MeSH Database

Articles are indexed using a powerful vocabulary called Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). The MeSH Database provides the option of identifying appropriate MeSH terms for searches. The MeSH Database is available from the dropdown search menu, the PubMed homepage and from the Advanced page under More Resources. Use the MeSH database to search for a particular term or concept. If multiple items are retrieved, click on the desired term to view and select subheadings and other options. Then click on the Add to Search Builder button on the right side of the screen. When finished adding search terms, click Search PubMed to complete the search.

Printing, E-mailing, Downloading Results

After selecting your citations (e.g. from checked boxes or Clipboard), select a format from Display Settings, and print directly from the browser. Alternatively, select from the Send To menu. File offers format and sort options before saving the downloadable file. E-mail also offers options and asks for an email address. Citation Manager provides a file in the MEDLINE format for download to citation management software.

PubMed BASICS
PubMed is the U.S. National Library of Medicines (NLM) premiere search system for health information. It is available free on the Internet at http://pubmed.gov.

My NCBI
PubMeds My NCBI feature stores both citations and search strategies, provides automatic e-mail updates of stored searches, and sets preferences. Register for My NCBI by creating a User Name and Password. Click Manage Filters to select or create up to fifteen pre-formatted search filters.

PubMed Content
MEDLINE: NLMs database of over 22 million citations of articles published in biomedical and related journals which have been fully indexed In-process citations that have not yet been analyzed and indexed for MEDLINE Publisher supplied citations that will be analyzed to receive full indexing for MEDLINE if they are biomedical in nature

Clinical Queries
PubMed Clinical Queries makes it easier to find articles that report applied clinical research and are accessed from the PubMed homepage, and the Advanced Search More Resources tab. Enter a search term and click the Search button. Click See all at the bottom of the page to return to PubMed.

Accessing Full-Text
Many PubMed citations offer links to the full-text of articles through PubMed Central (a free digital archive of life sciences journal literature), through library electronic and print holdings, and/or through the publisher (the latter may require a subscription or may make an article available by pay-per-view). Loansome Doc allows registered users to order copies of articles from a medical library. Contact your librarian for details about full text links or call your Regional Medical Library at 800-338-7657.

PubMed Features
Sophisticated search capabilities, including spell checker, advanced search builder and special tools for searching clinical topics Assistance in finding search terms using the MeSH (Medical Subject Heading Database), a guide to MEDLINEs controlled vocabulary Ability to store citation collections and to receive email updates from saved searches using PubMeds My NCBI Links to full-text articles, to information about library holdings, and to other NLM databases Links to other NLM search systems, such as ClinicalTrials.gov, MedlinePlus, and PMC

Clinical Study Categories displays results by clinical study category (including diagnosis, etiology, therapy, and prognosis) and scope. Use the drop-down menu to change the category or scope. Systematic Reviews displays citations identified as systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, consensus development conferences, and guidelines. Medical Genetics displays citations focused on diagnosis, management, genetic counseling, and related topics. All or a specific topic may be selected from the drop-down menu.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), an outreach program of NLM, provides assistance and training nationwide. To find a local library, please call 800-338-7657 or go to http://nnlm.gov/members

Funded under contract awarded by the DHHS, NIH, National Library of Medicine, and developed and updated by the NN/LM staff. Revised: December 2012. This resource is freely available at: http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/pmtri.pdf

Assistance and Training

Click on Help link or on PubMed Tutorials under Using PubMed on the PubMed homepage.

PubMed Searching
To search PubMed, type a word or phrase into the query box (e.g., a subject, author and/or journal). Then click on the Search button or press the Enter key. Combine search terms with connector words: AND, OR, or NOT using upper case letters. PubMed offers alternative searching options; for example, the auto suggest drop-down menu appears when entering words and a Titles with your search terms box may be available after a search. PubMed displays a list of Results in Summary format after clicking on the Search button. To retrieve more information about the citation(s), use the Display Settings menu to change the format, how the results are sorted and how many citations are displayed. Filters are available in the left navigation bar and may be used to limit searches. Click on a term to activate or deactivate the filter. Multiple choices may be made within a section. Use Choose additional filters and more to reveal additional filter options including: Species (Humans or Animals), Article types, Languages, Subjects, Ages, Sex, and Journal categories. Check desired selections then click the Show button. A check indicates an active filter.

Search details, located in the right navigation column, provides information on how PubMed ran a search. PubMed looks first for the entire word or phrase as a MeSH term, then for journal titles, then authors (Automatic Term Mapping). PubMed also searches All Fields for the term. Search details shows how PubMed maps terms to MeSH headings and subheadings. Changes to the search may be made in the Details box; click Search to run the updated search strategy.

Related Citations
A helpful PubMed feature is the ability to find citations that are similar to those of interest. To retrieve related articles, click on the Related citations link under the PMID of citations in the Summary format or select Related citations in PubMed in the right navigation column when examining a single citation in the Abstract format.

Advanced
The Advanced link provides two options to refine a search: Builder and History. The Advanced search box does not retain previously run searches.

Clipboard
The Clipboard feature stores selected citations from one or more searches for eight hours. Select citations by clicking the check box next to them; from the Send to menu, select Clipboard; then click the Add to Clipboard button. Click on the Clipboard link to view citations. Permanently store citations in PubMed My NCBI Collections, also accessed from the Send to menu.

With PubMed Advanced Search Builder, create a search using Boolean operators. Using the All Fields selection will run search terms through the Automatic Term Mapping process. Apply a specific field to the term by using the drop-down menu. The Show index list displays the search field index and the number of citations for each term. Multiple terms selected from the Index are ORed together. History tracks and numbers search statements. Clicking on the numbered link provides a menu which offers the option of combining search statements into a new search with the AND, OR, or NOT connectors. The search may also be run, deleted, examined in Details, or saved in My NCBI. The More Resources tab at the top of the page offers additional searching quick links to the MeSH and Journals in NCBI databases, the Single Citation Matcher, and links to the pre-constructed searches of Clinical and Topic-Specific Queries.

Sensors
Sensors display results in a shaded area above the regular PubMed search results. Citation Sensor: matches search terms with citation elements (e.g. blood choi 2009) Gene Sensor: identifies gene symbols and links to additional gene information (e.g. CFTR) Sequence Sensor: detects accession numbers of nucleotides or proteins (e.g. X62176) Structure Sensor: identifies items (proteins, etc.) in the Structure database (e.g. 1R10)

The Filters activated message appears above the search results list and these limits remain in effect until removed or cleared.