A brief reference to wildcards and truncation symbols used in Rutgers University Libraries' online databases. When in doubt, try ? for a single character wildcard, or * for truncation. These are the most commonly used symbols.
| Name |
Single Character Wildcard |
Truncation Symbol |
| Academic Search Premier |
? |
* |
| ACCESSMedicine |
None |
None |
| Access UN |
? |
* or $ |
| Access World News |
? |
* |
| Accounting Research Manager |
None |
Select option to search for word variants |
| ACM Digital Library |
* |
* |
| Africa-Wide: NiPAD |
? |
* |
| African-American Newspapers |
None |
* |
| Agricola |
None |
? |
| Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology Abstracts |
? |
* |
| AIDSearch |
? |
* |
| Alcohol History Database |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| Alcohol Studies Database |
None |
None |
| America: History & Life |
? |
* |
| American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900 |
? |
* |
| American State Papers, 1798-1838 |
? |
* |
| AMICA Library |
None |
* |
| L’année Philologique |
None |
* |
| Anthropology Plus |
None |
? |
| AnthroSource |
? |
* |
| Applied Science & Technology Full Text |
? |
* |
| Aquaculture Abstracts (ASFA) |
? |
* |
| Aquatic Pollution and Environmental Quality (ASFA 3) |
? |
* |
| Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) |
? |
* |
| ArchiveGrid |
? |
* |
| Art Full Text |
? |
* |
| ARTbibliographies Modern |
? |
* |
| ARTFL |
.? and . |
.* |
| Arts and Humanities Citation Index |
? |
* |
| Asia Studies Full Text
Online |
? |
* |
| ASIST Digital Library |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts |
? |
* |
| ATLA Religion Database |
? |
* |
| Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals |
None |
? |
| Bacteriology Abstracts |
? |
* |
| BDSL: Bibliographie der Deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |
? |
* |
| Beilstein Crossfire |
? |
* |
| Biblical Archaeology Society: Online Archive |
None |
None |
| Bibliography of the History of Art |
None |
? |
| Biological & Agricultural Index Plus |
? |
* |
| Biological Sciences and Living Resources (ASFA 1) |
? |
* |
| Biomedical Reference Collection |
? |
* |
| BioOne |
_ |
% |
| BIOSIS Previews |
? or # |
$ or : |
| Black Drama: 1850 to the Present |
. |
* |
| Books in Print with Reviews |
None |
$ |
| Business Full Text |
? |
* |
| Business & Industry Database |
None |
* |
| Business Insights |
None |
* |
| Business Source Premier |
? |
* |
| CAB Abstracts |
? |
* |
| CamdenBase |
None |
* |
| Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (Monthly Catalog) |
! |
* |
| CCH Internet Tax Research Network |
* |
! |
| Chicano Database |
None |
? |
| Child Abuse, Child Welfare & Adoption |
? |
* |
| CIAO |
? |
* |
| CINAHL |
? |
* |
| ComAbstracts |
None |
* |
| Communication & Mass Media Complete |
? |
* |
| Computing Reviews |
? |
* |
| Conference Board Research Collection |
? |
* |
| Conference Papers Index |
? |
* |
| Contemporary Authors |
? |
* |
| Contemporary Women's Issues |
None |
* |
| Corpus de la Littérature Médiévale |
? |
* |
| CountryWatch |
None |
? or * |
| CQ Researcher |
? |
* |
| Criminal Justice Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Current Index to Statistics |
_ |
Automatic truncation |
| D&B Key Business Ratios |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM) |
None |
* |
| (DATAD) Database of African Theses and Dissertations |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| Declassified Documents Reference System |
? |
* |
| Dictionnaire de l'Ancienne Langue Française |
? |
* |
| Digitale Bibliothek Deutscher Klassiker |
? |
* |
| DigiZeitschriften |
None |
* |
| Dissertations and Theses |
? |
* |
| Eagleton Poll Archive |
None |
* |
| Early American Imprints |
? |
* |
| EBSCOhost (Academic Search Premier) |
? |
* |
| ECO: Electronic Collections Online |
# |
* |
| Ecology Abstracts |
? |
* |
| EconLit |
? or # |
$ or : |
| Education Index/Abstracts/Full Text |
? |
* |
| EEBO (Early English Books Online) |
? |
* |
| EEBO TCP (Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership) |
None |
* |
| Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) |
? |
* |
| EIS: Digests of Environmental Impact Statements |
? |
* |
| EIU.com |
None |
* |
| Encyclopedia of Life Sciences |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| Engineering Index (EI Compendex) |
? |
* |
| Environmental Engineering Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management Index |
? |
* |
| ERIC – Education Resources Information Center |
? or # |
$ or : |
| Ethnic NewsWatch |
? |
* |
| Factiva |
? |
* or $ |
| Facts & Comparisons 4.0 (including Review of Natural Products) |
None |
None |
| Family and Society Studies Worldwide |
? |
* |
| FDC Reports |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| FIAF International FilmArchive
Database |
? |
* |
| Film Literature Index, 1976-2001 |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| FRANCIS |
None |
? |
| Food Science and Techonology Abstracts |
* (within a word) or ? |
* (at the end of a word) or % |
| Gartner Research |
None |
None |
| General Science Full Text |
? |
* |
| GeoRef |
None |
* |
| Global Financial Data |
None |
None |
| goENC.com |
? |
* |
| Google Scholar |
None |
None |
| Grove Art Online |
? |
* |
| Grove Music Online |
? |
* |
| Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia |
? |
* |
| Hand Press Book |
None |
? |
| Handbook of Latin American Studies |
None |
? |
| Health and Psychosocial Instruments |
? or # |
$ or : |
| Health and Safety Science Abstracts |
? |
* |
| HealthSTAR |
? or # |
$ or : |
| HeinOnline |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| Hispanic-American Periodicals Index |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| Historical Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Historical Statistics of the United States |
None |
None |
| History of Science, Technology, & Medicine |
None |
? |
| Homeland Security Digital Library |
None |
None |
| Human Population & Natural Resource Management |
? |
* |
| Humanities Full Text |
? |
* |
| IEEE Xplore |
? |
* |
| Image Collections in Luna Insight |
None |
* |
| Index to 19th Century American Art Periodicals |
None |
? |
| Index of Christian Art |
? (within a word) |
? (at the end of a word) |
| Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text |
? |
* |
| Index to Printed Music |
? |
* |
| Industrial and Applied Microbiology |
? |
* |
| Ingenta |
None |
* |
| Inside Information Plus |
None |
? |
| INSPEC |
? |
* |
| International Financial Statistics |
None |
None |
| International Medieval Bibliography - Online |
? |
* |
| International Pharmaceutical Abstracts |
? or # |
$ or : |
| Investext Plus |
? |
* |
| iPOLL |
None |
% |
| IRIS |
? |
$ |
| ITER: Gateway to the Renaissance |
None |
$ |
| JerseyClicks |
? |
* |
| Journal Citation Reports |
None |
* |
| JSTOR |
? |
* |
| LLBA, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Law Library Microform Consortium |
None |
* |
| Left Index |
? |
* |
| LexisNexis Academic |
* |
! |
| LexisNexis Statistical |
* |
! |
| Library and Information Science Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Library Literature and Information Science |
? |
* |
| Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts
(LISTA) |
? |
* |
| Literature Online |
None |
* |
| Literature Resource Center (Gale) |
? or ! |
* |
| MarketLine |
? |
* |
| Marine Biotechnology Abstracts |
? |
* |
| MathSciNet |
* |
* |
| The Medical Letter |
None |
None |
| MedLine (Ebsco) |
? |
* |
| MedLine (Ovid) |
? or # |
$ or : |
| MEDLINE In-Process |
? or # |
$ or : |
| Mergent Online |
None |
None |
| Middle English Compendium |
? |
* |
| Mintel Reports |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| MLA International Bibliography |
? |
* |
| Music Index |
? |
$ |
| National Technical Information Services (NTIS) |
? |
* |
| Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database |
None |
None |
| Nature Publishing Group |
None |
* |
| Naxos Music Library |
None |
None |
| NetLibrary |
* |
* |
| New Catholic Encyclopedia |
? |
* |
| New Jersey Environmental Digital Library (NJEDL) |
* |
* |
| New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) |
? |
* |
| North American Women's Letters and Diaries |
. or .? |
* |
| Nursing & Allied Heath Collection: Comprehensive |
? |
* |
| Ocean Technology, Policy and Non-Living Resources |
? |
* |
| Oceanic Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Official Document System of the United Nations |
? |
* |
| OLDMEDLINE |
? or # |
$ or : |
| Online Career Library |
None |
None |
| Ovid HealthSTAR |
? |
$ |
| Oxford English Dictionary |
? |
* |
| PAIS International and Archive |
? |
* |
| Patrologia Latina |
? |
* |
| Patrologiæ Græcæ |
None |
None |
| PBS Video Database of America's History and Culture |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| Periodical Index Online |
None |
* |
| Philosopher's Index |
? |
* |
| Polling the Nations |
? |
* |
| Pollution Abstracts |
? |
* |
| POPLINE |
None |
* |
| Pre-CINAHL |
? |
* |
| PrimateLit |
None |
* |
| Project MUSE |
None |
* |
| ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times |
? |
* |
| Psychiatry Online |
None |
* |
| PsycCRITIQUES |
? |
* |
| PsycINFO (including PsycARTICLES) |
? or # |
$ or : |
| PubMed |
None |
* |
| PubMed Central |
None |
* |
| RAMBI : The Index to Articles on Jewish Studies |
* or ? (within a word) |
* or ? (at the end of a word) |
| Readers’ Guide Full Text |
? |
* |
| ReferenceUSA |
None |
* |
| Regional Business News |
? |
* |
| (ATLA) Religion Database |
? |
* |
| RILM Abstracts of Music Literature |
? |
* |
| RIPM: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals |
? |
* |
| Risk Abstracts |
? |
* |
| RISM: International Inventory of Musical Sources after
1600 |
? |
* |
| Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies |
None |
? |
| Sa ePublications Social Sciences & Humanities Collection |
# |
? |
| Sax’s Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| Science Citation Index |
? |
* |
| ScienceDirect |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| SciFinder Scholar |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| SCIPIO Art and Rare Book Sales Catalogs |
None |
? |
| Social Science Electronic Data Library |
None |
* |
| Social Science Full Text |
? |
* |
| Social Sciences Citation Index |
? |
* |
| Social Services Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Social Work Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Sociological Abstracts |
? |
* |
| SourceOECD |
None |
* |
| SPIE Digital Library |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| SpringerLink |
None |
* |
| Statistics Canada’s E-STAT |
? |
* |
| STATSnetBASE |
? |
* |
| Sustainability Science Abstracts |
? |
* |
| TableBase |
None |
* |
| Thesaurus Linguae Graecae |
. |
Automatic truncation |
| Toxicology Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Toxline |
? |
* |
| Toxnet |
? |
* |
| Turfgrass |
? |
* |
| TV-NewsSearch |
None |
* |
| Ulrich's Periodicals Directory |
None |
* |
| UN Statistics Division Common Database (UNCDB) |
None |
None |
| U.S. Congressional Serial Set |
? |
* |
| VIOLIT Database |
None |
None |
| Vreme NDA |
* |
* |
| Water Resources Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Web of Science |
? |
* |
| Wiley InterScience Journal Finder |
* (within a word) |
* (at the end of a word) |
| Wilson Business Full Text |
? |
* |
| Wilson OmniFile Full Text, Mega Edition |
? |
* |
| Women and Social Movements in the United States |
None |
* |
| Women's Studies International |
? |
* |
| Women Writers Online |
None |
* |
| World Development Indicators |
None |
Automatic truncation |
| World Law Index - Index to Hispanic Legislation |
None |
? |
| World News Connection |
? (within a word) |
? (at the end of a word) |
| World Shakespeare Bibliography |
None |
* |
| Worldwide Political Science Abstracts |
? |
* |
| Xipolis German Reference Database |
None |
? or * |
| Your Journals @Ovid |
? or # |
$ |
| Zephyr |
None |
Automatic truncation |