PubMed Resources
Last update: 3 November 2009,
by Maureen Bell
If you've just gone to the PubMed website and it looks completely different - don't panic! There's a simple explanation - it's been redesigned. Details are explained in PubMed Redesign. NLM Technical Bulletin. 2009 Sep–Oct
This is an excellent free version of Medline from the National Library of Medicine in the United States. What's the Difference Between MEDLINE and PubMed? Fact Sheet explains the additional features of PubMed.
Below are links to additional resources which will enhance your searching ability, or improve access to specific information. There are also tutorials and notes on how to search effectively.
Records in the version of PubMed customised for the University of Adelaide have links to our online journals, allowing you to access the full text of articles online. You will need to use the link above or the Library's catalogue to access this version. It is accessible only to library members.
List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus
A downloadable list of the journals.
MEDLINEplus (National Library of Medicine)
Unlike PubMed this version of Medline has been specifically tailored to the information needs of consumers. Emphasis of MEDLINEplus is on information available from NLM and NIH and includes links to searches of MEDLINE, and to the many full-text publications produced by the NIH institutes. The information includes sections on health topics, dictionaries and glossaries for finding definitions of medical terms, links to major associations and clearinghouses, publications and news items, directories of health professionals and health facilities and libraries that provide health information services for the public. It is stated very clearly that this information is for educational purposes, and is not intended to replace advice from a health professional, and there is a page which gives details of MEDLINEplus: Selection Guidelines
My NCBI
My NCBI saves searches and features an option to automatically update and e-mail search results from your saved searches.
NLM RSS Feeds and Podcasts
There's quite a range of options here, but of particular interest is How to set up RSS feeds for PubMed searches.
PubMed Central
A digital archive of life sciences journal literature, PubMed Central provides free online access to articles in a number of life sciences journals.
PubMed Clinical Queries
This specialized search is intended for clinicians and has built-in search "filters". Four study categories--therapy, diagnosis, etiology, prognosis--are provided, and you may indicate whether you wish your search to be more sensitive (i.e., include most relevant articles but probably including some less relevant ones) or more specific (i.e. including mostly relevant articles but probably omit a few). There is also a PubMed Clinical Queries Filter Table which describes the details of filtering.
PubMed Help
Provides detailed instructions for using PubMed's extensive capabilities including instructons for setting up permanent links to your favourite journals or search topics. Instructions for linking are at Creating a Web Link to the Entrez Databases.
PubMed Journals Database
This is the PubMed journal database, which will allow you to search for journal details by journal name, MEDLINE abbreviation, or ISSN (International Standard Serial Number - this is the equivalent of a journal's unique fingerprint).
PubMed - List of MeSH Subheadings
Subheadings are used with MeSH terms (from Medline's thesaurus of indexing terms) to help describe more completely a particular aspect of a subject - for example, the drug therapy of asthma is displayed as asthma/drug therapy. This link provides you with a list of all subheadings and their abbreviations.
PubMed MeSH Database
This is a feature of PubMed which will allow you to explore the vocabulary of the Medline thesaurus (MeSH) and see the hierarchy of more specific terms you can search if you "explode" a given term. It also lets you see the range of sub-headings which you can add to terms to further refine them.
MeSH is where the real seach power of PubMed lies, so it's worth taking a few minutes to understand how it works. There are three animated tutorials which demonstrate different features of MeSH, so sit back and let it demonstrate how clever it is.
Searching with the MeSH Database
Combining MeSH Terms Using the MeSH Database
Applying Subheadings and Other Features Using the MeSH Database
If you go to the Medical Subject Headings Home Page you will find that you can even download a free electronic copy of the thesaurus - but be warned, it's a huge file, and you'll need to register to download it.
PubMed New/Noteworthy
This section allows you to check on new features added to PubMed.
PubMed Publication Types
It can sometimes be very useful to limit a search by publication type. The options available on Medline are described here. They are searched by adding Publication Type [PT] e.g., Review[pt], Clinical Trial[pt], Letter[pt].
PubMed Search Field Descriptions and Tags
Lists searchable fields, and their tags - useful if you want to search for specific details - for example by journal volume, issue number, and page number - as well as the usual author, title etc. options.
PubMed Subsets
With the demise of some of the National Library of Medicine's specialist databases it is now necessary to search for information in these subject areas in either PubMed (for journal articles) or LOCATORplus (for books). PubMed can be searched using subsets including:
AIDS
Bioethics
Cancer
Complementary Medicine
History of Medicine
Space Life Sciences
Systematic Reviews
Toxicology
These are very easy to apply at the end of a search, and clear instructions are given with examples.
There are also Journal/Citation Subsets which can be applied to searches in a similar way. Simply use jsubset, followed by the appropriate letter in the list. For example you could limit your search to nursing journals using jsubsetn.
SLIM: Slider Interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches - BETA
The goal of this project is to create a PubMed search application that allows users of all levels to easily go beyond basic keyword searches and move towards evidence-based principles. You can read more about it at BioMed Central | Full text | SLIM: an alternative Web interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches - a preliminary study
PubMed Tutorials and Notes
Tutorial notes are available on our own web site.
Instructions for importing references from PubMed to EndNote are here. A short video demonstration is also available.
From the National Library of Medicine
PubMed Basics
A brief (2 page) introduction to PubMed's features
PubMed Online Training
An excellent range of short videos on many facets of searching, and a step by step tutorial from the National Library of Medicine.
Searching PubMed
Everything from basic searching by author, to more sophisticated subject searching, and combining searches.
Expert Searching in PubMed
This is a single page guide produced by the Countway Library at Harvard University. Don't be put off by the "expert" - it's a very useful and easy to follow guide with lots of examples to help you to take advantage of PubMed's incredible search power
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