search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries

literature-review

data-management

student-paper

Authors

Eckhardt, Peter

Ernst, Katharina Maria

Fleischmann, Thomas

Geßler, Anna

Schnickmann, Karl

Thurner, Laureen

Wagner, Gerit

Published

2026

Doi

10.21105/JOSS.08775

Keywords

literature-review, data-management, student-paper

Summary

search-query is an open source Python library for academic literature search queries. Its core capabilities include linting to detect syntactic and logical errors, translation to convert queries across database-specific syntaxes, improvement to programmatically refine queries, and automation to integrate searches into reproducible workflows. The library currently supports Web of Science, PubMed, and EBSCOHost, with parsers validated against a comprehensive set of peer-reviewed queries from searchRxiv. Unlike existing proprietary and web-based software, search-query offers programmatic access and thereby supports integration into research workflows, contributing to the automation of systematic literature reviews.

Article / DOI link Open access PDF

Open access PDF

Citation (APA style)

Eckhardt, P., Ernst, K. M., Fleischmann, T., Geßler, A., Schnickmann, K., Thurner, L., & Wagner, G. (2026). search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries. Journal of Open Source Software 11(118), 8775. https://doi.org/10.21105/JOSS.08775

Citation: BibTeX

@article{EckhardtEtAl2026,
  doi        = {10.21105/JOSS.08775},
  author     = {Eckhardt, Peter and Ernst, Katharina Maria and Fleischmann, Thomas and Geßler, Anna and Schnickmann, Karl and Thurner, Laureen and Wagner, Gerit},
  journal    = {Journal of Open Source Software},
  title      = {search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries},
  year       = {2026},
  volume     = {11},
  number     = {118},
  pages      = {8775},
  url        = {https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.08775#},
  abstract   = {search-query is an open source Python library for academic literature search queries. Its core capabilities include linting to detect syntactic and logical errors, translation to convert queries across database-specific syntaxes, improvement to programmatically refine queries, and automation to integrate searches into reproducible workflows. The library currently supports Web of Science, PubMed, and EBSCOHost, with parsers validated against a comprehensive set of peer-reviewed queries from searchRxiv. Unlike existing proprietary and web-based software, search-query offers programmatic access and thereby supports integration into research workflows, contributing to the automation of systematic literature reviews.},
  news_announced = {2026-02-23}
}

Citation: RIS

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Eckhardt, Peter
AU  - Ernst, Katharina Maria
AU  - Fleischmann, Thomas
AU  - Geßler, Anna
AU  - Schnickmann, Karl
AU  - Thurner, Laureen
AU  - Wagner, Gerit
TI  - search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries
T2  - Journal of Open Source Software
PY  - 2026
VL  - 11
IS  - 118
SP  - 8775
DO  - 10.21105/JOSS.08775
UR  - https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.08775#
ER  -

--- title: "search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries" date: "2026" date-format: "YYYY" categories: ["literature-review", "data-management", "student-paper"] keywords: ["literature-review", "data-management", "student-paper"] doi: "10.21105/JOSS.08775" url: "https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.08775#" journal.name: "Journal of Open Source Software" outlet: "Journal of Open Source Software" author: "Eckhardt, Peter and Ernst, Katharina Maria and Fleischmann, Thomas and Geßler, Anna and Schnickmann, Karl and Thurner, Laureen and Wagner, Gerit" authors: - name: "Eckhardt, Peter" orcid: "0009-0005-5015-4846" - name: "Ernst, Katharina Maria" orcid: "0009-0007-9833-6280" - name: "Fleischmann, Thomas" orcid: "0009-0004-4218-4095" - name: "Geßler, Anna" orcid: "0009-0008-3920-9975" - name: "Schnickmann, Karl" orcid: "0009-0008-7763-7276" - name: "Thurner, Laureen" orcid: "0009-0000-5716-5816" - name: "Wagner, Gerit" orcid: "0000-0003-3926-7717" citation_key: "EckhardtEtAl2026" free_fulltext: true self_archiving_possible_1y: false self_archiving_possible_2y: false format: html: include-after-body: ../../assets/metrics-scripts.html --- # Summary ::: { .justify } search-query is an open source Python library for academic literature search queries. Its core capabilities include linting to detect syntactic and logical errors, translation to convert queries across database-specific syntaxes, improvement to programmatically refine queries, and automation to integrate searches into reproducible workflows. The library currently supports Web of Science, PubMed, and EBSCOHost, with parsers validated against a comprehensive set of peer-reviewed queries from searchRxiv. Unlike existing proprietary and web-based software, search-query offers programmatic access and thereby supports integration into research workflows, contributing to the automation of systematic literature reviews. ::: <div class="text-center my-3"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-outline-secondary me-2" href="https://doi.org/10.21105/JOSS.08775" target="_blank" role="button"> <i class="bi bi-box-arrow-up-right"></i> Article / DOI link </a> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-outline-primary" href="/data/papers/EckhardtEtAl2026.pdf" target="_blank" role="button"> <i class="bi bi-file-earmark-pdf"></i> Open access PDF </a> </div> ## Open access PDF <iframe src="/data/papers/EckhardtEtAl2026.pdf" width="100%" height="800px" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;"> This browser does not support PDFs. Please use the button above to download the PDF. </iframe> ```{=html} <div class="metrics-row">  <div class="metric"> <div class="altmetric-embed" data-badge-type="donut" data-badge-popover="right" data-doi="10.21105/JOSS.08775" data-hide-no-mentions="true"> </div> </div>  <div class="metric"> <span class="__dimensions_badge_embed__" data-doi="10.21105/JOSS.08775" data-style="small_circle" data-hide-zero-citations="true" data-legend="hover-right"> </span> </div>  <div class="metric"> <div class="scite-badge" data-doi="10.21105/JOSS.08775"> </div> </div> </div> ``` ## Citation (APA style) <div class="apa-citation"> <p style="text-indent:-2.5em; margin-left:2.5em;"> Eckhardt, P., Ernst, K. M., Fleischmann, T., Geßler, A., Schnickmann, K., Thurner, L., & Wagner, G. (2026). search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries. *Journal of Open Source Software* 11(118), 8775. https://doi.org/10.21105/JOSS.08775 </p> </div> ## Citation: BibTeX ```bibtex @article{EckhardtEtAl2026, doi = {10.21105/JOSS.08775}, author = {Eckhardt, Peter and Ernst, Katharina Maria and Fleischmann, Thomas and Geßler, Anna and Schnickmann, Karl and Thurner, Laureen and Wagner, Gerit}, journal = {Journal of Open Source Software}, title = {search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries}, year = {2026}, volume = {11}, number = {118}, pages = {8775}, url = {https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.08775#}, abstract = {search-query is an open source Python library for academic literature search queries. Its core capabilities include linting to detect syntactic and logical errors, translation to convert queries across database-specific syntaxes, improvement to programmatically refine queries, and automation to integrate searches into reproducible workflows. The library currently supports Web of Science, PubMed, and EBSCOHost, with parsers validated against a comprehensive set of peer-reviewed queries from searchRxiv. Unlike existing proprietary and web-based software, search-query offers programmatic access and thereby supports integration into research workflows, contributing to the automation of systematic literature reviews.}, news_announced = {2026-02-23} } ``` ## Citation: RIS ```bibtex TY - JOUR AU - Eckhardt, Peter AU - Ernst, Katharina Maria AU - Fleischmann, Thomas AU - Geßler, Anna AU - Schnickmann, Karl AU - Thurner, Laureen AU - Wagner, Gerit TI - search-query: An open source Python library for academic search queries T2 - Journal of Open Source Software PY - 2026 VL - 11 IS - 118 SP - 8775 DO - 10.21105/JOSS.08775 UR - https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.08775# ER - ```