Finding Free Full Text PMC Articles within The National Library of Medicine’s

PUBMEDDatabase

Mark D. Puterbaugh

Information Services Librarian

Eastern University, Warner Memorial Library, St. Davids, PA

mputerba@eastern.edu

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Presented by

Mark D. PuterbaughInformation Services Librarian

Warner Memorial LibraryEastern University

St. Davids, PA 19087

PubMed comprises over 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. PubMed also provides access to additional relevant web sites and links to the other NCBI molecular biology resources.

PubMed is a free resource that is developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

While primarily a citations resource, searches in PubMed can be limited to locate full-text articles from publications freely available in the National Library of Medicines’ PMC journal archive.

PubMed and PubMed Central (PMC)

PubMed can be searched at http://www.pubmed.gov/

Type in the search term then press “Search”.

The initial screenpresents a simpleSearch sox.

Find All Full Text Available.

The search foundcitations for over 3,200 articles.

Limit Search to “Free full text available”.

Results from Limited “Free full text available” Search.

Follow “Free Article” or “Free PMC Article” links to retrieve the text.

The search foundcitations for 45 full text articles.

Find PMC Full Text Exclusively.

Follow the “See All” link for this content.

PMC holds full-text to 25 articles on the results lists. Select this to view a results list of PMC full text articles.

PMC Results List

From the results list select the “Free PMC Article” link.

Following the “Free PMC Article” link returns an informational page. The article citation and abstract (if available) screen appears.To bring up the article from PMC select the button or to view the article through BioMed Central select the button.

PMC Citation Display

Once at PMC there may be a variety of ways to access the article. Here in addition to the HTML format there are options for PubReader, ePub (for mobile devices and e-readers) and an Acrobat Reader PDF file.

Viewing the Full Text

PubReader View

Excellent for reading on a tablet computer.

Acrobat Reader PDF View

Excellent for reading on a computer or print out.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The articles are from professional or peer-reviewed publications.

•This method can provide the searcher with immediate access to full-text articles.

Cons

• This search eliminates many important articles found in PubMed.

• Leaves the researcher dependent on a small sampling of relevant resources. This can be frustrating.

While the list of free full text academic publications found on the Web and in PMC is growing, the set is small compared to the vast amount of literature produced.

Consult with a librarian, they can help you find further resources for your research.