How to search in Figshare
Figshare supports both simple and advanced search across all content pages.
Simple search is best for providing quick results on a broad search topic as it searches all the key fields for matching values. This search will be sufficient in allowing users to find content related to a specific topic or by a specific author.
Alternatively advanced search is recommended when looking for a more refined search. This will allow users to determine which field should be prioritised when looking for the term (E.G. searching for a specific DOI).
Using Simple Search
Simple search on Figshare searches for the terms across a number of categories. By default all pages search for matches in the following fields:
- Title
- Description
- Owner Name
- Owner ORCID iD
- Authors Names
- Authors ORCID iD
The fields that are searched using simple search have been expanded across certain pages to aid in discovery.
| Page | Additional fields searched using simple search |
| Public search page | funding title funding dimensions_id funding grid_id funding grant code funding funder title tags (keywords) resource title categories handle doi resource doi resource link references license item type name |
| My content page | funding title funding dimensions_id funding grid_id funding grant code funding funder title tags (keywords) resource title categories handle doi resource doi resource link references license item type name |
| My Collections | funding title funding dimensions_id funding grid_id funding grant code funding funder title tags (keywords) resource title categories handle doi resource doi resource link references |
| My Projects | funding title funding dimensions_id funding grid_id funding grant code funding funder title group name tags (keywords) resource title categories |
All pages also have the option to sort and filter content. This can be combined with search terms to identify the most relevant content.
The system will prioritize exact matches; however, these can come from any of the searched fields. If looking for a match with a specific field then we advise using the Advance search keys to aid the system in locating the most relevant matches.
Using advanced search
Users can use Advanced Search to improve the accuracy of their search by indicating which fields should be prioritized in the search for their term. This is available in all search boxes, on private and public pages.
Advance search keys should be included at the beginning of the search string between “:”
Key Example Searches
- :title: “Amyloid” AND “Cell”
- :DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30678607
- :author: (“Greg Davies” OR “Sandra Smith”)
Supported Advanced search keys vary between pages depending on the content within the page (e.g. Projects do not support DOI search as Projects are not assigned a DOI). A full list of the supported search keys by page can be found in the table below.
| Page | Supported search keys by page |
| Public pages | This context includes public pages like the browse page, figshare home, portal and sub-portal pages, public category pages and the search page. This context also includes the add items to collection from the public side. |
| My items | This context includes all the areas listing private items such as: my data, items in project, search items in collection from my data and search items on the collection private page. Embargoed files can be searched by their extension or name only on My data and not on the other context where the content can belong to others. |
| My Collections | Search Collections on your own account on the Collections listing by metadata that belongs to Collections. |
| My Projects | Search Projects on your own account in the Project listing by metadata that belongs to Projects. |
| Curation/Review pages | Search items/requests in the curation pool. |
Advanced search keys by page
| Context / Key |
Public pages |
My items | My Collections | Items within “My Collections” | My Projects | Items within “My Projects” | Curation/Review Pages | Submissions (pre-print portals only |
| title | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| description | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| keyword | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| category | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| author | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| owner | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| project_collaborator | x | |||||||
| project_viewer | x | |||||||
| ORCID | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| item_type | x | x | x | x | ||||
| content_type | x | x | ||||||
| extension | x | x | x | x | ||||
| file_name | x | x | x | x | ||||
| references | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| Funding (Title, ID | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| DOI | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| handle | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| identifier | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| licence | x | x | x | x | ||||
| resource_id | x | x | x | x | ||||
| resource_title | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| resource_doi | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| resource_link | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| embargo_type | x | x | ||||||
| group | x | x | x | |||||
| posted_before, posted_after, posted_date | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| first_online_before, first_online_after, first_online_date | x | x | x | x | ||||
| modified_before modified_after, modification_date | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| published_before, published_after, publication_date | x | x | x | x | ||||
| accepted _before, accepted_after, acceptance_date | x | x | x | x | ||||
| submitted_before, submitted after, submission_date | x | x | x | x | ||||
| revised_before, revised_after, revision_date | x | x | x | x | ||||
| embargo_date, embargoed_before, embargoed_after | x | x | x | x | ||||
| created_before, created_after, creation_date |
x | x | x | x | x | |||
| resolution_date, resolved_before, resolved_after |
x | |||||||
| Project * | x | |||||||
| Collection ** | x |
More technical documentation can be found here https://docs.figshare.com/#search
Search operators
Figshare supports a predefined set of operators and specific characters for advanced in field searches. This allows users to combine multiple terms to further refine their search results.
The Operators that are supported by Figshare are shown below. Precedence shows the order in which Operators are prioritised, with () being the highest priority Operator.
An advanced search string can combine multiple expressions. An expression is made of an identifier (:title:) and a value. Expressions can be chained with the AND / OR operators and can be grouped with (), in the same way as in Algebra .
If no grouping is used, operators are used in their normal ordering (see precedence).
| Operator | Supported operators | Precedence |
| AND | AND | 2 |
| OR | OR | 3 |
| NOT | NOT | 1 |
| field delimiter | : | – |
| phrase search delimiter | ” “ | – |
| grouping | () | 0 |
Combining Advanced Search keys
Advanced search keys can be combined to further refine the search results. This should be formatted as per the following example:
:title: frog AND :search_term: afrotropical
Users of institutional portals can also search using custom metadata fields. These work exactly the same as the regular identifiers detailed above except that they do not use underscores. Queries must adhere to the following syntax:
:custom field name: search term
The custom field special identifiers are only available in the context of public pages (institutional and group portal search pages).
