PubMed.gov

Science and Technology, Health Sciences

US National Library of Medicine, Free, Updated Daily

PubMed [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 2005-. PubMed . [Updated 2019 Jan 27]. Available from: (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed)

PubMed is the premier online biomedical literature portal comprising over 29 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Published under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health and the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. PubMed is part of Entrez: the “Global Query Cross-Database Search System”, a federated search engine that allows users to search many health sciences databases at the National Library of Medicine. PubMed’s relevance to a user is thus expanded far beyond a single system; the search scope covers a vast pool of knowledge.

Items available include: MEDLINE references and abstracts, NCBI Bookshelf, PMC Citations, links to full text articles within PubMed Central, and a facility within the NLM called LinkOut which links to over 3,000 other institutions’ local journal holdings. A complete XML baseline of PubMed citation records is released yearly.

Simple searches on PubMed can be executed by entering keywords into the PubMed search window. PubMed reformulates the query using relevant MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms, synonyms, and Boolean operators, thus expanding the query. Sophisticated searches can be executed via the advanced search interface but require a deep understanding of the MEDLINE structure and the MeSH controlled vocabulary. The NCBI makes a handbook available in PDF which describes the resource, its design and provides tips for conducting searches and available analysis tools at the novice level.

The resource is open to all; there is no requirement for a subscription or an account; however, more than 90 percent of the records from the past 10 years are linked to full text which may require registration, a fee, or a subscription.

Summing Up:

Essential as a primary source of literature for college students, academics, healthcare professionals, and researchers.