Session Two – Exploring PubMed, Part 1

What is PubMed?PubMed is “a free resource that contains over 22 million citations for literature in biomedicine, health, life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences and bioengineering from MEDLINE, life science journals and online books”. Text from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK3830/

Familiar InterfaceThe interface is similar to what we discussed in Session 1 and the NLM Catalog.

NCBI attempts to a consistent look and function across their services.

This make for a better search experience.

Keyword Searching in PubMed

PubMed is a keyword friendly search tool. When you type in a search term you will be presented with a list of possible combinations of keywords to use. This is particularly useful if you are not sure of the correct medical term.

The search result returned over 20,000 hits with links to related searches.

This may seem overly generalized. Shouldn’t the proper search have been for "myocardial infarction”?

Your Keyword TranslatedFurther down the result you can see exactly what was searched during your query in the Search details.

There you will see that the search also used “myocardial infarction”, “infarction”, and heart attack.

Selecting See more… displays every term and field used during your search query.

Applying Limiters to a PubMed Search

You will see a selection of filters or limiters in the left side column of the results list.

Use these to filter the search for specific criteria. There are selections for article type, text availability, publication date, and species.

Click on Additional filters to add more including journal categories.

Examining the Results List

With filters selected the results have been reduced by over 200,000 citations.

In this case the focus was specifically on Nursing Journals, in English, published over the last 5 years with abstracts available.

In the right column there are links to Related searches, Titles with your search terms,and full-text articles in PMC.

Working with Results in PubMed

You can view article information by selecting the title on an article.

You can select the Related citations link to view information of articles closely related to an article on the results list. This is an excellent means to find more information.

Working with Article Information

Once you have selected an article the citation page appears.

This page displays the: •journal information•article title•author’s name•abstract•Link to MESH terms•LinkOut to find possible full-text available at your library

Free Full-text

If you are looking only for free full-text articles you can select the filter from the left column or select articles from the PubMed Central links located on the links in the right column.

Advanced Search BuilderSearch fields

Search history.

Logical (Boolean) Operators

YouTube Tutorial

Search Builder Fields

Represents the searchable fields in the articles’ record.

Search “tennis elbow” as a MeSH Major Topic.

First Results Set

980 items with “tennis elbow” as a MeSH Major Topic

Search details displays what has been searched.

Second Search

Searching “All Fields.”

History of previous search.

Second Results Set

The search returned a large number of results.

It’s best to apply filters.

Add Filters

Filters lower the number of results.

The filters help with large numbers of results.

Combining Searches

Use “Add” to combine previous searches.

Each applied filter has run a search.

Filters are applied within the search term.

Third Results Set

Results are reduced according to search terms and filters.

Did I miss something?

Fourth Results Set

Looks good.

No you don’t have to do this each time.

With a MyNCBI account you can save your work, come back to it at any time, modify and then rerun your searches.

Saving searches to MyNCBI

MyNCBI is your personal account on the NLM’s website.

Your searches can be saved by selecting the link at the top of the search screen.

Login to MyNCBIIf you have a g-mail account, use that username and password to login.

Create an account.

Existing NCBI user can login.

Creating an account

Red dots are for required information.

Login to Save the Search

Name the search and press save.

Make changes to the search or have new results sent by e-mail.

My NCBI

Widgets for keeping research fresh up to date.

MyNCBI Widgets

Search within the account.

Build a bibliography.

More Widgets

Keep the most used articles in Collections

Track all recent activity.

What’s next?

In the next session we will discuss:– MESH Searching.– Clinical trials.– PubMed Health.– PubMed Central (PMC).– NCBI Bookshelf.