1. PubMed: Searching and Search
Features
Kay Cunningham
Library Director
Christian Brothers University
August 2010

2. http://pubmed.gov
PubMed is available free online from the National
Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and the
National Library of Medicine (NLM).
It is one of a number NCBI resources, including:
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, full text books,
genetics databases, chemical information databases,
and more.
These can all be searched together with the Entrez
cross-database searcher, also free, and available at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Entrez/
However, advanced and specialized search features
within PubMed give you more control over your
search results. What you are looking for will
determine the best tools for you to use.

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/gquery

4. Cross-Searching Results and Differences
A problem with cross-
searching is that
different databases
work in different ways
so your results may not
be the same if you used
each database’s native
interface.
TIP: Using quotation
marks forces most
databases to search for a
phrase. Notice the
difference in the number of
results.

6. With Basic Search, just start keying terms into the search box. In PubMed, there’s
no need for you to use quotes, ANDs, ORs, or any special formatting.
In Basic Search, PubMed helps you choose search terms. When you enter a word, an
automatic list will be generated listing possibilities. Just select the one that you
want.

7. Author Searching
No special commands
are needed to search
for articles by an
author, just input the
person’s name this
way (punctuation
unnecessary):
lastname initials
PubMed recognizes
that as the author
format and auto-
matically searches the
author field. Note: PubMed finds an author, regardless of where
he falls in the author list—first, middle, last.

8. Combining Multiple Concepts
Simply string together any terms related to your search. Do not use ANDs
or ORs, as that interferes with how PubMed translates a search. Order
does not matter. If you want to see exactly what PubMed looked for,
check out the Search Details for a translation.

9. Translation
PubMed automatically and properly ANDs your search terms, and ORs any
synonyms. Notice the original search at the bottom of the Details.

10. Finding Journals
Search for Journals by title with:
▫ The official Medline
abbreviation -
 New Engl J Med
▫ Well-known unofficial
abbreviations -
 NEJM
▫ The complete title -
 New England Journal of
Medicine
TIP: You may get variations in your results as the
official abbreviation is the preferred search
method. Use the Journals Database from
PubMed’s home page to find the official
abbreviation and to retrieve the exact number
of all articles from a particular journal.

12. Journals Database
Access the Journals Database from More Resources on
PubMed’s Main Page (http://pubmed.gov)
Additional URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals

13. Transfer the search to PubMed
Once you’ve indentified the journal you want, click Links, then PubMed to
activate a search.

14. Special Topics
Some of these
special topic
links go deeper
into PubMed;
others go to
external sites.

15. Clinical Queries
Clinical Queries automatically retrieves and sorts results into categories.

16. Single-Citation Matcher
If you have an incorrect
or partial citation to an
article, use the Single-
Citation Matcher to
search using citation
elements.
Mix and match as much
as you need.

17. Field Searching (Advanced)
Useful for when you are looking for very
specific items, Advanced Search lets you
designate the fields to be searched.
Particularly useful:
•Affiliation – whenever an author has a
common name
•Text Word – whenever a topic is very new
or rarely written about

18. Building an Advanced Search
Here, all that is known about a
citation is: TIP: Long and complex searches
•the author’s last name is Park, can be built in Advanced Search,
•Park is affiliated with the then saved in My NCBI to be re-
University of Tennessee, and run whenever you need to look for
•Park has written about new articles.
drosophila
Key individual elements into the Search Builder one at a time; and add each to
the Search Box.

19. Other handouts
PubMed: Basic Search, Limiting, and
Scientific Journal Articles
PubMed: Working with Results Lists
My NCBI