PubMed Overview
Introduction
PubMed is a free, web-based resource developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The primary goal of PubMed is to support the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature, aiming to improve health globally and personally.
Key Features
Database Content
PubMed contains over 37 million citations and abstracts of biomedical literature, covering fields such as biomedicine, health, life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. The database is composed of several key components:
- MEDLINE: The largest component, consisting of citations from journals selected for MEDLINE, indexed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and curated with various metadata.
- PubMed Central (PMC): A full-text archive of articles from selected journals and individual articles collected in compliance with funder policies.
- Bookshelf: An archive of books, reports, databases, and other documents related to biomedical, health, and life sciences.
Search Functionality
- Auto Term Mapping: PubMed automatically links search terms to relevant MeSH terms and subheadings, enhancing search sensitivity and reducing false-negative results. This feature is active by default in free text searches but can be disabled using quoted phrases, truncation, or field labels.
- Clinical Query Filters: These filters help clinicians retrieve relevant articles by using specific combinations of search terms tailored to clinical questions about therapy, diagnosis, etiology, or prognosis. Recent updates include filters for systematic reviews and COVID-19 articles.
Additional Tools and Resources
- My NCBI: An optional facility that allows users to save searches, filter search results, set up automatic email updates, save sets of references, and configure display formats. This feature is accessible from any computer with web access.
- LinkOut: Publishers can submit citations and provide links to the full text of articles on their websites, enhancing access to full-text content.
- Full-Text Access: While PubMed itself does not include full-text journal articles, it often provides links to full text available from other sources such as the publisher’s website or PubMed Central (PMC).
User Guides and Support
- PubMed User Guide: Provides detailed instructions on how to search the PubMed database effectively.
- MEDLINE and PubMed Resources Guide: Additional documentation available from NLM for further guidance.
Accessibility and Updates
PubMed has been available to the public online since 1996 and continues to be updated with new features and functionalities to enhance literature searches, including the ability to retrieve early-release preprints and COVID-19 related articles.
In summary, PubMed is a comprehensive and powerful tool for searching and retrieving biomedical literature, offering advanced search features, extensive database coverage, and various tools to facilitate research and clinical decision-making.