Introduction to PubMed What is PubMed? * Looking at PubMed’s interface Searching and Using PubMed * Doing a simple search * Looking at the advanced search * My NCBI – Saving your work.

1. Session Two – Exploring
PubMed, Part 1

2. 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/
Dialing up Medline, circa 1970. Courtesy of the Images from the History of Medicine (IHM).

3. Familiar Interface
The 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.

4. 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”?

5. Your Keyword Translated
Further 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.

11. Advanced Search Builder
Search fields
Search history.
Logical (Boolean)
Operators
YouTube Tutorial

12. Search Builder Fields
Represents the
searchable fields in
the articles’ record.
Search “tennis elbow” as
a MeSH Major Topic.

13. First Results Set
980 items with
“tennis elbow”
as a MeSH Major
Topic
Search details displays what has been searched.

14. Second Search
Searching “All
Fields.”
History of
previous search.

15. Second Results Set
The search returned a large number of
results.
It’s best to apply filters.

16. Add Filters
Filters lower the number of results.
The filters help
with large
numbers of
results.

17. Combining Searches
Use “Add” to combine
previous searches.
Each applied filter
has run a search.
Filters are applied within
the search term.

18. Third Results Set
Results are reduced
according to search terms
and filters.
Did I miss something?

19. Fourth Results Set
Looks good.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. Login to MyNCBI
If you have a g-mail
account, use that
username and password
to login.
Create an account.
Existing NCBI
user can login.

23. Creating an account
Red dots are for
required
information.

24. Login to Save the Search
Name the search and
press save.
Make changes to the
search or have new
results sent by e-mail.

25. My NCBI
Widgets for keeping research fresh up to date.

26. MyNCBI Widgets
Search within the account.
Build a bibliography.

27. More Widgets
Keep the most used articles in Collections
Track all recent activity.

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