Introduction to PubMed

PubMed is a database from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Center for Biotechnology that offers extensive full-text biomedical and life science journal articles and other related content. With over 35 million records that range from the 1940s to current publications, PubMed includes:

• MEDLINE - a database of life sciences and biomedical journals
• PubMed Central - an open access repository of articles
• The NCBI Bookshelf - a collection of books and reports on topics in health and medicine
• Articles that are in process and ahead of print

On this page:

• Searching in PubMed
• Advanced Search Features
• Video Tutorials for Searching PubMed

Searching in PubMed

When you search in PubMed, your search terms are applied to the data in the record (title, abstract, and some metadata). While PubMed is available online without a subscription, accessing it through Waters Library makes it far more likely you will be able to access full-text articles. (Link opens in a new window.)

• Create an account - This will allow you to save and share searches, create alerts, and save results.
• Use MeSH terms - PubMed uses this framework of Medical Subject Headings for MEDLINE, though not for other content. You can find these on the PubMed homepage under "Explore". MeSH terms work like hashtags in social media. They are assigned by people and help to find literature regardless of the language and spellings used by the author(s).
• Use keywords in addition to MeSH - Some resources will never be indexed with MeSH, and new articles can take up to 6 months to be indexed, so searching with keywords may help you find the most current literature.

Advanced Search Filters

Learning how to create robust, effective searches in PubMed takes time and experimentation. Practice searching using trial and error, and use both subject headings and additional keywords that define your topic. And always remember that you can reach out to your friendly librarians for help!

• Identify and use Subject Headings - There is no substitute for learning how to use the MeSH framework in PubMed.
• Use Field Tags - These are helpful when you want to manage which record fields are searched. Using field tags can create more effective searches. Field tags are used within square brackets at the end of your search term. Some examples include:
  • MeSH headings [mesh],
  • MeSH subheadings [sh]
  • author [au]
  • affiliations [ad]
  • words in the title of an article [ti]
  • journal [ta]
• Save searches and set up alerts - You can do this after you set up and sign into your personal account.

Video Tutorials for Using PubMed

The following video tutorial provides an overview of basic searching in PubMed. To see a tutorial on Advanced Searching.