PubMed is a means of accessing Medline, an index to journal articles in medicine and related fields (e.g. dentistry, veterinary medicine, and clinical psychology). Coverage begins in 1966, and most of the references since 1975 include abstracts. PubMed is available both on and off campus.

• From the Ely Library Home Page (http://lib.westfield.ma.edu/index.html): In the Quick Links to Databases section, click on PubMed, which is located next to the Medline link.
• Alternatively, go directly to the PubMed website (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/).

• Click on the query box (to the right of "for") and type in one or more words or phrases.
  
• Click on "Go" to the right of the query box.
• A list of retrieved records appears. See Managing Retrieved Records, below.

• The system searches for your terms as well as their synonyms. Examples: kidney also retrieves renal, cancer also retrieves neoplasms, and chemotherapy also retrieves drug therapy.
• The system identifies concepts in your search and retrieves records containing all of them.
• Avoid using AIDS as a keyword, since this will usually retrieve many irrelevant citations containing the lower-case word "aids." Instead, limit to the AIDS subset (see subsets, below).
• Add epidemiology to the name of a disease to search for studies of its distribution, either geographically or in the population. Not limited to infectious diseases.
• Add the phrase historical article to a subject to search for articles on its history. Avoid using history, which usually retrieves many irrelevant records concerning case histories.
• The following keywords are especially useful in combination with others:

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Limits

LIMITING TO SPECIFIC FIELDS

To find a word or phrase in a specific field (part of the record), click on the "Limits" link below the search box. The most useful fields are:

• "Search by Author." After selecting this field, search for the author's last name, to which you may add one or more initials without spaces between them. First names are not found in the database. Example: the name Christiaan Neethling Barnard can be searched in any of the following ways:

Caution: There is no way to distinguish among different authors who have the same last name and initials.

• "Search by Journal." To find all articles published in a journal, select this field and search for its title or Medline abbreviation. Limit by date to find the articles in a specific issue (see Other Limits, below).

• MeSH Terms. These are index terms identifying the main subjects of the article, taken from Medical Subject Headings. To find the standard MeSH term for a subject, click on "MeSH Database" in the left margin. Enter a word or phrase in the "Search for:" box, and click on "Go."

LIMITING TO SUBSETS

PubMed provides access to portions of the Medline database, which can be selected from the "Subsets" limit menu. The most important of these are "AIDS," "Dental," and "Nursing," which are limited by subject.

• Select a subset from the "Subsets" menu.
• To search for an AIDS-related topic, limit to the AIDS subset and do not use AIDS as a keyword.
  Example: to search for antiviral agents in the therapy of AIDS, use the keywords antiviral agents therapy

• "Languages:" Select "English" from this list to exclude publications in other languages.
• "Ages," "Humans or Animals," and "Gender" limit to studies of the specified types of patients.
• "Added to PubMed in the Last:" limits to records added within a specified period of time. This is useful if you periodically repeat a search.
• "Publication Date" allows you to specify when your results were published. You can also select "Specify date range (YYYY/MM/DD)" to have more precise control over the dates of your results. Example:
  

BOOLEAN SEARCHING

• The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used in searches, but they must be capitalized.
• To review your earlier searches and combine their results, click on "History" below the search box. The results can be combined using their search numbers. Example: (#4 OR #5) AND #6

The "Preview/Index" screen shows your last three search commands instead of the retrieved records. It allows you to search for terms in an index before adding them to your search command.

• Click on "Preview/Index" under the query box.
• Enter term(s) in the query box.
• Click on "Preview" to search for the term(s).
• Click on the number under "Result" (unless it is zero to view the retrieved records.

• Locate the text box at the bottom of the screen.
• Enter a word, phrase, or last name and select the appropriate field from the "All Fields" drop menu.
• Click on the "Index" button at the far right of the text box.
• An alphabetical list of words, phrases, and names near your search term appears. The number of records containing each term is in parentheses.
• Select one or more words or phrases. To select more than one, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking.
• Click on AND, OR, or NOT to add the selected term(s) to the query box using Boolean operators. If you selected more than one term, they will be linked with OR before being added.

PubMed provides indexes that use specialized terminology and codes. Use these if you are familiar with the terms used. To search one of these, click on any one of the links above the query box: "Nucleotide," "Protein," "Genome," "Structure" (3Dviews of chemical structures), or "Popset" (DNA sets in populations).

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Managing Search Results & Finding Full Text

The list of retrieved records shows the most recent first. Example:

• The first page shows up to 20 records. To change this number, select from the "Show" drop list.
• To view the abstract (if any) for one record, click on the authors' names.
• To view the abstracts (if any) for all of the records on the page, select "Abstract" from the "Display" drop menu, and then click "Display."
• To view the next page of results, click on "Next" or enter a page number in the "Page" box.

RELATED ARTICLES & LINKS

• Clicking on the "Related Articles" link to the right "will retrieve a pre-calculated set of PubMed citations that are closely related to the selected article. The related articles will be displayed in ranked order from most to least relevant, with the 'linked from' citation displayed first."
• Clicking on "Links" will provide access to related pages in PubMed (such as MeSH compounds and substances) and to external links.

IDENTIFYING JOURNAL TITLES

Medline provides only abbreviations for journal titles. To find the full title of a cited journal:

• Click on "Journals Database" on the left side of the screen (under "PubMed Services").
• Enter the abbreviation in the query box.
• Click on "Go."

FINDING THE FULL TEXT

If your article has (no abstract) or (abstract), then you will need to use the Full Text Periodical Directory to see if the journal is accessible at the Ely Library.

1. On the Ely Library Home Page (http://lib.westfield.ma.edu/) select the "Full Text Periodical Directory" link.
2. In the "Search for a magazine, journal, or newspaper" box, enter the journal title. Do not include the date or volume number.
3. Compare the "Coverage" dates with the date of your article and select a database that includes your date.
4. Once you have selected and entered a database, search for the title of your article.

If your article has (free full text) or (free full text in PubMed Central), then the full text is freely available. To access the full text:

1. Click on the author's name or the text image to get to the item's citation record.
2. At the next screen there will be a link to the full text above the title of the item.

If you have trouble locating an item, contact a Reference Librarian.

USING THE CLIPBOARD

PubMed's Clipboard provides temporary storage for up to 500 records. They will be erased eight hours after you stop searching.

• To add individual records to the Clipboard, select them by clicking on the boxes to the left of the record numbers, then select "Clipboard" from the "Send to" drop list.
• If an addition to the clipboard would put the number over 500, only the highest records on the search results or selections will be added.
• To view the contents of the clipboard, click on "Clipboard" (directly under the query box).
• To save, email, or print records from the clipboard, follow the instructions below.

SAVING

• Select those records you want to save by clicking on the boxes to the left of the record numbers or click on the "Clipboard" link to access items previously saved.
• If you want to include abstracts, select "Abstracts" from the "Display" menu.
• From the "Send to" drop list select
  • "Text" to create an in-browser text version of the citation to copy and paste
  • "File" to create a downloadable .txt document

PRINTING

PubMed's printing window opens as a new window, so you must disable your web browser's pop-up blocker.

• Select those records you want to save by clicking on the boxes to the left of the record numbers or click on the "Clipboard" link to access items previously saved.
• To include abstracts, select "Abstracts" from the "Display" menu.
• From the "Send to" drop list select "Print."
• A new window will open and then click "Print This Window."

EMAILING

• Select those records you want to save by clicking on the boxes to the left of the record numbers or click on the "Clipboard" link to access items previously saved.
• From the "Send to" drop list select "Email."
• To include abstracts, select "Abstracts" from the "Format" drop list.
• Enter your email address
• Click "Mail."

URL: http://lib.westfield.ma.edu/medline.htm
Page Created by Ralph Wagner & Chris Fraiser
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Last updated August 14, 2006