Publication search
The Boydell & Brewer OA platform provides the ability to search for chapter content via a publication or Image Search. If you can't find what you need in the information below, please contact us .
 
General search tips
The search is designed to provide you with the most relevant results based on your keyword search. Here are some additional tips for searching:
To ensure that your search includes terms that are next to each other, put quotation marks around the terms.
When searching for dates within the image search, be sure to start with the oldest date (“From”) to the newest date (“To”).
 
Content Included in Search
All the content available on the platform is accessible via the search interface. Users can limit the possible results to what your institution has access to or free content by selecting the appropriate Access box on the left side of the advanced search or results pages.
Please note that anyone may use the Boydell & Brewer OA platform search engine. To view full-text book chapters, however, you must be within the IP range of an institution which has arranged access to the various subscriptions on the Boydell & Brewer OA platform or have password access.
 
Simple Search
The search box is available on each page on the website.
Enter term(s) in the search box. Use quotations to search for a phrase (e.g., "Social Science").
If desired, use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine terms in different ways.
- Full text searches for your term(s) in all content such as book and chapter titles, publication information, and the contents of the book chapters.
- Title searches for your term(s) in the title of a book or chapter.
- Author searches for chapter content by a particular author. The results display all chapters written or edited by the author.
- Print date searches for all book content by a particular date. The results will display all chapters from books that were published within that timeframe.
 
Advanced Search
Enter term(s) in the search box(es).
Use quotations to search for a phrase.
Select to search within either Full Text, Title, Author, or Print date (see above for descriptions).
Select related categories, as desired.
Adding new terms combines terms (you don't need to type AND between your terms) to search within Full Text, Title, Author, or Print date.
 
Options for Filtering (Limiting) Search Results
Use the facets on the left side of the search results page to refine your results to a more focused set of results. Facets include:
 
Organize by publication
By default, all search results within the publication search display by chapter in order to provide the most relevant results. If you prefer to view the results by publication, select this option. The chapter results will display below each individual title.
Access
Select to limit content to the collection content you have access to view.
Publication Title
Select a specific publication to view only the chapter results that appear within that publication.
Author
Select an author to view only content by that author within your search results.
Publisher
Select a publisher to view only content by that publisher within your search results.
BISAC keywords
Select one or more BISAC keywords to view only the chapter results tagged with those terms.
Subjects keywords
Select one or more chapter subjects to view only the chapter results tagged with those terms. Subjects are added as “OR” operator to provide a greater number of relevant search results. NOTE: Not all subjects are displayed. Only the top 100 terms for each search are displayed in the subject list.
 
Saving a Search
To save your search, you must first login to the platform. Once you have logged in, the “Save Search” option will appear at the bottom of the search filters.
 
Diacritics, Special Characters, Hyphens, and Punctuation
You can use diacritics in your search or an alternative spelling. For example, you could type große to find only instances of that, or grosse to find a combination
Type "ae" for æ
Type "o" for ø
Type "n" for ñ
Type "a" for å
Type "c" for ç
Keep in mind, you can always type it with the diacritical, but the results will be restricted to the search to words it recognizes ashaving a diacritical in the first place.
When punctuation or characters appear as parts of words (e.g., hyphenated names or initials), enter the punctuation or character.
 
Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) and Phrase (" ") Searching
Boolean "operators" AND, OR, and NOT are supported.
Type in AND, OR, and NOT in the search statement when using the single search box available on each page.
Use quotation marks (" ") to search for phrases (words together in exact order).
The search box automatically combines terms so you don't need to type "AND." The “Add” button available under the search fields also function as an “AND.”
When using more than one kind of "operator" the search engine combines the operators in the search string from left to right.
Examples:
“Teaching methods” OR learning AND homework
Retrieves chapters with homework and either learning or “teaching methods” or both.
To make sure you enter the search you want regardless of order of terms, either:
Use parentheses to have those terms searched first: (“Teaching methods” OR learning) AND homework
homework AND (“Teaching methods” OR learning)
Retrieves content with homework and either “Teaching methods” or learning or both.
 
Working with Search Results
Sorting Results
Use the " Sort by:" pull-down to sort results by:
Relevance (the default)
Selecting Relevance results in an order starting from the most pertinent based on calculation of frequency and proximity of search terms.
Chapter metadata is prioritized.
Keep in mind, however, that "relevance" is calculated by software and is not fool-proof. Please use relevancy ranking as a general guide. Use the Options for Filtering Search Results to get a smaller, more focused results set.
Author
Selecting Author puts results in order by author last name either alphabetically (A-Z) or reverse alphabetized (Z-A). Please note in the case of multiple authors, the first author listed will be used for determining the listing of the results.
Title
Selecting Title puts results in order by title either alphabetically (A-Z) or reverse alphabetized (Z-A).
Date
Selecting Oldest First puts results in order by publication date starting from the oldest results.
Selecting Newest First puts results in order by publication date starting from the most recent results.