01 · The Question
What should you do when the search term itself is now inappropriate?
Historical literature sometimes contains terminology that researchers would not appropriately use today. A term may have become stigmatizing, inaccurate, pathologizing, demeaning, or inconsistent with how the people being described currently identify themselves.
Yet bibliographic records preserve the language of their time. If an older study uses a historical term in its title, abstract, keywords, or indexing, replacing that term mentally with contemporary language does not make the database do the same. Excluding the historical expression may therefore exclude relevant evidence.
This creates a tension between respectful contemporary communication and accurate historical retrieval. The two do not have to be treated as competing goals.
03 · What You Need to Know
A search query and scholarly prose have different linguistic jobs
Searching historical records may require historical language
Terminology changes alongside scientific classifications, social norms, community preferences, and understandings of identity. The NIH Library explicitly advises researchers conducting comprehensive literature searches that terminology for populations, diseases, symptoms, and medical conditions evolves and that outdated terminology may sometimes need to be included for comprehensive retrieval.
This principle extends beyond biomedical terminology. Any literature search covering a sufficiently long period may encounter expressions that were once conventional but are now avoided or rejected.
The methodological question is therefore not simply, "Would I use this term today?" It is also, "Could relevant records from the period I am searching be retrievable through this term?"
Retrieval language
Language reproduced because it occurs in historical records or indexing and is necessary to locate evidence.
Authorial language
Language you choose when describing people, concepts, findings, and implications in your own scholarly communication.
A term can be inappropriate as contemporary authorial language while remaining methodologically relevant as historical retrieval language.
Including a term in a query is not the same as endorsing it
Consider what a reproducible search strategy actually represents. It documents instructions given to an information-retrieval system. A historical expression inside that query may be there because an older database record contains precisely that expression.
This does not mean the researcher accepts the assumptions embedded in the terminology. The distinction becomes clearer when the published strategy briefly states why legacy terminology was included.
At the same time, terminology choices outside the search strategy deserve care. Research on preferred terminology for diverse populations has emphasized that inappropriate labels may contribute to stereotyping and stigma and that respectful, accurate terminology should be prioritized in contemporary research communication.
Do not sanitize a reproducible search after the fact
Suppose an inappropriate historical term was genuinely part of the executed search and contributed to retrieval. Replacing it with a contemporary term when reporting the methodology would produce a different search from the one actually performed.
For reproducible evidence synthesis, report the executed strategy accurately. If potentially harmful or offensive terminology appears, contextualize why it is present rather than silently rewriting the query.
Watch Out
Do not repeat harmful historical terminology unnecessarily in the surrounding prose simply because it appears in the search strategy. Reproducibility may justify its exact appearance in a query, appendix, or search log without making repeated use elsewhere necessary.
Historical terminology is not automatically equivalent to contemporary terminology
Language change sometimes reflects more than replacing one word with another. The underlying classification may also have changed. A historical label might have encompassed people, conditions, behaviors, or phenomena that would now be separated into several categories. Conversely, several historical categories may now be understood differently.
Before treating a legacy expression as a synonym, determine what it meant in the relevant historical context. If its meaning differs materially from the current concept, the term may retrieve records requiring careful screening rather than functioning as a clean synonym.
This is closely related to the challenge of deciding whether two search terms actually represent different concepts .
Look for evidence that the legacy term is actually useful
An inappropriate term should not be included merely because you know it once existed. Look for evidence that it has retrieval value.
Useful places to investigate include known older studies, historical reviews, titles and abstracts from the relevant period, database thesauri, previous indexing terms, and reference lists. The NIH Library's evidence-synthesis guidance specifically recognizes terminology shifts as something comprehensive searches may need to reflect.
If your concern is specifically how a population was described using outdated terminology , population definitions and historical classification boundaries also need particular attention.
Controlled vocabularies can preserve historical traces too
Controlled vocabularies are maintained systems rather than timeless dictionaries. Preferred headings can change, new concepts can be introduced, and older terminology may survive through entry terms, previous headings, or historical indexing.
Inspect the database's actual thesaurus rather than assuming that its present preferred terminology describes every historical record in the same way. Scope notes and hierarchical relationships can help determine what a subject heading actually covers.
Understanding how controlled vocabularies work is particularly valuable when the free-text vocabulary has changed substantially.
Consider the dates covered by your search
Historical terminology has a temporal dimension. A legacy expression may be important for literature from one period and almost irrelevant outside it.
If your search begins after the terminology largely disappeared, including it may contribute little beyond irrelevant retrieval. Conversely, a review spanning several decades may be vulnerable to missing evidence if it searches only contemporary terminology.
When a concept itself has undergone several naming transitions, reconstructing how its names changed over time can help identify which expressions belong to which periods.
Test sensitive historical terms individually
Run candidate legacy terms separately during search development and inspect their results. Ask whether they retrieve unique relevant records that contemporary terms fail to find.
A term that contributes important historical evidence may justify inclusion even if it also adds irrelevant results. A term that retrieves nothing useful may not warrant inclusion simply for theoretical completeness.
Testing also reveals ambiguity. Some older expressions may have unrelated meanings that make unrestricted searching impractical. Phrase searching, field searching, proximity operators, or combinations with other concepts may sometimes improve precision, depending on the database.
Document the reason rather than apologizing for the evidence
A concise methodological note is usually more informative than vague language about terminology being "problematic." Explain the retrieval reason directly.
For example, you might state that historical terminology appearing in the search strategy was retained where necessary to retrieve literature published or indexed under terminology no longer used by the authors.
This communicates two things simultaneously: the search was historically sensitive, and the terminology in the query should not be interpreted as the researchers' preferred contemporary language.
04 · A Practical Example
When an uncomfortable search term retrieves evidence you would otherwise miss
Hypothetical Example
A review reaches back into an earlier terminology period
Imagine that you are conducting a review of an educational or health-related concept across five decades. Contemporary literature uses terminology that is currently accepted by the relevant professional and community sources.
During preliminary searching, you identify several clearly eligible older studies. Their titles and abstracts use a historical label that you would not use to describe the concept today, and searching only the contemporary term does not retrieve all of them.
Verify Confirm that the historical term was actually used for the concept or population covered by your eligibility criteria.
Test Search the term separately and determine whether it retrieves relevant historical records missed by current terminology.
Include If it contributes meaningful retrieval, retain it in the appropriate free-text concept block alongside current terminology.
Screen Evaluate retrieved studies against the actual eligibility criteria because historical categories may not map perfectly onto contemporary definitions.
Report Preserve the executed search accurately and explain that legacy terminology was included solely for historical retrieval.
Write Use appropriate contemporary terminology when describing the population or concept in the review itself.
The search remains historically comprehensive without turning the vocabulary of historical records into the vocabulary of the researcher.
06 · What This Means for You
Be historically accurate in the search and respectful in your own voice
When inappropriate older terminology appears in the literature, treat it as a retrieval artifact that requires methodological judgment. Determine whether it maps sufficiently onto your target concept, whether it occurs during the period you are searching, and whether it contributes relevant records.
Then separate that decision from your contemporary writing choices. Your article, thesis, report, or review can use current appropriate terminology even when an appendix faithfully reproduces historical search expressions.
A simple decision framework
If an inappropriate historical term appears in known eligible records
Test whether it retrieves evidence that contemporary terminology misses.
If it meaningfully improves historical retrieval
Include it where necessary and preserve it accurately when reporting the executed strategy.
If the historical term represented a different concept or population
Do not automatically treat it as an OR synonym. Determine whether records retrieved through it meet the actual eligibility criteria.
If the term contributes no useful retrieval
Do not include it merely because it once existed.
If readers could reasonably misinterpret its appearance
Add a concise methodological explanation that legacy terminology was retained solely for historical retrieval.
07 · A Quick Checklist
Before including inappropriate historical terminology
Check whether you have:
Confirmed that the historical term actually occurs in potentially relevant literature or indexing.
Checked what the term meant during the period in which it was used.
Determined whether its historical meaning fits your current eligibility criteria.
Tested whether it retrieves relevant records missed by contemporary terminology.
Checked relevant historical and current controlled vocabulary where available.
Limited unnecessary repetition of harmful terminology outside the reproducible search itself.
Used appropriate contemporary terminology in your own narrative writing.
Explained the historical retrieval purpose when the presence of legacy terminology could otherwise be misunderstood.
11 · Cite this Guide
How to Cite This Guide
This guide is intended to be read, shared, and used in research, teaching, and academic work. If you draw on its ideas, explanations, or other content, please acknowledge the source by citing the guide. Doing so gives appropriate credit and helps your readers locate the original resource.
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