Key topics:
How to search for and reuse content on Figshare
How to Follow research you care about
How to use Advanced search in Figshare
Search examples
How to Share, Cite or Embed your items
Sharing private items
How to search for and reuse content on Figshare
To search across all of Figshare, go to figshare.com/search. Enter the search terms in the area just above the results are. To filter, select the parameters on the left and select ‘Apply filters’ to apply.
Data can be ordered with the default as ‘Relevance’. This default order allows users to see the most relevant items first and can be filtered to show ‘Citations’, ‘Altmetric Attention Score’, ‘Posted date’, ‘First online date,’ ‘Acceptance date’, and ‘Publication date’.
Users can switch between list or tiled view of results by clicking on the list or tile icon in the top right.
Reusing content
Content on Figshare is available for reuse to varying degrees depending on the attributed reuse license.
By clicking the license itself on the right-hand side of an item page, you can learn more about the different license types and rights for use, reuse, attribution, etc.
How to Follow research you care about
The Follow feature allows you to “follow” many different content from across the platform and get notifications when new research is published. This might mean updates from a particular author or group. Look for the ‘+Follow’ link in the upper right part (usually) of any Figshare page.
Here’s a full list of the things you can keep track of:
- Portal page
- Group page
- Category page
- Main category
- Subsets
- Search query and/or filters
- Filters
- Authors
- Collections
- Projects
When on any of these entities, you’ll see the ability to follow. Here’s an example of a search you can follow (also note Figshare builds a URL you can bookmark or share): ‘https://figshare.com/search?q=%3Acategory%3A%20%22Stem%20Cells%22&searchMode=1&licenses=1%2C2&types=2%2C4%2C5%2C‘
When you have several ‘follows’ set, you can manage them by clicking your account icon in the upper right and selecting ‘Settings’ then ‘Notifications’. Under this section, you can label terms to be more manageable, search them, generate RSS links, unfollow, or be taken to a context-sensitive representation (e.g. followed authors will be taken to author page, search terms taken to search page). You can follow up to 50 sets and receive up to 10 sets by email in a daily or weekly digest.
The follow feature is available across all of the repositories we are running for institutions, publishers, and funders.
How to use Advanced search in Figshare
All entities on Figshare are fully searchable using either simple search (basic) or advanced (detailed below), in field search. The content can be ordered and filtered by the users.
Advanced search overview
Users can use Advanced Search to indicate which fields in which they want to search a term. This is available in all search boxes, on private and public pages, but there is a difference when it comes to the operators that can be used in the two contexts.
While some operators are available on both public and private pages, some of them only make sense in a private context.
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.
| Operator | Supported operators | Precedence |
| AND | AND | 2 |
| OR | OR | 3 |
| NOT | NOT | 1 |
| field delimiter | : | – |
| phrase search delimiter | ” “ | – |
| grouping | () | 0 |
Priority for operators
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).
Advanced Search keys based on context
The advance search keys work differently based on the context.
Depending on the context, the search will work on private data saved on the entity (item/ collection/project) or on their private state. The search keys and different contexts are displayed in the table below.
Here is one example search:
:title: frog
There is a generic identifier that can be used for all keys (Figshare uses this automatically for basic search):
:search_term:
That identifier searches in all the metadata which is indexed and can be combined with any of the below identifiers.
Users of institutional portals can also take advantage of the latest feature added to the search functionality: custom field special identifiers. These work exactly the same as the regular identifiers detailed below, and queries must adhere to the following syntax:
:custom_field_name: custom_field_value.
Currently, the custom field special identifiers are only available in the context of public pages (institutional and group portal search pages).
Advanced search keys
| Context / Key | Public pages | Private items | Private collections | Private projects | Private requests | Submissions |
| title | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| description | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| keyword | x | x | x | x | x | |
| category | x | x | x | x | x | |
| author | x | x | x | x | x | |
| owner | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| project_collaborator | x | |||||
| project_viewer | x | |||||
| ORCID | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| item_type | x | x | x | x | ||
| content_type | x | |||||
| extension | x | x | x | x | ||
| file_name | x | x | x | x | ||
| references | x | x | x | x | x | |
| funding | 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 | x | x | x |
| comment | x | |||||
| posted_before, posted_after, posted_date | 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 |
| 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 | ||
| resolution_date, resolved_before, resolved_after | x | |||||
| project * | x | |||||
| collection ** | x |
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 includes also the add items to collection from the public side.
Private 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.
Private collections
Search collections on your own account on the collections listing by metadata that belongs to collections.
Private projects
Search projects on your own account in the project listing by metadata that belongs to projects.
Private request
Search items/ request in the curation pool of request.
Submissions (applicable only for preprints)
Search existing and future submissions in the My submissions list but also in the admin area where you can see all submissions that were sent to journals.
Search examples
BASIC SEARCH
- Search string: cell
As a result of this search the user can see all Figshare entities that contain the word “cell” in any of the metadata fields.
PHRASE SEARCH
- Search string: “stem cell”
As a result of this search the user can see all Figshare entities that contain the exact phrase “stem cell” in any of the metadata fields.
In phrase search, results are ordered as follows:
- entities containing all of the words in the search string next to another
- entities containing all words at a dynamic maximum distance depending on the metadata against which we are searching. (distance described in Search technical documentation)
- entities containing inflected words that follow the rule from bullet 1 or 2.
MULTI TERM SEARCH
- Search string: cancer cells treatment
As a result of this search the user can see all Figshare entities that contain at least one of the query terms.
When using multi term search, results are ordered as follows:
- entities containing all/ multiple terms
- entities containing one term
- entities containing inflected words
IN FIELD/ADVANCED SEARCH
“SIMPLE” IN FIELD SEARCH
As the keywords might contain special characters they have a special treatment within the Figshare search, where they are treated as an exact match.
- Search string: :keyword: cancer cell
This search returns all entities with the exact keyword cancer cell.
- Search string: :keyword: scrf=(cpcm,solvent=benzene).
This search returns all entities with the exact keyword scrf=(cpcm,solvent=benzene).
- Search string: :keyword: music and puppets
This search returns all entities with the exact keyword music and puppets. Only the operator AND works as search delimiter.
- Search string: :keyword: cancer category chemistry
This search returns all entities with the exact keyword “cancer category chemistry”. If the user wants to break the keyword and search for a specific category they need to add AND as in the complex example below:
- Search string: :keyword: cancer AND :category: chemistry
This search returns all entities where the keyword is “cancer” and the category is “chemistry” AND with a lower priority results containing all inflected words derived from the common stems.
- Search string: :keyword: X + y
This search returns all entities having the keyword “X + y” .
- Search string: :title: environmental science
This search returns all entities that have at least one of the words in the title working as “in field multi-term search” by relevance.
- Search string: :title: “Line balancing for improving production”
This search returns only the entities that have the specified phrase included in the title AND with a lower priority results containing all inflected words derived from the common stems.
- Search string: :description: growth of Indian manufacturing sector
This search returns all entities that have at least one of the words from above contained in the description from the list above as multi term search ordered by relevance AND with lower priority results containing all inflected words derived from the common stems.
- Search string: description: “industrial case study”
This search returns all entities that have the phrase from above contained in the description AND with a lower priority results containing all inflected words derived from the common stems.
COMBINED IN FIELD SEARCH
- Search string: :author: M. Hahnel OR :author: J. Smith OR :author: Albert Einstein
This search returns all entities that have at least one of the authors from the list above.
- Search string: :title: Line balancing for improving production AND :keyword: cancer cell
This search returns all entities where the title matches the string from above (multi term search by relevance) and has the “cancer cell” keyword AND with a lower priority results containing all inflected words derived from the common stems for title.
- Search string: :keyword: cancer AND :category: chemistry
This search returns all entities where the keyword is “cancer” and the category is “chemistry” AND with a lower priority results containing all inflected words derived from the common stems.
ADVANCED SEARCH MIXED WITH SIMPLE SEARCH
- Search string: :title: science AND :keyword: cell AND :search_term: private research
This search returns entities that have the word “science” in the title and the keyword “cell” and have the expression “private research” in any of the metadata fields.
- Search string: :title: law OR :keyword: democrat AND :search_term: respect
This search will return all entities that contain “law” in the title or both the keyword “democrat” and the word “respect” in any of the metadata fields.
Error handling for advanced in field search
If the syntax used for in field search is incorrect, users will see an error message anywhere they would use this search (all public and private contexts)
This example search will result in the error pictured below : `:title: something AND :category:`
How to Share, Cite or Embed your items
Public items
Underneath your public item’s preview area and below the title of the item you’ll see several options to reference the work.
Cite
All research made publicly available of Figshare gets allocated a persistent identifier at the point of publication (DataCite DOI for figshare.com and a DOI or Handle at institutions). This means that your research can be cited using traditional citation methods, no matter what form the research outputs come in.
You should include this identifier whenever you are referring to research outputs on Figshare as this ensures that the link to the item persists. To cite any content on Figshare, click the red ‘Cite’ button and you can then copy and paste or drag and drop the text.
You can also export the citation to RefWorks, BibTeX, Endnote, DataCite, NLM, DC and RefMan. These are available in the side pane (to the lower right) of every page.
If you are not ready to make your data public, you can reserve a DOI – on the metadata form for object in question, select Reserve Digital Object Identifier. At this point you will be offered a DOI – it will only be active and citable when you have added as much metadata as possible to make the file useful to others and eventually public.
Share
You can share via Facebook, X and more all from the public page of your item. Click the ‘Share’ link under the file preview area on any public page to see share options.
Embed
Once published, you can embed a special Figshare viewer in your personal or institutional website. This is available for any public item. Click the ‘Embed’ link under the file preview area. Copy the HTML and add it to your site.
For example, the code for this item is inserted into this site as ‘custom HTML’ and displays like this:
Sharing private items
If you have content in your account that is either unpublished or is published but embargoed, and you want to provide access to colleagues privately, you have two options. You can create a private link to share the item or you can use a Project to provide access.
Private links
Please see the section in this guide on private links. This method will give access to the metadata and files for the private or public item you want to share.
When to use the private link:
- You need to share only one item at a time
- You trust the person you are sending the link to – if they share it with others, those people will be able to access your item.
- You want to have the access expire automatically on a date you choose
Projects
Providing access using a Project will allow your colleagues to view and download the metadata and files for one or more items, leave comments, and, depending on the access you give them, add their own records.
When to use Projects to provide access:
- You want to share one or more items all together
- You want to know exactly who has access at any given time
- You want your colleagues to be able to leave comments