phrase will return results for all records that contain these keywords in the same metadata field of a record.

Example Query	Results Across Metadata Fields	Results Within Metadata Fields
Consider searching for `"Albert Einstein"`	The word `Albert` and the word `Einstein` need to occur in this order in the same metadata field.	A metadata field may contain additional metadata. E.g. results will be shown for both author:`Albert Einstein`and author:`Robert Albert Einstein`. The order of the words matter.

Using an asterisk * for truncation in a partial phrase match can lead to unexpected results, because when searching within some fields (e.g. author:"Albert Eins*") the constraint on matching within one and the same field will not always be enforced.

Exact Phrase

An exact phrase keyword search is done by brackets around your query: [Albert Einstein]. Using exact phrase will return results for records that contain only these exact keywords in the same metadata field of a record.

Example Query	Results Across Metadata Fields	Results Within Metadata Fields
Consider searching for `[Albert Einstein]`	The word `Albert` and the word `Einstein` need to occur in the same metadata field (in at least one field).	A metadata field must contain ONLY the words `Albert` and `Einstein` E.g. results will not be shown for author:`Albert J. Einstein`or author:`Theodor Albert Einstein`