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KU Medical Library: Emtree Subject Terms

Image of Emtree subject terms guide header

Embase and Emtree Subject Terms

The medical research database Embase offers its own set of subject terms called Emtree. These are the equivalent of PubMed's own set of subject terms, MeSH. In addition to keywords, subject terms such as Emtree allow you to build more detailed and complex database searches giving you access to more focused search results.

When building more advanced searches, such as with systematic reviews, it is recommended to combine keywords and subject terms like Emtree to ensure you are finding all of the literature you need. They each have plusses and minuses, but subject terms have the added bonus of having meaning behind them. With keywords, your computer is only matching the characters of the letters; with subject terms a human has reviewed an article abstract and its terminology to provide context to individual topics and words. 

Below you can find a slideshow explaining Emtree and below that a video which starts from the basics of subject terms.

These slides will walk you through using Emtree, Embase's version of subject terms. Subject terms, like Emtree and MeSH, can add precision to your databases searching and are essential for more the rigorous searches conducted in systematic reviews.

Get Help

Personal HelpGet help image

If you need help using subject terms like Emtree you can reach out to your medical liaison librarian, Jason Fetty. He can be reached at jason.fetty@ku.ac.ae, phone extension x4722, or in his office in the library in E02057 (2nd floor, "E" building). 

Interlibrary Loan and Article Requests

If you need full-text for an article citation or book chapters you have two options: ILL image

  • Interlibrary Loan (ILL): The KU library offers a free service for requesting articles that the library does not own. You can fill out the form found here. Note that the request can take some time (a few days at least) to process, and sometimes you might have to pick up a physical copy of the article in the library (due to copyright).
  • Medical library liaison: You can also send article requests to your medical librarian at jason.fetty@ku.ac.ae to see if he can help fulfill you request.